This page contains the former text of Skwxwu7mesh Uxwuimixw which is now a redirect to Sḵwxwú7mesh, provided here in case the materials here were not merged into the target article. This may not be proper form, but it seemed more convenient to have this sandbox rather than one off my own talkpage.Skookum1 07:24, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
The Sḵwxwú7mesh-ulh Uxwumixw are a major Salishan-speaking people of southwestern British Columbia. Their main communties/villages are near the town of Squamish, British Columbia and at the mouths of the Capilano River, Mosquito Creek , and Seymour Creek in the Burrard Inlet in North Vancouver, British Columbia. The Sḵwxwú7mesh are closely related to the Tsleil-Waututh, who reside further east on Burrard Inlet, and have family connections to the XwMuthkwium who reside on the southern edge of the city of Vancouver. Neighbouring on the north are the Lil'wat people, also known as the Lower Lillooet, the main southern branch of the St'at'imc (also known as the Lillooet). The Sḵwxwú7mesh traditional territory stretches from False Creek, Burrard Inlet, Howe Sound, Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast, then from Squamish, to Whislter, Elaho Valley, and Ashlu Creek.
History edit
The Sḵwxwú7mesh were the first mainland British Columbia Indigenous people known to have met Europeans, entering Howe Sound in 1792 near St'a7mes, the village near the town of Squamish. The Sḵwxwú7mesh society is separated in to many different vasits of a complex culture and history. Stretching back to thousands of years, Sḵwxwú7mesh customs, traditions and stories make up a very ancient culture still in existence to this day. Observing the potlaching in the summer and winter seasons, with the sacred ceremonies taking place in the winter months.
Many other place names in southwestern British Columbia are derived from Squamish words or names. Kitsilano neighbourhood, for example, of Vancouver is named after a Squamish chief, Xats'alanexw (Khatsahlano a.k.a. August Jack)
Language edit
The Squamish language, written Sḵwx̱wú7mesh snichim in the official writing system of the Squamish Nation, is a Coast Salish language most closely related to Shishalh (Sechelt), and Sḵ'emin'em (Musqueam, Nanaimo, Cowichan, Chilliwack dialects of Halkemeylem) and Xwsa7k (Nooksack).
Pauline Johnson's writings on Squamish legend edit
Although held in disregard by contemporary Squamish politicians and elders, Mohawk "princess" Tekahionawake (Pauline Johnson) was a guest of pre-Great War Squamish chief Joe Capilano (Joe Matthias) and learned from him many Squamish legends, commemorating them in short-story form in the collection Legends of Vancouver.
Most concern specifics of local landmarks such as Siwash Rock and the Lions and Prospect Point, but in one story, two French priests - Jesuits by dress as described in the Squamish history taught her by Chief Joe Matthias - aboard a Russian trading vessel moored in English Bay and afflicted by scurvy were given a talisman by the chief of the Burrard Inlet to help thwart off the disease and replenish the drained life energy of the crew. The chief told the priests that they had heard of the great French chief Bonaparte, and that they should give the talisman to him and he should always have it with him. The talisman was a vertebra from the Sisiutl, the great double-headed serpent which spanned the First Narrows and was slain by a hero of the Squamish people. Johnson's account of the legend goes on to say that tradition has it that Napoleon lost it on the morning of Waterloo.
The language used to communicate between the priests and the Squamish is not known but should be presumed to be the early phase of the Chinook Jargon, as it is unlikely the Jesuits had time to master the complexities and phonological difficulties of the Squamish language. No Jesuit record exists of such a voyage.
Villages edit
Numerous Sḵwxwú7mesh villages within their traditional territory.
- eslha7an - (Mission I.R#1, North Vancouver)
- xwemelch'stn - (Capilano I.R#3)
- chi'ch'elxwikw' - (Seymour I.R#2)
- xwayxway - (Lumbermans Arch, Stanley Park)
- senakw - (False Creek, Kitsalano)
- schenks - (Gibsons Landing I.R#26)
- k'ik'elxn - (Port Mellon I.R#24)
- kywetin - (Kowtain I.R#17, aka, Garibaldi Highlands)
- yekw'apsem - (I.R#18)
- wiwkem - (Brackendale I.R#14)
- chiyakmesh - (Cheakmes I.R#11)
- t'ekw'takwemey -
- ch'wkech'ekts -
- puyam -
- tsitsusem -
- sta7mes - (Stawamus)