First Salmon Ceremony

Dateca. 1978

Maker Ron Hilbert Coy (Vadesqidab) Tulalip/Upper Skagit, 1944 - 2006

Label TextThe annual honoring of the salmon is depicted here in a continuous narrative: songs are sung to welcome the first salmon of the season, the salmon is respectfully carried in a cradle of cedar boughs, and then the bones are returned to the water. This reverential treatment alerts the Salmon People below the water to keep sending fish as sustenance to the People, a practice which honors the relationship between humans and the natural world. After colonization stripped such sacred practices from Native life, this important ceremony was revived among Puget Sound tribes in the 1970s.

Object number2005.175

ProvenanceThe artist; Vi Hilbert, Washington, until 2005

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Song, Story, Speech: Oral Traditions of Puget Sound's First People, Aug. 5, 2004 - Jan. 31, 2006. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, S'abadeb - The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists, Oct. 24, 2008 - Jan. 11, 2009 (Victoria, British Columbia, Royal British Columbia Museum, Nov. 2009 - Mar. 2010). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022.

Credit LineGift of Vi Hilbert, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

Dimensions10 x 28 1/4 x 2 in. (25.4 x 71.8 x 5.1cm)

MediumWood, copper and paint