I don't know that any anglo can feel for the land the way a member of the first nations can. I do know that there are two places in Oregon where I feel "rooted." Coming up Highway 58 just before you hit Oakridge. You make a curve and the mountains are there. Right in front of me. And I'm home.
The other is on the Oregon coast. Anywhere the basalt meets the sea. Poseidon Earthshaker would be right at home.
"The Indian knows his village and feels for his village as no white man for his country, his town, or even for his own bit of land. His village is not the strip of land four miles long and three miles wide that is his as long as the sun rises and the moon sets. The myths are the village and the winds and the rains. The river is the village and the black and white killer whats that herd the fish to end of the inlet the better to gobble them. The village is the salmon who comes up the river to spawn, the seal who follows the salmon and bites off his head, the blue jay whose name is like the sound he makes 'Kwiss-kwiss.' The village is the talking bird, the owl, who calls the name of the man who is about to die, and the silver tipped grizzly who ambles into the village and the white speck that is the mountain goat on Whoop Szo." The "noisy mountain" on the other side of the river. Named Noisy because it usually has snow and that snow comes thundering down the mountain during the spring thaws.
The other is on the Oregon coast. Anywhere the basalt meets the sea. Poseidon Earthshaker would be right at home.
"The Indian knows his village and feels for his village as no white man for his country, his town, or even for his own bit of land. His village is not the strip of land four miles long and three miles wide that is his as long as the sun rises and the moon sets. The myths are the village and the winds and the rains. The river is the village and the black and white killer whats that herd the fish to end of the inlet the better to gobble them. The village is the salmon who comes up the river to spawn, the seal who follows the salmon and bites off his head, the blue jay whose name is like the sound he makes 'Kwiss-kwiss.' The village is the talking bird, the owl, who calls the name of the man who is about to die, and the silver tipped grizzly who ambles into the village and the white speck that is the mountain goat on Whoop Szo." The "noisy mountain" on the other side of the river. Named Noisy because it usually has snow and that snow comes thundering down the mountain during the spring thaws.
....
And the Bishop had been silent for a moment before he added slowly. "This is the village. If you go there, from the time you tie up at the float in the inlet, the village is you. Bout there is one thing you must understand. They will not thank you. Even if you should leave a broken man they will not thank you. There is no word for thank you in Kwakwala." (the local dialect)
And the title of the book is literally that. Somehow the owl calls the name of a person about to die. I probably first read this book back in the seventies. And each time it's like the first.
And the title of the book is literally that. Somehow the owl calls the name of a person about to die. I probably first read this book back in the seventies. And each time it's like the first.
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