Today most Tilamook live at Grande Ronde or Siletz reservations.
They are Salish speaking people with their own language that was
different enough from other Salish that they used sign or Chinook
Jargon when talking with them. In the 15th century they lived in an
area ranging from Cape Lookout to Cape Meares. It is thought they
were about 2200 people at the beginning of the 18th century.
The first documented western encounter with the Tillamook was in
1788 by Robert Haswell, A 2nd encounter was in 1805 by the Lewis
and Clark. There was evidence that smallpox has reached them
already. Lewis and Clark described a village of around 1000 people
living in about 50 houses
1824 and 1829 saw a pair of smallpox epidemics, and combined
with the arrival of Oregon Trail settlers in 1841 and the resulting
conflicts led to the 1845 only 400 Tillamook remaining. By 1849 the
estimate was only 200. This huge loss greatly effected the survival
of their culture and belief systems. Most were forced to move to
Grand Ronde or Siletz at this time. Many at Grand Ronde became
Catholic after a Belgian missionary came in the 1860s.
There were a number of late 19th century religious movements
that became popular among Oregon Native people some of which
continue. These include The Prophet Dance, The Smohalla Cult or
Waashat, the Indian Shaker Church or Tschadam, the 1870 and 1890
Ghost Dance, and the Native American Church or Peyote Religion.
As best as we can know the Tillamook divided their mythology
into three categories; the earliest was the Myth Age, followed by
the Age of Transformation, when the "South Wind" remade the land.
He was also called at various times: Everlasting man, Tkahyal (our
grandfather), Sunnutchul, or Tk'a.
The third age is the "period of true happenings", or events that
happened in what the Tillamook considered recent history. Despite
this, stories from the third age were considered just as much of a
myth as those from the first or second.
Tillamooks gained power from spirits, whom they believed were
more active and closer to humans in winter.
Relgious leaders renewed their power in January or February by
sponsoring a ceremony that included singing a power song and
dispensing food and presents to guests. During the course of this
5- to 15-day ceremony, all other "knowers" (those with spirit
powers) sang their songs too. Winter was also the time for relating
myth narratives. Mythological characters were particularly
important because social status was dependent on one's ability to
form a relationship with a mythological personage, a natural
feature, or a guardian spirit. Rituals also accompanied the first
seasonal consumption of various foods.
There were ceremonies around birth. Babies ears were pierced in
a ceremony. There were naming ceremonies. There were puberty
ceremonies for girls and boys in which among other things a spirit
guide was sought.
First salmon and first fruits ceremonies were important.
Whale, seal, eel, black bear, sea serpent, moon and evening star
powers could be received in dreams.
Corpses were removed from a building by a hole made in a corner.
They were painted, dressed, wrapped in a blanket, and bound with
cedar bark. After a two- to three-day wake, they were buried in
raised canoes with a second one on top as a lid and raised often in
trees and facing west. Wealthy families might reopen the grave
after a year, clean the bones, and replace the grave goods.
The Tillamook recognized five types of religious leaders:
healers (men, by drawing with the hands, and women, by sucking),
poison doctors (men, with much ritual paraphernalia to send and
extract poisons), spirit doctors (men who personally retrieved lost
spirits from the spirit world), love doctors (women); and baby
diplomats (men who foretold events by conversing with babies).
