The Plateau Indian culture area is roughly the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana. The Indian tribes within this area shared many cultural features.
Throughout the Plateau culture area, it was (and often still is) felt that having a special guardian spirit was essential for success in life. An important part of the spiritual life of the tribes focused on obtaining the help of guardian spirits. Among many of the tribes a young person was not considered to be an adult until the help of guardian spirits had been obtained. In his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Loran Olsen describes the vision quest this way:
“To seek a personal helper the Plateau boy or girl would, following extensive preparation by elders, set out to a distant isolated spot for several days or nights. The youngster would not eat during his sojourn, but would remain ready spiritually for the visit of a supernatural being who would communicate with him and give him a personal song.”
Writing about the Salish-speaking Flathead, Richard Forbis, in his M.A. thesis Religious Acculturation of the Flathead Indians, reports:
“To the average Flathead, the guardian spirit represented the principal means by which he could contact supernatural forces. The complex built around the guardian spirit probably was the most important phase of Flathead religion, at least for everyday living.” The guardian spirit provided help in war, hunting, curing, and the acquisition of wealth.
With regard to the Coeur d’Alene, a display in the Museum of North Idaho states:
“During his or her Vision Quest the child could gain individual understanding. The places of Vision Quest are marked by cairns and monoliths to alert the unwary of the potency of the site. The site was generally isolated, located at a higher elevation but with an expansive view of the river and habitation sites and/or fishing installations.”
The vision quest is a ritual intended to aid in attracting a guardian spirit. Archaeologist James Keyser, in his book Indian Rock Art of the Columbia Plateau, writes:
“In this ritual, a man or woman sought to obtain a guardian spirit by retreating to a secluded, sacred place to fast and pray.”
Following a successful vision quest, the supplicant sometimes created a pictograph to commemorate the experience. James Keyser also reports:
“The linking of pictographs with vision quests was so strong in the northern Columbia Plateau that the presence of paintings was thought to indicate a very sacred place, where powerful spirits dwell.”
In most of the cultures, a guardian spirit could be obtained only before puberty. Therefore, children—both boys and girls—received a lot of training oriented toward obtaining a guardian spirit. To obtain a guardian spirit, a child would be left alone and fasting. The child would abstain from both sleep and water and would wear only a minimum of clothing. It is through this physical deprivation that the guardian spirit would appear to the individual and bestow upon them two gifts: general good fortune and then a special talent. The guardian spirit would usually appear first in human form and then after giving the supplicant the special talent, the spirit would then reveal its animal form or other entity.
The special talents are given to the individual along with a song, and sometimes with a special dance step. Both song and dance are considered to be a form of prayer.
The special powers received from the spirits could also be lost and thus the recipient would be instructed about things to avoid in order to keep the power. Historian Larry Cebula, in his book Plateau Indians and the Quest for Spiritual Power, 1700-1850, writes:
“The spirit usually listed a set of taboos the recipient must obey, at the risk of losing the power.”
After receiving the vision from the guardian spirit, the child would return home and then forget about the experience. Later in life, when the individual was mature enough, the guardian spirit would return and take possession of the person’s body during the Guardian Spirit Dance. The medicine people would observe the dance by the possessed person and then use their own medicine to determine the nature of the guardian spirit. They would then whisper the identity of the spirit into the dancer’s ear. Only then would the person learn the identity of the spirit.
In the Plateau cultures, almost everyone traditionally had some spiritual power given to them by a guardian spirit. Anthropologist Lillian Ackerman, in her book A Necessary Balance: Gender and Power Among Indians of the Columbia Plateau, reports:
“Some women acquired hunting or salmon fishing abilities or war power from their guardian spirits.”
Similarly, Lillian Ackerman also reports:
“Some men acquired female-type abilities from their guardian spirits.”
It is important to keep in mind that the power given to the individual by the guardian spirit was, and still is, intended to benefit the entire community.
It was, and still is, possible for an individual to participate in more than one vision quest and to obtain more than one guardian spirit. There were also some unfortunate individuals who failed to obtain a guardian spirit and would live a life of poverty and incompetence. A man without a guardian spirit would be a poor hunter and fisherman; he would have no luck in gambling; he would be socially inept and unable to attract and keep a wife. A woman without a guardian spirit would be unable to find wild foods; she would be unable to process foods and prepare good meals; she would be unsuccessful in processing foods for storage; and she would be unlucky in gambling. Lillian Ackerman writes of people without guardian spirits:
“These people, though rare, were looked on by others with pity, not scorn. They were cared for by other members of the village when their luck was especially poor and would not be personally blamed.”
The blame for the lack of a guardian spirits would usually be directed at the parents for failing to educate their children properly and to prepare them adequately to find a guardian spirit.
Visions could be sought in many different places. Anthropologist Peter Nabokov, in his book Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places, reports:
“All Plateau peoples were aware that spirits were especially plentiful along the cataracts and stepped falls of their great rivers.”
Consequently, it was not uncommon to have a vision quest near these places.
Among the Nez Perce, both boys and girls sought their guardian spirits when they were 9-14 years of age by going to a special place without food and water to wait for the spirit to appear. Prior to the vision quest, the children would undergo both spiritual and physical training. This included cleansing through the extremes of the sweatlodge and plunging into cold water. Anthropologist Deward Walker, in his book Conflict and Schism in Nez Perce Acculturation: A Study of Religion and Politics, reports:
“Aboriginally there seems to have been a very close conceptual and emotional tie between physical as well as spiritual purification and conditioning.”
Historian Alvin Josephy, in his book Nez Perce Country, writes:
“Failure to receive a vision usually meant a mediocre or difficult life, and some youths went on vision quest more than once.”
Nez Perce warrior Yellow Wolf describes his vision quest at the age of 13:
“Gave me one blanket, but no food. I might go fifteen, maybe twenty, suns with nothing to eat. But could drink water aplenty. Only trees for shelter, and fir brush to sleep on. I might stay in one place three nights, maybe five nights, then go somewhere else.”
Noting that the children have no weapons, Yellow Wolf says:
“No children ever get hurt when out on such business.”
While a vision quest could be undertaken at any time of the year, for Nez Perce children the initial quest was most often in the warmer months. The period of isolation during the vision quest would last up to a week. However, in most instances the tutelary spirit would visit the individual after one or two days of fasting and concentration. Under the guidance of the spirit, the individual would be given a song and the power and meaning of this song would be explained. In some instances, the individual might be given special instructions regarding clothing, decoration, and paint. Following this initial vision quest, the child would then be ritually reintroduced to society. Deward Walker reports:
“After he had been reintroduced to society, the child was thought to forget the experience, and the song or spirit usually did not reappear to him until he was at a tutelary spirit dance, often years later.”
Nez Perce warrior Yellow Wolf describes his vision:
“It was just like dreaming, what I saw. A form stood in the air fronting me. It talked to me in plain language.”
Among other groups, such as the Flathead and the Pend d’Oreille, the young people seeking a vision would go to places such as caves, pictograph sites, cliffs, or hill tops where others had received visions. Anthropologists Deward Walker and Helen Schuster, in their chapter on religious movements in the Handbook of North American Indians, write:
“Vision quest sites are scattered throughout the Plateau, especially concentrated in mountains and along rivers where stone cairns, pictographs, and petroglyphs often mark places where tutelary spirits have been encountered.”
Anthropologist Carling Malouf, in his chapter on the Flathead and Pend d’Oreille in the Handbook of North American Indians, notes:
“Spirits could appear to an individual in human form, or as an animal, bird, insect, and even inanimate items such as a rock or a stick.”
Richard Forbis reports:
“The spirit consisted of any natural or supernatural entity. It could be a bear, lightning, a lake, a flea, or a dwarf. No spirit had preeminence over another; they were all equal.”
Among the Flathead, a “prayer seat” was sometimes used in doing a vision quest. The seeker would arrive at the special vision quest site on the top of a hill or mountain at sunset on the vernal equinox. Here the seeker would find a circle of stones and would sit on the west edge of the stones to face the setting sun. The seeker would then stay in this position throughout the night, watching the stars. At sunrise, the seeker would move to the east in order to watch the rising sun. Then to the south for the rest of the day. This cycle would continue for three nights and two days.
Among the Flathead, the vision quest was not necessarily a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Guardian spirits were a form of spiritual power and if one has more than one guardian spirit, then one has more spiritual power. Therefore, some individuals would attempt to obtain several guardian spirits.
Among the Tenino, both boys and girls started their vision-quest experiences at about age five or six. They would continue to repeat this experience until they had obtained about five spirits who would be their lifelong helpers.
Writing about the tribes of the Dalles area along the Columbia River, ethnohistorian Robert Boyd, in his book People of the Dalles: the Indians of Wascopam Mission, reports:
“Northwest native religions had no concept of a high, omnipotent god responsible for creation, but believed instead in a multiplicity of nature spirits.”
Spirits – animals, plants, and the forces of nature – have intelligence and will and are thus regarded as persons. This means that animals, plants, and the forces of nature are to be treated with respect and with consideration for their needs and feelings. These spirits are not gods and are not worshipped.
Among the Nez Perce, according to Deward Walker, in his chapter on the Nez Perce in the Handbook of North American Indians, reports:
“The single most important aspect of tutelary spirit power was possession of the song imparted during the quest and later relearned when the individual had his power ‘straightened out’ as an adult.”
Those who were successful returned to their villages without making any public announcement about their experience. During the winter, the village would have a Guardian Spirit Dance during which the young people would chant hints about the nature of their guardian spirit.
Kootenai children would begin their search for a guardian spirit at about seven years of age. Anthropologist Peter Nabokov reports:
“Because human smells and sounds were repugnant to these spirits, the seeker took purifying sweat baths and was smudged in juniper smoke before heading out for their places with the appropriate offerings: tobacco and, later, cloth or even coins.”
During the vision quest, the spirit would enter the body of the seeker. The spirit would give the seeker a symbol of the spirit’s power and a song which had to immediately be learned. The songs they received from this guardian spirit are considered to be personal property and are scrupulously guarded.
Among the Yakama, children as young as 3-5 years old would be taken to a remote place near a gorge overlooking some falls. Here there was a dwarfed and scrubby pine tree which oral tradition states has always been the same size. The children would be staked or tied to this place so that they might obtain their spiritual power. Rattlesnakes are common in this area.
Among the Klamath all boys and girls would go to an isolated place, a high cliff, a cave, or a mountain for their vision quest. They would often build rock cairns at their vision quest sites. Going without food, they would seek contact with the spiritual entity which would be the source of their luck and power throughout their lives.
One of the guardian spirits of Yakama chief Owhi was the mist which was considered to be a very powerful spirit. In Warrior of the Mist: A Biography of Qualchan, Chief Owhi’s Son, T. G. Boyden reports:
“The Indians believed this spirit power provided many things, among them power to heal.”
With regard to gender in Plateau spirituality, anthropologist Lillian Ackerman points out:
“All men and women in most Plateau societies sought guardian spirits as children. Both genders could aspire to become shamans or healers, who were equal in power, although in some groups female shamans were not equal to male shamans in numbers.”
Indians 101
Twice each week Indians 101 explores various American Indian topics. More about American Indian spirituality from this series:
Indians 101: Plateau Indian Spirituality (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: The Northern Plains vision quest
Indians 101: A brief overview of Pawnee spirituality
Indians 101: The Northern California Jumping Dance
Indians 101: A Brief Description of Caddo Religion
Indians 101: Some Cayuga Ceremonies
Indians 101: Ute Spirituality
Indians 101: The Iroquois False Face Society