The Cultural Setting of the Twana Secret Society

Elmendorf, William

The group of Coast Salish village communities resident in the drainage area of Hood Canal, an inlet west of Puget Sound, called themselves collectively Twana .... These people spoke a single Salishan language unintelligible to other western Washington native groups. At least three of the Twana communities practiced a type of group initiation ritual closely similar to the xanxa' ni'' ti secret society of their northern neighbors, the Klallam. Participants in the Twana ceremony formed a "society" to the extent of rigorously excluding on-initiates from certain of their functions, though the ritual of initiating new members ws the only occasion on which members acted in concert. The term "secret society" accords with ethnographic usage in this area and is a convenient label for the group taking part in these initiation ceremonies.

The Cultural Setting of the Twana Secret Society

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