Bilateral descent systems prevailed in most Plateau groups; in these systems descent is traced equally through the lines of the mother and the father. The average Plateau kin group consisted of a nuclear family and its closest lineal relatives. This was the case among, for instance, the Tenino. Their kinship terminology revealed the close connection between family relatives of the same generation, so that all one’s female cousins were called by and treated in the same terms as those used for one’s sisters; one’s male cousins, likewise, were all one’s “brothers.”

As notional siblings, first cousins did not marry. Other than this constraint, marriage and divorce were informal affairs. Newlyweds generally resided near the groom’s family, and in case of divorce the wife simply returned to her parents’ home. No particular grounds for separation were necessary, and at a later date both parties usually undertook new marriages. Polygyny, a form of marriage in which several wives share a husband, was an approved but not especially common practice throughout the culture area.

Some Plateau kinship systems included “joking relationships.” These could be informal mechanisms for expressing social disapproval or deflating puffed egos, as with the ribbing and practical joking encouraged by the Tenino between a father’s sister’s husband and his wife’s brother’s child. The butt of a joke was expected to respond gracefully. Joking relationships could also be ribald, permitting sexual innuendo between a man and his sister-in-law; notably, these individuals were potential marriage partners under the polygyny system.

Childhood and socialization

The life cycle of the individual was marked by fixed ritual acts that opened the gateway to the different social roles he had to enact. These rituals began before birth. Among the Sinkaietk, for example, a pregnant woman was supposed to give birth in a lodge that had been constructed for this purpose. A newborn spent its day strapped in a cradleboard. Naming practices varied among the tribes. The training of the child was left to the mother and grandmother, but even as a small boy a Sinkaietk could accompany his father on fishing and small-game hunting trips, while small girls helped their mothers about the house and in gathering wild foods. Children learned to be hardy through activities such as swimming in cold streams; such exertions were generally supervised by grandparents. Disobedience was rare. When it did occur, it was sometimes met with corporal punishment; some groups allowed parents to call upon the village whipper when children misbehaved.

At puberty a boy undertook a vision quest. This rite of passage usually involved spending some days fasting on a mountaintop in hopes of communicating with a guardian spirit. A girl who had her first menstruation was taken to a location some distance from the village and provided with living quarters. During this time she was seen as extremely powerful in the spiritual and supernatural senses and so observed a number of ritual taboos that were meant to protect her and the community. Among other actions, her hair was bound up in rolls that she touched only with a small comb, her face was painted red or yellow, she wore undecorated clothing, and she used a drinking tube rather than taking water directly from a well. After the flow, she ritually purified herself in a sweat lodge. Her seclusion might continue for one or several months, during which time she might undertake a vision quest. She finished her seclusion with evening prayers on a hill. When she returned to the village, she was treated as an adult.

Certain rituals were carried out after an individual’s death. To prevent the dead from lingering among the living, some groups demolished homes where death had occurred. Grave sites were often located at riversides, though the specific form of burial—whether the body was intact or cremated, placed on the surface or in the ground, covered with soil or a rockslide, and marked with stones or wood—varied from one tribe to another. For about one year after the death, the decedent’s spouse (or spouses, in polygynous marriages) was expected to demonstrate grief by wearing old or ragged clothing and was also expected to delay remarriage during this period.

Belief systems

Religion was, like the rest of the culture, closely intertwined with the region’s ecology. Plateau religions shared several features with indigenous North American religions in general, most notably in their emphases on animism, shamanism, and individual communion with the spirit world.

The main rituals were the vision quest; the firstling, or first foods, rites; and the winter dance. The vision quest was compulsory for boys and recommended for girls. The spirit-beings who engaged with humans were thought to guide individuals to particular vocations, such as hunting, warfare, or healing. Both boys and girls could become shamans, though it was seen as a more suitable occupation for the former. They cured diseases by extracting a bad spirit or an object that had entered the patient’s body. On the northern Plateau they also brought back souls that had been stolen by the dead and were known to publicize their feats through dramatic pantomimes (see soul loss). Because their work included healing the living and contacting the dead, shamans tended to be both wealthy and respected—and even feared.

Firstling rites celebrated and honoured the first foods that were caught or gathered in the spring. The first salmon ceremony celebrated the arrival of the salmon run. The first fish caught was ritually sliced, small pieces of it were distributed among the people and eaten, and the carcass was returned to the water accompanied by prayers and thanks. This ritual ensured that the salmon would return and have a good run the next year. Some Salish had a “salmon chief” who organized the ritual. The Okanagan, Ntlakapamux, and Lillooet celebrated similar rites for the first berries rather than the first salmon.

The winter or spirit dance was a ceremonial meeting at which participants personified their respective guardian spirits. Among the Nez Percé the dramatic performances and the songs were thought to bring warm weather, plentiful game, and successful hunts.

As in much of Northern America, folklore in the Plateau generally emphasized the creator, trickster, and culture hero Coyote. The subject of innumerable trickster tales, Coyote (or alternative trickster figures such as Bluejay) undertook exploits that reflected common foibles and reinforced the social mores of the people.