Makah Indian Culture

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If killing whales was a part of a culture, would you be okay with that, or would you disagree with this action? Killing whales was a part of the Makah Indian Tribe culture. The Makah Indian Tribe had treaty rights to hunt whales. This has been a treaty right for them since 1855, but in the 1920’s they gave up the killing of whales, which is also called “whaling” (pg.1). Some might say it is wrong to kill an innocent animal, but as for the Makah, they think otherwise. The Makah society is for the most part a poor community. This community is located in a tiny coastal village of Neah Bay (pg. 1). This community is full of people without jobs, and people that are facing alcoholism and drug abuse which is one of the reasons many tribal members believe that this stemmed from lack of discipline, and that the recuperation of whaling would restore that (pg. 6). Because of these things, is one …show more content…
The “Harpooner” was the leader and captain of the hunt and also were chiefs in five of the villages (Dougherty 2001). The males of the family and the wives both played a role in this as well. The males would be the ones to actually go on the whale hunt, while the wives had to “isolate themselves during it in such ways as remaining silent, motionless, and refrain from sleep and food”. In order the males to be good at whaling they had to go through some preparations such as physical and spiritual training, prayer, observance of taboos, sympathetic magic and ritual cleansing, and had their own secret and sacred songs and dances (pg. 2). The Makah eventually stopped whaling because of the shortage of grey whales and politics. They had been carrying diseases through the oil they traded causing the price of the whale oil to be pushed down along with other oils such as cottonseed and rapeseed (pg. 4). This disease of influenza, smallpox, and tuberculosis caused many traditions (whaling) to not be passed down to other
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The Importance Of Hunting Neah Whales

I believe the Makah tribes should be granted the waiver to continue to hunt gray whales. In 1855, the Makah Indians signed over thousands of acres of land to the Federal Government. Whaling is very important to the Makah, so much in fact that “In 1855 when the Makah ceded thousands of acres of land to the government of the United States, they explicitly reserved their right to whale within the Treaty of Neah Bay.” When that Treaty of Neah Bay was signed the Makah, people exchanged not only their…

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