P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony

by Scot Ritchie

Overview

It’s the day of the first salmon ceremony, and P'ésk'a is excited to celebrate. His community, the Sts'ailes people, give thanks to the river and the salmon it brings by commemorating the first salmon of the season.

Framed as an exploration of what life was like one thousand years ago, P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony describes the customs of the Sts'ailes people, an Indigenous group who have lived on what is now the Harrison River in British Columbia for the last 10,000 years. Includes an introductory letter from Chief William Charlie, an illustrated afterword and a glossary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773067599
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	09/05/2023
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

SCOT RITCHIE is an award-winning illustrator and author with more than seventy books to his credit, including Tug, P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony, Federica and Owen at the Park. His books have been translated into French, Korean, Indonesian, Polish, Finnish, Arabic and Dutch. Scot has worked with the National Film Board of Canada and has exhibited his illustrations at the National Gallery of Canada. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Read an Excerpt

P'ésk'a opens his eyes. Today is an important day for his people, the Sts’ailes.
But the special tray needed for the ceremony has been left behind, and without it, there won't be a celebration!

“Come on, Muqmeqe.”
With the tray under his arm, P'ésk'a goes looking for the Si:yam, the chief. Every spring P'ésk'a’s people celebrate the First Salmon Ceremony. It’s their way of saying thank you — “Huy ch q’u!” — to the river for all the salmon it brings.

Salmon is the most important food for the Sts'ailes people, but P'ésk'a and his family also rely on other animals, berries and cedar trees. Everything the Sts'ailes need to survive is found in the forest and the river.

Editorial Reviews

Ritchie successfully and engagingly balances storytelling with accurate history in this depiction of Indigenous life … 1,000 years ago.

Booklist

The combination of lively pictures and informative text makes this a winner for primary collections in school and public libraries. Recommended.

CM Magazine

"Ritchie successfully and engagingly balances storytelling with accurate history in this depiction of
indigenous life in Canada 1,000 years ago." — Booklist

"An afterword furnishes more about this ancient band's way of life, and a short glossary provides an opportunity to sample its language. . . . A good initial introduction to a lesser-known First Nations people." — Kirkus Reviews

"The combination of lively pictures and informative text makes this a winner for primary collections in school and public libraries. Recommended." — CM Magazine

From the Publisher

2015-06-29
A glimpse of life along British Columbia's Harrison River, a millennium ago. When P'ésk'a, a child of the Sta'ailes (also known as Chehalis) people, wakes to discover that a special tray needed for the First Salmon Ceremony has been left behind, he snatches it up and hurries riverward to deliver it to the Siyá:m (chief). Respectfully noting that this is an "interpretation of a time and place" 1,000 years ago, Ritchie threads his rudimentary plotline through village scenes of lightly clad people busily at work: fishing, building, hollowing out a cedar log for a canoe, making drums, weaving baskets, preparing the feast, and finally gathering on the bank to give thanks for the sth'óqwi (salmon) that is "the greatest gift." The illustrations are created with abbreviated brush strokes and short, loosely drawn pen lines and have the warm, detailed look of Bob Graham's work. First Salmon ceremonies are common throughout the Pacific Northwest, and aside from some distinctively patterned hats and a few other details, there is not much to distinguish the figures or their surroundings from any of the region's small traditional settlements. Still, an afterword furnishes more about this ancient band's way of life, and a short glossary provides an opportunity to sample its language. Though there's not much of a storyline, the book is a good initial introduction to a lesser-known First Nations people. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews