Sterling Silver Salmon Earrings

Tshimshian legend tells of five different villages of Salmon people which corresponds with the five different varieties of Salmon. The villages were spread around the edge of the ocean. In the early spring, one village at a time, the people would transform into Salmon. They would then swim across the ocean and up the rivers to spawn. The bones of the first Salmon caught every year by native people were either burned, as on the far Northwest Coast, or buried so that the Salmon Spirit would return. Salmon bones are believed to find their way back to the villages of Salmon People, where the first Salmon will become whole again and a renewal ceremony would be celebrated.