Pavel, Miller & Pavel, write that according to their elders teaching in the Skokomish tradition, the earth was first inanimate; water, earth, air - these elements gave the plant tribes life. Plant tribes were followed by the animal people and each of the beings were thought to have held a life force (56). The Great Spirit gave these beings knowledge to share with each other. Another name for the Great Spirit is the Transformer who after orientating each life form to its knowledge created humans by molding red clay and breathing life into them and giving them the means of creation that honor to the women (56-57). The Skokomish, call this the “breath of our ancestors”. Knowledge was passed to the human beings through their relationship with the
