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| La Push, WA, USA (La Push, Washington)
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La Push
La Push is an unincorporated community near Forks, Washington (see Forks, Washington). La Push is part of the Quileute Indian Reservation. The community was also featured in the fictional Twilight seres of novels by Stephenie Meyer.
The Quileutes
The Quileute tribe is one of the Northwestern Native American tribes of North America. They are known for their their language, which does not use any "m" or "n" sounds and features very long words that serve as complete sentences unto themselves. Only tribal elders and a few others continue to use the language in modern day.
Northwestern tribes were different from other Native American tribes in practicing ownership of possessions and rights to things such as songs, dancing (sort of a Native American patent) and fishing rights. The Quileutes also owned slaves. One aspect of the this Northwestern Native American culture was the tradition of the potlatch.
Potlatch ceremonies were a means to both redistribute wealth and for powerful tribe leaders to demonstrate their wealth to others. Part of this display of wealth involved the person holding the potlatch to destroy some of his personal property. This could either be very good or very bad news for slaves owned by the individual throwing the potlatch. At times slaves would be set free as part of the ceremony...at other times, they were sacrificed. Most often the display of wealth would simply involve an owner throwing valuable objects into a fire to show that he had so much that he didn't need them. The more valuable the objects, the more a show of power the act was.
Following the destruction of property, the person throwing the potlatch would then proceed to distribute gifts among his guests. With each gift, the giver would traditionally verbally insult the person receiving the gift. The person receiving the gift would then be expected to give a gift back twice or more in value to the giver at the next potlatch. Sometimes, the gift received (hopefully not a slave in this instance) was destroyed by the receiver to demonstrate their own wealth and/or insult the gift-giver back in return. The ceremonies also involved dancing and feasting.
Potlatches are erroneously linked to the tradition of potluck. While similar in sound and involving food, potlucks stem from European tradition and its origins lie in a different purpose. Where potatches celebrated waste as a display of wealth and power, potlucks were created to eliminate the waste of food in communities that couldn't afford to waste it.
Potlatch ceremonies were eventually banned as part of settlers attempts to "civilize" Native Americans and convert them to Christianity. Potlatches have since re-emerged into practice among certain tribes as a means of preserving their heritage.
Native American legend has it that the Quileutes are descended from wolves. According to Quileute mythology, a being known alternately as Dokibatt, K'wa'iti, The Trickster, the Transformer and The Changer (with the latter three titles at times being attached to the previous two names) made the first Quileute out of a wolf he stumbled upon during his travels. Author Stephenie Meyer would later make minor use of the actual Quileute legends while creating her Twilight Saga.
Twilight
In the Twilight series of novels, the character of Jacob Black is a Quileute who resides in La Push. It is at First Beach (see First Beach, La Push, WA) in La Push that Jacob comes across his childhood friend Bella Swan, and tells her a story about the Cullen family (a coven of vampires residing in Forks). In the second book, New Moon, Jacob discovers that he, himself, is a werewolf. He, along with several of his Quileute 'brothers' are sworn to protect La Push from their sworn enemies, the 'Cold Ones'. Many years ago, the Quileutes forged a treaty with the vampires, which prohibited the Cullens from trespassing on Quileute lands, and allowed the two groups to live in the same vacinity in relative peace. This treaty hinged on the requirement that the Cullens never feed on human blood. It is also in New Moon that Bella nearly dies while cliff-jumping in La Push. Jacob hears her screams and saves her from drowning.
The Forks Chamber of Commerce offers a tour of local locations used in the books (see Forks Chamber of Commerce Twilight Tours). This includes taking tourists through La Push. |
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| Related Sites |
Wikipedia: La Push, Washington
Wikipedia entry for La Push, Washington. A location featured in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. |
Forks, Washington Chamber of Commerce
Web site for the Chamber of Commerce of Forks, Washington, setting for Stephenie Meyer's Twilight novels. |
Go Twilight
Web site for Twilight tourism in Forks, Washington. |
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| Similar Destinations |
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| See Also on TheCabinet.com |
| Blog: Vampires and Twilight in Forks (10/05/08) |
| Blog: The Dark Destinations Top 50 for Spring 2009 (05/24/09) |
| Blog: Top 20 Dark Destinations for Month of January 2010 (01/31/10) |
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| Available from Amazon.com |
The Twilight Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series |
The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide (Twilight Saga) |
Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion |
Twilight [Theatrical Release] |
Twilight Soundtrack |
Twilight Single Sided One Sheet 27x41 Movie Poster |
The Lion Fell In Love with the Lamb Women's Cut T-Shirt |
I love Edward Sweatshirt |
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