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The Makah Indians have had a 70 year hiatus on whale hunting, but in recent years with fear of their youth loosing touch with their traditions, the tribe has  attempted to reinstate the whale hunt.

A. Describe how the Makah tribe qualifies as a folk culture.
B. Explain how the whale hunt is either a material or non-material cultural trait.
C. Explain how popular culture has become an obstacle to folk cultures retaining their cultures, using the Makah tribe as an example.

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Does Culture Trump Animal Warfare?

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What is more important: honoring a Native American tribe's 2,000-year-old tradition and its 160-year-old treaty with the United States, or protecting the lives of gray whales?

That's the question at the core of the Makah tribe's desire to resume hunting gray whales. The Washington state native nation has asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to waive federal marine mammal protections that ban the hunt, and they believe the law is on their side. As former chairman Ben Johnson Jr. wrote to NOAA in 2005, "Under the 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay, the Makah Tribe secured an express right to hunt whales throughout its usual and accustomed grounds and stations."

The Makah historically hunted gray whales for food and spiritual ceremonies but ceased in the 1920s, when gray whale numbers were at an all-time low.

After the federal government ended endangered species protections for gray whales in 1994, the tribe set out to resume its traditional practice. In 1999 Makah hunters legally killed the tribe's first gray whale in more than seven decades.

Since then, the Makah and the federal government have been steadily in and out of court with opponents of whale hunting. In 2005 the Makah applied again for a whaling-ban waiver, without success.

Now the tribe has again asked NOAA for permission to hunt, proposing to take up to 20 gray whales in any five-year period, with five whales killed at most during any calendar year. The agency recently responded with a 1,230-page draft environmental impact analysis that includes several options, from maintaining the ban to allowing up to 24 whales to be hunted over a six-year period.

"This is the public's opportunity to look at the alternatives," NOAA official Donna Darm said in a statement, "and let us know if we have fully and completely analyzed the impacts."

The public can comment on the report until June 11, but a number of animal rights groups have already shared their views against the hunt.

Some argue that the Makah do not qualify for " aboriginal subsistence whaling" allowances under the rules of the International Whaling Commission. "Whaling must be central to the culture of the claimants," said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, the executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation in North America, in an email, "and the claimants must have a long and uninterrupted history of whaling."

The Makah can't make the latter claim, she said, because of their 70-year hunting hiatus in the 20th century.

Another concern is genetic diversity. According to NOAA spokesman Michael Milstein, "Some distinct groups of gray whales may be amongst the larger Pacific population that migrates up and down the West Coast" but are not visually distinguishable from the much larger Pacific population.

They include western North Pacific gray whales, which are known to travel from Asia to North America and, at an estimated 130 individuals, are critically endangered.

The other is a population of gray whales that remains in the Pacific Northwest over the summer rather than migrating south to Mexico. This group's numbers may be only in the hundreds, and some could be killed during the proposed Makah hunt.

Makah tribal council chairman T.J. Greene did not respond to an interview request. He recently told a reporter with UPI that he hopes the new application for a legal hunt "leads to being able to practice our traditions, our culture."

Should culture trump animal welfare? Opponents of aboriginal whaling have sometimes been labeled as racist or culturally insensitive.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," D.J. Schubert, a wildlife biologist at the Animal Welfare Institute, said in an email. "The reality is that circumstances change, traditions change, and cultures change."

Instead of whaling, the Makah tribe should establish whale-watching operations, Schubert said. That would allow it to "interact with the gray whale without harming them, bring tourists and their revenue to Neah Bay, while allowing the Makah to educate people about their culture and heritage."

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Native Americans Want to Hunt Gray Whales, Again. Do They Have the Right?

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What is more important: honoring a Native American tribe's 2,000-year-old tradition and its 160-year-old treaty with the United States, or protecting the lives of gray whales? That's the question at the core of the Makah tribe's desire to resume hunting gray whales.

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How has popular culture become an obstacle to reinvigorating traditional culture

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To get ready for the hunt, whalers went off by themselves to pray, fast and bathe ceremonially

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Makah Whaling - A Gift from the Sea

Whaling and whales are central to Makah culture. The event of a whale hunt requires rituals and ceremonies which are deeply spiritual. Makah whaling the subject and inspiration of Tribal songs, dances, designs, and basketry. For the Makah Tribe, whale hunting provides a purpose and a discipline which benefits their entire community. It is so important to the Makah, 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.

Makah whaling tradition provides oil, meat, bone, sinew and gut for storage containers: useful products, though gained at a high cost in time and goods.

The Makah Whale Hunt

To get ready for the hunt, whalers went off by themselves to pray, fast and bathe ceremonially. Each man had his own place, followed his own ritual, and sought his own power. Weeks or months went into this special preparation beginning in winter and whalers devoted their whole lives to spiritual readiness.

Men waited for favorable weather and ocean conditions and then paddled out, eight in a canoe. They timed their departure so that they would arrive on the whaling grounds at daybreak.

Paddling silently, whalers studied the breathing pattern of their quarry. They knew from experience what to expect. As the whale finished spouting and returned underwater, the leader of the hunt directed the crew to where it would next surface. There the men waited.

When the whale rose, the paddlers held the canoe just to its left, their speed matched to that of the animal. As the back broke the surface, the harpooner struck and the crew instantly paddled backward, putting all possible distance between the canoe and the wounded prey so as to avoid the thrashing tail flukes. A hit in the shoulder blade interfered with use of the flippers and slowed the whale. Floats of sealskin blown up like huge balloons were attached to the harpoon line to slow down the whale. Harpoons weren't intended to kill the whale, but to secure the sealskin floats to them until they tired themselves and could be fatally lanced. Shafts of yew wood measured 12 to 18 feet long. The heavy wood added to the harpooner's thrust to help the blade pierce deeply. Splices in the shaft deadened the springiness to permit for further penetration. They also let the shaft break rather than hit the canoe repeatedly if the whale rolled. Additionally, they allowed for a clean break rather than splintering making them easy to repair.

Shafts fell away once the harpoon head had been set. In a whale, the head of the harpoon turned partly sideways. Barbs of elk antler helped to keep it from pulling out. Each one made of mussel shell was placed on each side of the blade. Spruce pitch was used to smooth the head. This was confirmed when discoveries at Ozette revealed the pitch to be still pungent after 500 years within the earth. Whale sinew was plied into rope and bound with wild cherry bark to attach the harpoon head to as much as 40 fathoms of additional rope. This line, which consisted of twisted cedar boughs, was carried coiled within the baskets so that it would play out easily and wouldn't entangle the canoe's occupants.

A telltale float at the end of the line acted as a marker so that the whalers could follow their prey, setting additional harpoons and staying out overnight if it was merited. Eventually the time came for the final kill which was done using a specialized lance.

The next step was to tow the whale home. Hopefully, the distance would only be a few miles if its spirit had heeded prayers to swim for the beach. If not, the distance could be up to 10 miles or more. To prevent the whale from sinking, a diver would lace the mouth shut. This kept water from flooding into the stomach, weighing the carcass down and complicating the tow.

Songs eased the paddling and welcomed the whale to the village. The songs welcomed the returning hunters and praised the power that made it all possible.

Makah Whaling History and Modern Times

The relationship between Makah and whales is very old. Ozette deposits dating from 2,000 years ago hold humpback and gray whale bones and barbs from harpoons. The relationship is also very recent. The Makah Tribe resumed whale hunting under international and domestic law, and on May 17, 1999 to harvest their first whale in 70 years.

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Makah Whaling & Whale Hunt - Makah Tribe (Neah Bay, Washington)

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Makah Whaling - A Gift from the Sea Whaling and whales are central to Makah culture. The event of a whale hunt requires rituals and ceremonies which are deeply spiritual. Makah whaling the subject and inspiration of Tribal songs, dances, designs, and basketry. For the Makah Tribe, whale hunting provides a purpose and a discipline ...

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Placed 1st in Washington state and 12th nationally in the National History Day Competition 2011. Theme- Debate and Diplomacy: Successes, Failures and Consequences