Table Manners: These early people served two meals
a day. The first meal was served around 10 in the morning, after the morning
work. The next meal was served around sundown. The men would sit down first,
at the mat. Before coming to the table, they had to wash their hands and
face, twice. They dried themselves with soften cedar bark that acted as toweling.
Before coming to the table, they would take a long drink from the drinking
bucket, and then they would sit down. (It was not considered good manners
to drink at the table.)
Courses were served in wooden platters. These platters were about a
foot and half long, and were ornately carved from cedar. Places were hollowed
out to hold various foods. There was even a hollowed out spot to hold fish
oil, for food dunking. They used spoons to eat, carved from bone or shell.
Once the men were served, the women would join them at the mat. The
family talked to each other during meals. It was a social time, a time to
relax a bit, before returning to work. They quite often invited people from
outside their family to meals.
