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.
