Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC)

Sxxwiyám Places

S’ólh Téméxw is our world, as Stó:lō people. Our world is unique. It is built from our ancient and close connection with the land, the rivers, and our relatives. It is full of thousands of years of our history. Like a library, the land contains information. Libraries contain books with titles telling us what information they hold. The land contains important places, which are named, reflecting connections between our land and people.

We are an oral society. Since time immemorial, we shared knowledge without writing—by teaching, telling stories, listening and watching how things were done. One way of sharing information was to attach it to the land. By naming places, our history and knowledge is stored in the land for us to remember. S’ólh Téméxw is alive with our knowledge! The Halq’eméylem word ‘xel’ means ‘to inscribe, or to write,’ as in to write on the land. The name for our Transformer, Xexá:ls, is close to this word. Xexá:ls are the four black bears, three brothers and a sister, children of Red-headed Woodpecker and his wife Black Bear. They travelled the land at a time when there was no veil between the spirit and physical worlds, when people shifted forms like the sturgeon ancestor of our Sq’éwlets people. Their actions showed us how to live and behave as good Stó:lō people.

Through these transformations of people into stone, Xexá:ls “wrote” down a very old history. Our important places contain knowledge about our events, environment, resources, travel and other things. It is important that we see these places, as our ancestors at Qithyil saw many such sxxwiyám places in the Central Fraser Valley. The view from our Band Office, near where most of our community now lives, has a more limited view. In common with our ancestors we still see Lhílheqey, the mother mountain, and her daughters as a connection to the Central Fraser Valley and sxxwiyám shared by many of our Stó:lō relatives.

Our sxxwiyám is carried in the names of our places. The maps presented here show our world, S’ólh Téméxw, from above. The maps show sxxwiyám places in red that we can see from two places. The first map shows a set of places visible from where the Harrison and Fraser Rivers meet near Qithyil, our ancient village. The second map shows a set of places visible from our Band Office. What we see from our homes now situated around our Band Office has changed since we were set on this Reserve. It is important that our young people understand how our daily lives have been changed by the Indian Reserve system. It is important that our youth remain connected to the places that for thousands of years our ancestors saw from their homes as part of their daily lives at Qithyil. These views of place names from both our Band Office and Qithyil show our ancestral and current connections to our viewscape.

The names of these places can be heard by clicking on them.

View through conifers from a hill down onto a river with low cloud

View of the Harrison River feeding into the Fraser River

Sxxwiyám View from the Qithyil Site

Map of the region around Sqewlets marked with important cultural places.

Legend: Viewshed Skiwxo:mexws Analyis

  • Qithyil
  • Skiwxo:mexws (Des lieux des sxxwiyám)

Location

  • Stó:lo
  • Xomó:th'iya
  • Skw'ikw'ets'tel
  • Kw'ekw'e'í:qw
  • Sqwemá:y
  • Lhilheqey
  • Lhílheqey’s Sisters
  • Óyewot
  • S'óyewot
  • Qithyil Site
  • A high forested mountain set against the blue sky.

    Stó:lo

    Stó:lō means river. Since it is used for the Fraser, the most important river in Stó:lō culture, some sources give the meaning as River of Rivers. It can be used for any river, but by default speakers use it to refer to the Fraser river.

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  • Power lines in the foreground and a tall forested mountain in the background.

    Xomó:th'iya

    This is a small peak next to Mount Cheam, the youngest sister of Lhílheqey, who cries. The root is x_á:m - to cry, with the ending -iya ending (literally 'dear'). The ending -iya is common in female names.

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  • Farmland with houses in the mind-ground and forested mountains in the background.

    Skw'ikw'ets'tel

    The literal meaning of Skw'ikw'ets'tel is 'butchering tools' or 'fish butchering device'. Some sources give the meaning as 'cut fish'.

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  • A very large sloping hill in the distance with a river valley below.

    Kw'ekw'e'í:qw

    The name means 'fish heads sticking up or 'heads sticking up'. One Elder comments 'so called because you go over a hump of hill and slide down the other side face up' (in Dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem).

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  • A rocky mountain peak set against the blue sky.

    Sqwemá:y

    Sqwemá:y means dog.

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  • Deciduous trees in the foreground and rocky mountain beyond.

    Lhilheqey

    The name may come from the root lhélqi - soak fish, meat, or berries (i.e. rehydrate food). Some Elders give an alternative meaning: that the name means glacier.

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  • A rocky mountain peak set against the blue sky.

    Lhílheqey’s Sisters

    The general term for Lhílheqey's sisters would be ye el'álexs the Lhílheqey (literally the siblings of Lhílheqey).

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  • A rocky mountain peak set against the blue sky.

    Óyewot

    No clear root is identifiable here, though the name may be based on the root óy, associated with slowness and delay.

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  • A rocky mountain peak set against the blue sky.

    S'óyewot

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  • River reflecting a cloud-streaked sky.

    Qithyil

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Sxxwiyám View From the Sq’éwlets Band Office

Map of the region around Sqewlets marked with important cultural places.

Legend: Viewshed Skiwxo:mexws Analyis

  • Sq’éwlets Band Office
  • Skiwxo:mexws (Placenames)

Locations

  • Kw'ekw'e'í:qw
  • Óyewot
  • Xomó:th'iya
  • S'óyewot
  • Sqwemá:y
  • Lhilheqey
  • Lhílheqey’s Sisters
  • Sq’éwlets Band Office
  • A very large sloping hill in the distance with a river valley below.

    Kw'ekw'e'í:qw

    The name means 'fish heads sticking up' or 'heads sticking up'. One Elder comments 'so called because you go over a hump of hill and slide down the other side face up' (in Dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem).

    Close
  • A rocky mountain peak set against the blue sky.

    Óyewot

    No clear root is identifiable here, though the name may be based on the root óy, associated with slowness and delay.

    Close
  • Power lines in the foreground and a tall forested mountain in the background.

    Xomó:th'iya

    This is a small peak next to Mount Cheam, the youngest sister of Lhílheqey, who cries. The root is x_á:m - to cry, with the ending -iya ending (literally 'dear'). The ending -iya is common in female names.

    Close
  • A rocky mountain peak set against the blue sky.

    S'óyewot

    Close
  • A rocky mountain peak set against the blue sky.

    Sqwemá:y

    Sqwemá:y means dog.

    Close
  • Deciduous trees in the foreground and rocky mountain beyond.

    Lhilheqey

    The name may come from the root lhélqi - soak fish, meat, or berries (i.e. rehydrate food). Some Elders give an alternative meaning: that the name means glacier.

    Close
  • A rocky mountain peak set against the blue sky.

    Lhílheqey’s Sisters

    The general term for Lhílheqey's sisters would be ye el'álexs the Lhílheqey (literally the siblings of Lhílheqey).

    Close
  • Sq’éwlets Band Office

    Sq’éwlets Band Office

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