A leading light in the Grandmothers Council recently visited the Central Oregon Coast to share in the festivities at the annual Siletz Pow Wow. Agnes Baker Pilgrim, who is a stately 84 years old, is a founding member of this group of spiritually-grounded indigenous grandmothers from around the world who have chosen to be a force for positive change in our troubled times. The depth of wisdom and knowledge they represent is truly amazing.
Council of 13 Grandmothers in New York, 2004
Agnes Baker Pilgrim
Grandma Aggie, as she is fondly known, is the oldest surviving member of her family which originated on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. In the late 1800’s her tribe was forcibly relocated to the Central Oregon Coast to a reservation at the headwaters of the Siletz River at what was to become the community of Siletz in Eastern Lincoln County. Throughout her life, Grandma Aggie worked to be a voice for the voiceless of the flora and fauna of our world many years before society began to realize the critical nature of preserving our environment. One of her most impressive accomplishments was to recreate the Salmon Ceremony which had been out of practice for 150 years. Hence she is the Keeper of the Salmon Ceremony. Salmon were a major focus in the economy and spiritual life of all Northwest Native American tribes.
As a young boy in 1950 I was privileged to visit Celilo Falls on the Columbia River to see Native Fisherman dip netting migrating salmon as their people had done for thousands of years. My Father encouraged me to remember this sight as I would never see it again. Shortly thereafter the Dalles Dam was constructed and flooded this ancient fishing grounds. Grandma Aggie is very much a treasure to us here on the Coast, not to mention to her sisters on the Grandmothers Council.
Local tribes fishing at Celilo falls in the 1950s. Photograph: Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
