Both the Skokomish Indian Tribe and the Squaxin Island Tribe participate in the Canoe Journey, a ritual that encompasses great healing, hope, happiness, honor and hospitality.

The Journey began with nine canoes as the “Paddle to Seattle” in 1989. In 2006, the Paddle to Muckleshoot hosted more than 60 canoes and over 40,000 participants. Last year, canoes came from as far as St.Paul Island, Alaska and the Grand Ronde Tribe in Oregon, traveling the routes of ancestral highways. Traditional canoes are fashioned from felled trees, with the carving, shaping and painting a ritual bond among young and old craft-workers of the tribe. As in ancient times, the paddlers can take weeks to reach their destination. In 2007, the Lummi Nation hosts the Journey, celebrating the reawakening of their culture through their first potlatch (official feast for guests) since 1937.

Purpose of the ritual

The Canoe Journey seeks to honor the centuries-old custom of transport, harvest and trade by the Coast Salish tribes, many of whom traveled the Puget Sound waters to meet and gather for festivities.

The arrival is a grand ritual, marked by drumming, dance and song. Tribal elders and leaders proclaim their common history, renew alliances, or seek to start fresher, stronger ones. Tribes proclaim their mutual respect and need for each other.

Relationships are strengthened, family ties are renewed, and young and old gather together during this drug and alcohol free event. Elders believe that through canoe-pulling, a tribe achieves perfect harmony and balance. Great healing occurs.

“It is one of the deeply tragic ironies of history that European explorers failed to comprehend the protocol of welcoming and tradition of generosity deeply embedded in Northwest Coast Native culture at the time of historic contact. The arrival of strangers on the shore was a common occasion. Differences of language and dress were accounted for in the welcoming protocol. Enemy and friend could be accommodated in dignity and generosity.

“In the common gesture of an open hand, a polite request and the display of humble need, Europeans might have built on the common bond they had as seafaring people. As guests, and not as conquerors, the newcomers might have found their place in ‘the New World’ as co-inhabitants on these shores.

“Five hundred years of history will not be unwritten, but the lessons still apply. We are all here together. Our lives are now inextricably intertwined. In a grand sense, we share the shores and we share the canoe. And as we learn together, we rediscover a basic language—a protocol—both humble and generous, of journeying together.”

-From NOAA Ocean Explorer By Robert Steelquist

"The 'journey' is an opportunity to teach prevention through our culture," explains Herman Williams Jr., tribal council chairman of the Tulalip Tribes. "It brings self-esteem and reminds us all where we come from."

From The Canoe Journey page on our Blog:

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