Paddle To Quinault

Elders on Land Singing to Warriors

Super, spur of the moment day.  Started out by driving about 45 minutes east bound, towards Seattle, to Silverdale, a town that has a Jayco dealer, our 5th wheel manufacturer's dealer.  We needed to talk with Jayco about a concern we have.  Still not sure about the concern and will have 2 more weeks to figure out something, anything, or nothing.  We were not far from a town called Poulsbo (pronounced Pauls - boe) which is a waterfront community on Puget Sound, a Norwegian settlement (they call it Little Norway) and there we would find Sluys' Bakery, a renowned shop with all kinds of yummies.  And they were right - delicious.

Filled up on pastry and coffee and while at the shop a women said - go see the long boats in Suquamish today - they arrive sometime after 2.  Huh? Well now!! Did not know anything about this - but what the heck.  We were planning on seeing Chief Seattle's grave and touring the Suquamish Museum anyhow so why not check this out while in town?

Canoes coming in - asking permission to land

Wow, Wow, Wow!!!!!  We stood on the land with all the other Suquamish Indians and who knows who else and watched as each long boat (canoe) came in.  It is so hard to describe this event - proud for the Suquamish of hosting this leg of the event; envious of so deep a culture and connection these people have to each other; and humbled that we were allowed to watch this celebration.  As each canoe came in, the warriors on board would chant a song while the elders on land would also sing back to them.  At one point the head warrior would sing to the chief elder and ask permission to land.  After talk back and forth, they are granted permission and there is shouting of happiness from all.  The warriors have given their last year to a drug free, alcohol free, clean living as they train for this ardous task of pulling (not rowing) 500 miles to the conclusion.  These canoes are heavy and it literally takes a town to lift them up and out of the water.  The warriors are hosted to food, entertainment and laughter, dancing, story telling, then the next morning they have a ceremony and off they go to the next stop.  Very ceremonious, dating back hundreds of years.

see YouTube clip     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zslwYuwemjw

Here's the website for more info.....     www.paddletoquinault.org

So dazzled that two hours prior to being in Suquamish we hadn't a clue this was going on.  Sensory overload.  As it was, we saw 10 canoes come in, 3 had already arrived, 2 more were coming after we left - and they were being joined each leg of the journey by more and more.  Over 90 canoes from Canada, US, and New Zealand are participating in this journey as they started from the southern part of Puget Sound (Olympia) to the upper reaches of British Columbia and from New Zealand, converging at Elwah which is just west of Port Angeles where all 90 will continue on around the northern peninsula (Neah Bay)  south to Quinault 500 miles from start of Olympia to Quinault.

Bringing Canoe on Land - Need Lots of Help

Each hosting tribe raises the money to house, feed, and educate other tribes as well as the general public.  No monies come from any government.  By the time they get to Quinault (we were there last week), there will be over 15,000 people visiting each day that the celebration goes on.  And tall ships will escort the canoes as they come in starting August 1 through the 6th.  Amazing, amazing day!