The "Tu-lap ti weah," the Chehalis Tribe canoe family's canoe, takes off from the dock while the public watches during a recent canoe family gathering at Millersylvania Park in Maytown. Canoe family members say gatherings are important for their own members and youth but are also a powerful way to educate the public about their canoes and journeys.
The "Tu-lap ti weah," the Chehalis Tribe canoe family's canoe is seen at Millersylvania Park in Maytown. The tribe was recently awarded over $1.3 million to enhance programs.
Suquamish tribal members Duane and Jason Napoleon look on as salmon cooks over a mobile fish pit built by Chehalis Tribal Enterprises.
Canoe Mama Sylvia Cayenne, who has handled ground support for Chehalis canoe family journeys since about 2007, plays a drum and sings along during a recent gathering of canoe families. Chehalis tribal chairman Don Secena watches in the background.
MAYTOWN — The minute you step onto "Tu-lap ti weah," the Chehalis Tribe canoe family's canoe, skipper Shannon Comenout is quick to point out his one piece of advice for a successful pull.
“One heart, one mind,” Comenout said.
A canoe may contain 10 people, but when they're pulling together, they work for unity. That’s the basic premise behind the Chehalis Tribe canoe family: bringing many together in one heart and one mind.
Since 2008, the Chehalis Tribe has sponsored a canoe family program, revitalizing the canoe heritage of their ancestors. Hweqwidi Hanford McCloud, director of the Nisqually Tribe's Leschi Heritage Foundation and a canoe skipper since 1999, said the first return of the canoe heritage in this region was a journey held in 1989 with 15 tribes. Twenty years later, the journey had grown to 6,000 participants and 84 canoes.
Canoe Journeys are a reminder of the northwest waterways once being the ancient highway system of the first people. Any tribal happenings such as marriages and naming ceremonies would include a potlatch to which all of the neighboring tribes would be invited.
“Once that invitation went out they'd tread those waterways and they'd stop and visit other tribes along the journey,” Hweqwidi Hanford McCloud said.
As a cultural program, canoe families began as a way to help give young tribal members a wholesome activity that connected them with their ancestry.
“It became this huge gathering of people and canoes and now the public is showing interest in it so it's been great,” Hweqwidi Hanford McCloud said.
Many reasons bring people to the canoe family but for most, heritage tops the list of reasons to pull. Chehalis Tribe canoe family member Mike McNair, who works for Chehalis Tribal police and whose two children are members of the tribe, said he participates for his children.
“It's family,” he said.
Glenda Delamater, the mother of McNair's children, started pulling two years ago. She and her children pull with both McNair as well as her significant other, Comenout. When asked why she became part of the group, Delamater simply said she felt it was important to do it for her children.
“They need to learn where they came from,” she said. “This is it. This is our way of life and this is what our ancestors did. It's important for them to know what they came from.”
Being part of a canoe family is not just about individual tribes though explained Joyce McCloud of the cultural program manager for the Nisqually Tribe's Leschi Heritage Foundation. Canoes were once the main means of transportation and most tribal movement involved visiting other tribes, which is why canoe journeys are so important, she explained. The Nisqually tribe will host the next canoe journey, which will take place in 2016. Joyce McCloud said canoe families will begin practicing and planning their routes this summer to get ready for the journey, which for some may take weeks. But the journeys are important, especially for young people, to experience the revitalized tradition of these visits, said Joyce McCloud.
“It's getting together, sharing food, sharing songs, sharing canoe practice,” she said.
On Saturday, those connections were on display at a canoe family event held at Millersylvania Park in Maytown. The event was part of the Washington State Parks Department's Arts in the Parks series and featured canoe rides, demonstrations, food and song. Don Secena, Chehalis Tribal Chairman for the 880-member tribe, said sharing their culture with the public is important to tribal members.
“It gets folks here to touch and smell the traditions,” Secena said. “You can't stand here and not feel the beat of the drum.”
The first lesson for canoe neophytes is that the vessels are canoes, never boats.
“Use the ‘B’ word and you'll be in the water,” Comenout joked.
Paddles (never oars) plying the water are called “pulls” and while they are a physical act pulling the canoe forward they are also a spiritual act, each one considered a prayer. "Tu-lap ti weah" is painted white and has white paddles, which canoe mama Sylvia Cayenne, who heads the land crew that supports pullers during a journey, said she likes to call her angels. Besides pulls, members can also make “power pulls,” a more powerful, spoken prayer.
“So one person will say '100 power pulls for Fred because he's not feeling well,'” Cayenne explained. “I've even heard 100 power pulls praying canoe mama will make fry bread for us.'”
Whether it's a long journey or a short practice, the most challenging part about pulling is staying focused the whole time. Pullers must watch the puller in front of you and dip your paddle at the same time. Delmater said she has heard of seasoned groups of pullers who pull in such unison that the canoe actually lifts up and skims the surface of the water.
But even the most serious paddlers occasionally lose focus and bang their paddle into their neighbor's paddle and often get splashed in the process.
“They call that a wake up call,” McNair said with a laugh.
McNair has been on practice pulls but not yet on a journey. He said his favorite part of being in the canoe is how peaceful it is on the water and out in nature. The most challenging part is knowing how many people are relying on you.
“It's just the ability to keep going,” McNair said. “Even though it hurts, you keep going.”
Delamater's first trip with the Chehalis canoe family was the journey to Quinalt in 2013. Canoes like the strip-built "Tu-lap ti weah" are wide bottomed and difficult to tip, but when you're out in the elements on a journey there can still be challenging moments.
“We were out on open water my first journey,” Delamater said. “You get out in the water and it's a humbling feeling.”
Song is almost as important a component to the canoe journey as the pull. Songs are sung before meals, from the shore to canoe and simply as the canoe moves along. Each song must be passed to you from another singer and there is no set songbook. Pullers simply sing as the spirit moves them.
“I think everyone on that canoe has a song in their heart the whole time,” Delamater said.
