Stamina, Patience and Generosity

August 13, 2025

Route Map

One of our goals at FECO is to honor and learn from the First Peoples who lived on and cared for the land where we garden. Volunteering at the 2025 Tribal Canoe Journey presented a good opportunity to take in characteristics of these Indigenous Peoples’ world view and learn more about their relationship to the land, to the water and toward each other.

Last Friday, on the ferry from Edmonds, Lee and I spotted Orka whales starboard. I said to Lee, “This could be a good sign.”

We arrived at 9:00pm to the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation. We just missed dinner so we got a bite at the Casino and then observed Protocol in a massive temporary tent, large enough to fit more than a basketball court plus bleachers!

During Protocal, after their canoe landing, each of the 40 participating tribes presented their songs, dances and tributes and then distributed gifts. We watched the presentation of the Puyallup Tribe for a bit and then left to set up our tents, joining thousands of other campers in nearby open fields.

Saturday we both volunteered most of the day, helping with different tasks in different locations. Tribal members were constantly thanking us for our service. While helping to direct visitors to the portable showers, I had the opportunity to engage with several tribal members.

Gumweed-a medicinal plant

One young man, who was waiting to help his brother navigate the shower, answered my question about whether there are right and left-handed paddlers. “No. Everyone switches sides so you are balanced. We switch sides about every 52 strokes.”

The showers needed to be shut down daily so I was trying to allow a few tribal members to shower in a portable that was not yet closed. “How fast can you shower?”, I asked a very sturdy man. “I’m military”, he responded, “I’ll be quick.” He had tattoos that filled his large corpus and, while waiting for an empty stall, he explained one of the tattoos. “I designed this one”. He pointed to his right shoulder. “This one is to remember my mom.” I could sense him welling up a bit.

One other man shared a few words in a very different native language. I skipped over to him as he was walking to his car. “Excuse me, what language were you speaking?” He told me his lineage but I lost the names of the seven tribes after the fourth name. They were tribes largely from northern Mexico. I could tell he spoke Spanish by the way he spoke English. But he was in command of other languages as well. What I was drawn to was the rolling of letter r. He rolled his Rs faster than a pine warbler’s trill! Very elegant.

Canoe landing beach

During a break I walked north to the beach to see some of the canoes and notice the native plants growing in the rocks and sand. I looked to the north and surmised that the courage to cross this Straight in a canoe comes from knowledge that is in the blood of the paddlers, based on thousands of years of ancestral crossings.

At another break I watched more of the activities in the Protocol tent. I sat down and paid close attention to the dancers, wondering how long it might take to learn the steps. The pattern repeated for this Tribe’s hour and forty five minute presentation – dancing, signing and drumming and then gift giving and appreciations.

On Sunday we resumed our volunteer work. I knew where everything was by that time and could orient a couple of new volunteers. We ran out of several breakfast items but the line of hungry tribal members was still out the door.

One man came through the line with a child about 3 or 4 year’s old. The little one could barely see the top of the table. The adult was not holding a second plate for the young child. He was patiently showing the boy how to hold the plate so that his food would not spill.

There was another break for me at around noon and so I headed to the protocol tent again. The dancers circled around in front of the bleachers several times. The men and boys were dancing with vigor inside the circle of women and girls. It made me tired looking at them going around and around and …

Then the appreciations began. This was the Chehalis Tribe presenting so they had stops at several other tribal locations on their way north. Each host tribe was honored and thanked thoroughly.

“Would a representative from the Nisqually Tribe please come up.” A man climbed out of the bleachers and the Chehalis presenter expressed appreciation and presented gifts to the representative. Then, after some time, “Would someone from the Puyallup Tribe please come up.” More appreciations. More gifts. “Would someone from the Muckleshoot Tribe … Would someone from the Suquamish tribe … Pt. Gamble … Pt Townsend … Jamestown. More thanks and more gifts. Then, the dancers came out again and circled around to the music of the drums and the singing from members of the Chehalis Tribe.

The elders sat in chairs in front of the bleachers to make their passage easy and also to be honored. Younger Chehalis tribal members acknowledged the elders and provided gifts for them. I watched the facial expressions of the elders as they received gifts. They did not bubble over and reciprocate with some joyous interaction with the young members. They expected to be honored. They are older, they have taught their children and grandchildren well and they are still teaching. They are wise and they are fully credited for that wisdom.

At the end of the weekend, Lee wanted to attend a bit of protocol in the tent before we headed back to Seattle. We watched the Nooksac group dance and drum and sing for some time and then they announced that they had some important business to take care of (appreciations and gift-giving.) I asked Lee if he was ready to head home. From Lee, “The appreciations should not take long.” My eyes opened wide. “Lee, this will take 45 minutes.”

As we walked out it finally sunk into my western-entrenched mind. What I had witnessed, all throughout the weekend, were demonstrations of stamina, patience and generosity. Pondering these three qualities, I could not think of qualities that could be any more important for long-term survival.

I was exhausted when I got home. Physically from lack of sleep plus navigating how to be the most useful but also emotionally. I endured several reminders of how saturated I am in Eurocentric behavior: so often forgetting to pause, or not allowing my heart catch up with my mind, or making the assumptions based on my filters, rather than just paying attention.

All in all, a very rich weekend and a wonderful opportunity to witness a different and appealing world view. And, some of the favorable impact rubbed off! On Tuesday, when I welcomed a volunteer at FECO, I didn’t just blurt out, “I am hoping you would be willing to ….”. Instead, my first words were, “How is your day going?”

Ruth

Notes:

Indigenous cultural and spiritual gatherings were outlawed under the potlatch ban in 1886.
The annual canoe journey began again in 1989 (Paddle to Seattle – in conjunction with Seattle’s centennial celebration).

An estimated 100 canoes landed on beach within the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation, near to the mouth of the Elwha river.