‘Strong and resilient:’ Squaxin Island Tribe celebrates waters, culture with healing ceremony
Hundreds of people gathered at the southernmost point of Puget Sound Saturday to celebrate life, culture and the environment alongside the Squaxin Island Tribe.
The Healing of the Waters ceremony capped off the second Festival of the Steh-Chass on Budd Inlet in Olympia.
Chairman Kris Peters told the crowd people were holding the tribe’s culture, language, songs and dance out of reverence and honor for their Steh-Chass ancestors who did the same thing in the Olympia area thousands of years ago.
“We are as strong and as resilient and self determined as ever, and we’re proud,” he said. “But as Squaxins, we’re not just connected to our traditions. We are connected to the land. We are connected to the trees and the air and the animals. We are connected to these.”
Tribal members floated the water on canoes alongside members of the Muckleshoot Tribe to the 5th Avenue dam. The healing ceremony in part celebrated the long-deliberated decision to remove the dam and restore Capitol Lake to the Deschutes River estuary.
As the tribes directed their canoes toward the dam, they sang songs and played drums. Several tribal members who attended the last Healing of the Waters ceremony 30 years ago also were present Saturday.
Members of the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team helped hand out sachets of water from the downtown artesian well. Jaimie Cruz, vice chair of the Squaxin Island Tribe, directed people to join in on the ceremony by taking a drink of the water and pouring the rest into the sound.
As Cruz spoke about the importance of the Puget Sound and Deschutes River’s health and its connection to salmon and life as a whole, a school of salmon splashed in front of her. The event also drew attendance from great blue herons and harbor seals.
“These artesian waters are sacred and protected,” Cruz said. “People come from miles to stand near the water because they believe it’s filled with good minerals and good medicine.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2024 at 8:26 PM.