PORT ANGELES — The beat of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s drums could be heard across Port Angeles Harbor on Monday as they welcomed to Hollywood Beach others participating in the 2017 Canoe Journey.
The tribe sang “we are one” as the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and Nisqually Indian Tribe landed Monday afternoon.
For Hanford McCloud, a Nisqually tribal councilman, canoe coordinator and skipper, hearing the drums and seeing the crowd as he arrived helped give extra strength to finish the pull.
“It’s refreshing when you come around a corner out here and you’ve been in the water for five hours and you see everyone waiting for you,” he said.
McCloud and others in the Nisqually canoe family are on a mission to bring their canoe to Campbell River in Canada in honor of McCloud’s great aunt and tribal elder Zelma McCloud.
It was his aunt who put the canoe family together in the early 2000s and blessed them, he said.
“There was a skipper paddle she handed me,” he said. “I felt it right that we bring her canoe all the way to Canada in honor of her.”
The Nisqually were on their seventh day of the journey. At times the days can be long and arduous, he said, but they are always rewarding.
“It’s a spiritual awakening when you get out here in your canoe,” he said. “You can feel that spirit of not only the canoe but that water as you’re pulling.
“It awakens you in that way.”
For Elwha Chairwoman Frances Charles it was exciting to see the tribe’s youth speaking and singing in Klallam as they welcomed the Nisqually, Jamestown, Chehalis, Quinault and Quileute tribes.
She marveled as elders witnessed their youth speaking their language in public, she said.
It was the Elwha youth that granted tribes permission to land at Hollywood Beach, both in Klallam and English.
“It’s the joy and pride they have now knowing that many [elders] have been told they couldn’t talk their language,” she said. “It’s always inspiring to watch our elders admire how much we have grown.”
She said it’s important and exciting to see the youth acknowledging their culture and participating in the journey.
Phillip Charles is the Elwha’s skipper and he said it’s exciting to be a part of the journey and to celebrate the tribe’s culture.
“I just love being out on the water and getting everyone back into the culture,” he said.
He participated in the journey last year that was hosted by the Nisqually Tribe and is looking forward to using what was once the “highway system” for the tribes in the Salish Sea.
The farthest north he has pulled is to Esquimalt but is looking forward to the celebration at Campbell River.
Monday’s welcoming continued into the evening with a public potlatch at the Elwha Tribal Center.
During the usually annual journey, revolving tribes take turns hosting the destination. This year’s hosts are the We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum nations.
Today tribes will make their way to Esquimalt. Tribes from across Washington and British Columbia are scheduled to meet at Nanoose Bay before traveling together to the Campbell River on Aug. 5.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
Phillip Charles, skipper of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s canoe family, stands in the canoe as members of other tribes land at Hollywood Beach on Monday afternoon. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
The Lower Elwha Tribe’s canoe family arrives at Hollywood Beach on Monday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
