LA PUSH — The Quileute tribe will honor gray whales as they return to the Pacific Northwest at 10 a.m. Friday at the 12th annual Welcoming the Whales Ceremony at First Beach.
The ceremony on the beach will be followed by a meal and further festivities at the Akalat Center in La Push.
The public is invited to the free ceremony and meal, said event coordinator Rio Jaime.
As in past years, tribal members will hold a prayer ceremony and offer songs and dances, he said.
Students also will take a raft laden with salmon into the sea as an offering to the whales.
The meal at the school will offer traditional “fish on a stick.”
The annual ceremony marks the migration of the gray whales as they pass by La Push.
Jaime said whales are often in the area during the ceremony.
“It’s up to the whales about when they decide to migrate through the area,” he said.
Gray whales have been seen in the area in the past week, according to Jaime.
He related that a young male and its mother were seen around the mouth of the Quillayute River last week and also around the half-mile buoy.
Rough and rainy weather made for choppy seas over last weekend and early this week, making it difficult to see migrating whales. Since Wednesday, the weather and the seas have been calmer.
Tribal officials are hopeful for calm waters and whales on Friday, Jaime said.
Former Quileute Tribal School Superintendent Leon Strom is credited with starting the ceremony 12 years ago.
While the Quileute have not hunted whales since the early 20th century, subsequent generations have never forgotten the importance of the majestic animals who make their home in the ocean.
The gray whales currently are migrating 10,000 to 12,000 miles up the Pacific from winter calving lagoons in Baja Mexico to summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea.
When the Quileute people still hunted whales, they celebrated their return much as they will during Friday’s ceremony.
When whaling stopped, the tradition fell out of vogue.
That all changed when the administrative staff at Quileute Tribal School — led by Strom — decided to revive the welcoming ceremony.
For more information, visit quileutenation.org.
