PORT ANGELES — About 50 invited guests gathered on the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation on Saturday to witness a ceremony that included setting a feast on a table made of cedar logs for ancestors found at the graving yard site and others.
The table then was burned to symbolically honor the forebears.
The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe received help from the Esquimalt First Nation on Vancouver Island to conduct its first “burning” ceremony that tribal officials said was long overdue.
When an elder dies or ancestors are found, it is customary to set a table for feast and prepare clothing and other objects.
It lets them know they are remembered and will be cared for, said MaryAnne Thomas of Esquimalt First Nation.
The items were then set afire, and those invited to witness the ceremony were told they must stay for its entirety and pray for all ancestors.
The Lower Elwha were not the only ones who prepared plates on the table.
Construction workers from Kiewit-General, the Poulsbo contractor for the graving yard project, and state Department of Transportation officials also participated because they uncovered the remains at the graving yard site.
—————-
