PORT ANGELES — “The Spirit of Elwha.”
After nine months of planning and a month of hand carving, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe’s 42-foot canoe has a name.
“Spirit of Elwha, this canoe is going to carry the spirit of our people and our ancestors,” tribal carver Dave Charles prayed Saturday during a blessing ceremony.
Approximately 50 people gathered Saturday afternoon at the carving shed behind the Lower Elwha Klallam Community Center on Lower Elwha Road to pray for and bless the canoe, carvers and future pullers.
“We pray for the ones who will be in this canoe, pray for the ones who carved this canoe,” Dave Charles said. “We ask that they feel the spirit of our ancestors.”
The hand-carved canoe began with the felling of a cedar tree last November and culminates in a ceremonial voyage carrying the Lower Elwha pullers to Taholah later this month.
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