SUQUAMISH — The canoes had arrived, cooks were preparing salmon, crab and clams for the outdoor dinner, and pullers rested on the lawn outside the House of Awakened Culture.

The 2017 Canoe Journey, the annual gathering of Northwest Native canoe cultures, was underway and Marylin Bard of Kingston talked about growing interest abroad — as in Perugia, Italy — in how the Journey has strengthened indigenous identity here.

Most Perugians are of Etruscan ancestry and consider themselves to be Italy’s indigenous people. Greek historian Dionysius (60 B.C. to 7 B.C.) wrote of the Etruscans, “Indeed, those probably come nearest to the truth who declare that the [Etruscan] nation migrated from nowhere else, but was native to the country, since it is found to be a very ancient nation and to agree with no other either in its language or in its manner of living.”

Bard, a member of the Seattle-Perugia Sister City Association, has made several visits to Perugia and will return on Sept. 4 to make a presentation on the Canoe Journey.

“They are so fascinated by Native American culture,” she said of Perugians. Her artist-brother Marvin Oliver’s large orca dorsal fin sculpture, “Sister Orca,” is displayed there. She even gets asked there about the status of the Duwamish Tribe’s federal-recognition efforts; her cousin, Cecile Hansen, is Duwamish chairwoman, and a mayor of Perugia has visited the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center.

“And you should see their library (the Biblioteca del Centro Studi Americanistici Circolo Amerindiano),” Bard said.

Twelve canoes from several Coast Salish nations visited Suquamish on July 20, an overnight visit en route to the territories of the We Wei Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations at Campbell River, B.C.

From Suquamish, canoes will visit Tulalip, Swinomish, Samish, Lopez Island, San Juan Island, Tsawout, Tsartlip, Cowichan, Chemainus, Nanaimo, Qualicum, Comox, Quadra Island, and Campbell River — a distance of roughly 200 nautical miles.

At each stop, hosts serve traditional meals, provide lodging or campsites, and open their longhouses for gifting, drumming, singing and dancing. Presenters often speak and sing in their languages, and wear traditional clothing: Hats and vests woven of cedar; shawls and skirts of cedar and mountain goat wool; and other objects that are elaborately beaded and/or embroidered.

Suquamish Tribe culture-bearer Ed Carriere snacked on frybread and jam on the bluff overlooking the canoe landing site and talked about how much the Canoe Journey has done for indigenous people: the resurrection of travel on ancestral waters; the young people learning the languages, singing the songs and dancing the dances; the cultural connection that comes from traveling the way of the ancestors; the physical and spiritual discipline required to travel grest distances.

So much lost during the assimilation era has been restored.

“When I was young, the canoes were gone,” he said. “In the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, nobody traveled by canoe anymore.”

Now, some 100 canoes are expected to arrive on Aug. 5 at We Wei Kai/Wei Wai Kum for a weeklong celebration of indigenous cultures.

The Canoe Journey, the annual gathering of Northwest Native canoe cultures, began in 1989 with the Paddle to Seattle and was part of a wave of social and political changes in the 1970s and 1980s that spawned an indigenous revival. Changes during that period included the 1974 Boldt Decision, which upheld Indian treaty fishing rights; and the Religious Freedom Act of 1978, which protects for Native Americans “their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions … and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites.” And then, the Paddle to Seattle, conducted as part of the state’s centennial celebration, in 1989; and the first of the annual Canoe Journeys in 1991.

The big takeaway from the Canoe Journey: “We’re still here,” said Swinomish canoe skipper Eric Day, who had a grandparent from Port Gamble S’Klallam. “We’re a strong people. After all that our people have been through, we’re still holding on to who we are.”

Building bridges of understanding

Dinner was ready to be served; Suquamish Tribe spokeswoman April Leigh estimated the total number of guests at 800. Ray Fryberg of the Tulalip Tribes offered a Shaker Church prayer and a blessing song. He gave thanks for the water on which they traveled, for the food that’d been provided, for the young ones who are heirs to all that the ancestors had worked and sacrificed to preserve.

Ken Todd, a non-Native resident of Suquamish, said the Canoe Journey has helped build bridges of understanding between Native and non-Native people.

“There isn’t the division that once existed,” Todd said. “After all the things the Tribe has done to improve the community, I just don’t see [the division] anymore.”

Helen Miller, a member of the Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council Navy League of the U.S., is a six-year Canoe Journey volunteer and helped recruit sailors and Marines to assist at the canoe landing at Suquamish.

“I think the Canoe Journey is really encouraging young people to become involved in their culture,” she said. As for the sailors and Marines, “It helps them learn about the Tribes here. [Military personnel] come and go during their careers. Without the Journey, they wouldn’t know these Tribes are around.”

Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman shares some of his people’s history and culture with sailors from Naval Base Kitsap on the lawn outside the House of Awakened Culture, July 20, during the 2017 Canoe Journey. Suquamish was an early stop for Puget Sound indigenous nations traveling in the annual gathering of Northwest canoe cultures. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)

Suquamish Tribe culture-bearer Ed Carriere shares what the Canoe Journey means to indigenous peoples. “When I was young, the canoes were gone,” he said. “In the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, nobody traveled by canoe anymore.” With him, from left, are Marylin Bard, daughter of Canoe Journey founder Emmett Oliver, of Kingston; and Georgia George, Suquamish. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)

A 12 flag flutters in the breeze from a canoe mast, on the lawn outside the House of Awakened Culture, July 20, during the 2017 Canoe Journey. Canoe families are traveling to We Wei Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations territory at Campbell River, B.C. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)

Eagle feathers are among those that adorn the bow of this Coast Salish canoe, on the lawn outside the House of Awakened Culture, July 20, during the 2017 Canoe Journey. Canoe families are traveling to We Wei Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations territory at Campbell River, B.C. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)

Twelve canoes from several Coast Salish nations visited Suquamish on July 20, en route to We Wei Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations territory at Campbell River, B.C. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)

The Squaxin Island Tribe canoe family led the sharing of songs and dances July 20 in the Suquamish House of Awakened Culture, during the 2017 Canoe Journey. Canoe families are traveling to We Wei Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations territory at Campbell River, B.C. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)

A house post depicting Chief Si’ahl, or Seattle, leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish nations in the 1800s, looks out over the House of Awakened Culture where canoes from several Coast Salish nations visited July 20 during the 2017 Canoe Journey. Canoe families are traveling to We Wei Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations territory at Campbell River, B.C. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)