Jeromy Sullivan: Tribe honors tradition at salmon ceremony

The Return of the Salmon ceremony celebrates the season’s first salmon catch. Every Tribe has its own take on the details, but the purpose is the same: to welcome the salmon back and thank them for all they provide for a Tribe’s people. If salmon are treated as welcome and revered guests, it is said that the season’s catch will be bountiful and the fish will return in abundance the following year.

At this year’s celebration, S’Klallam Princess Aletcia Ives took a ceremonial Chinook salmon in a woven cedar basket out by canoe to the mouth of Port Gamble Bay. There, the basket was placed as a gift and thank you to the salmon families who return to the Bay and Hood Canal every year.

Before the ceremony took to the waters of Port Gamble Bay, Ron Charles, who served for many years as Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe chairman, talked about the importance of treaty rights and the court decision that secured them for Washington tribes.