BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — The Lummi tribe celebrated the first salmon of the season in a ceremony Thursday at the high school on the reservation near Bellingham.
Drummers beat a slow rhythm as a spring Chinook was wheeled in on a cart wrapped in a red blanket covered in cedar fronds. A procession of children matched the rhythm, shaking rattles and clicking small paddles.
The Bellingham Herald reports (http://is.gd/M6AycH ) the ceremony included a feast of roasted salmon and other seafood.
Hundreds of tribal members and guests attended the ceremony and heard the traditional story of how salmon came to the Lummi people.