Members of The Puyallup Tribe of Indians gathered this spring to continue a tradition and celebrate a milestone.
Tribal members started the day on the Tacoma waterfront by honoring the first salmon of the season, then gathered in Fife to mark the opening of the tribe’s new longhouse, the first on their lands since the last one burned down more than 170 years ago.
The new longhouse includes about 17,300 square feet of indoor space, including a great room with amphitheater seating plus a dining room and kitchen. The tribe put it to use immediately with a first foods ceremony held during the longhouse opening.
“For me, it represents the spiritual foundation by which our community can begin to heal,” said Puyallup Tribal Councilwoman Annette Bryan. “We’re bringing back our songs, our dances, our ceremonies. To have this structure where we can do these ceremonies next to the river on our homelands of our ancestors is special.”
The opening included a ceremony naming the longhouse x̌ʷiqʷadiʔalʔtxʷ, or Thunderbird House.
“Our home is coming home,” said Connie McCloud, a tribal elder and heritage division manager. “This will be a place of healing, of gathering, of feeding each other.”
The longhouse will connect tribal members to their heritage, their ancestors and the treaty rights that so many fought for, Bryan said.
“This space will help us exercise our treaty rights,” she said.
Bryan said she is grateful to all the people and organizations that helped make the longhouse a reality, including the tribal council, Puyallup Tribal Enterprises, the tribe’s heritage division, and Tahoma Construction.
The longhouse ceremony was preceded by the First Fish Ceremony, where tribal fishers catch the first fish of the season, then return it ceremonially to the water.
“I feel blessed in my heart to be able to do what we do,” said tribal councilman Fred Dillon. “We’ve been doing this since time immemorial.”
Puyallup Tribe of Indians Vice Chair Sylvia Miller holds the ribbon steady while tribal elder Connie McCloud, also heritage division manager for the tribe, wields golden scissors during the grand opening of the tribe’s new longhouse, which coincided with the annual First Fish Ceremony. Photos and story: Trevor Pyle
