Lummi Grandmother Naming Ceremony

Nineteen painted native canoes from many different tribes arrived on the shores of Lummi Island today, pausing on their journey. Some of these tribes had been mortal enemies of the Lummis in the past. Yet they were welcomed at the water's edge, requested permission to land, and granted permmission by the tribal leaders. The young men of the tribe helped carry the canoes to dry land. It would be a celebration today to honor the canoe paddlers and all their families would be fed by the Lummi tribe.

I had volunteered to help cook lunch that day because the chief cook's close relative had died. My new friend Rhoda came with me and Braveheart. I began learning from the Lummis the moment we entered the longhouse. We were accepted immediately and without question. Braveheart, too. My friend Rhoda and I were given a comfortable place to sit, a crate of oranges, cutting board and knives. We sliced them for lunch.

They invited us to eat. Before we ate, some drummers chanted and drummed a blessing. People stood and raised their hands in front of them to bless God. Their hands were held at waist level and lifted from the elbow to the shoulder; this was repeated several times.

The people (both men and women) served the elders first (including me though I am not a part of the tribe).

After lunch, we waited. Braveheart sat on my walker and high-fived the natives. Both children and elders delighted in him. The oldest woman in the tribe invited me to sit beside her (I felt it quite an honor).

Some of the white people looked at their watches and wanted to know when it would begin. The natives just said soon or in a while. Time did not see urgent to them; they were taking things as they came.

The Grandmother and other elders of her family were sitting on comfortable couches at the front side of the longhouse. Other elders (including me) sat on chairs around the longhouse, and the rest of the people sat on bleachers behind us on both sides.

After awhile the ceremony began.

The drumming began. People stood out of respect. Guests were welcomed by two leaders. The purpose of the ceremony stated: the Grandmother would receive her name today, a day for which she had long waited, a name her mother had carried well.

The Grandmother's children and grandchildren pinned blankets around the shoulders of the chosen witnesses. Each member of the Grandmother's family lined up and took coins from their small bags (like medicine bags), passed by each witness, and put the coins into the bags of the witnesses.

Next, they pinned blankets around the shoulders of the two doorkeepers who guarded the place of the ancestoral dancers. Again they lined up and passed by the doorkeepers, putting coins into their bags.

The drumming continued as women placed layers of blankets in the middle of the floor. They placed a woven cedar mat on top and a chair beside the blankets. With great formality, the Grandmother was escorted to her place. She wore a long skirt, a plain but beautiful red blanket/robe with long fringes, another fringed robe over that, a scarf around her neck, and a woven cedarwood hat.

Again the leaders of the ceremony talked of what we were about to see. This Grandmother would receive her name today, the name of her mother. He said you can carry a name and it is just a name unless you carry it with respect and add honor to it. From this day forth the Grandmother would have the duty to carry her new name with great care.

People attending were cautioned to take no photos, that what they were about to see was sacred, and was meant to be carried only in the heart.
A priest blessed the ceremony with a Christian blessing said in the native language of the Lummi.

Drumming began. There was rustling from behind the curtains where the spirit dancers were. They rushed out with frightful headresses, with protruding pegs with brass circles for eyes, painted figures of birds and other animals on their tall, large wooden masks, long velvet capes with sequins sometimes in the shape of animals such as snakes. Very long strips came out the back of their headdresses with feathers on the end that bounced as they moved. They carried wooden circles with clam shells rattling. Some had cedar sticks or feathers tied to the tops of their headdresses. They wore deerskin shoes and fur leggings with bells around their ankles. Their plain white tunics were covered with white shells and white feathers. They carried eagle feathers and rattles.

They danced and chanted around the longhouse, then formed a large circle around the Grandmother who was sitting in regal and somber silence. They shook their clamshells as they rushed toward her. She lifted her hands to receive blessings from her ancestors.

The dancers repeated their dance and this rush toward the Grandmother several times. Then the family again lined up and passed by each dancer putting coins into their hands (for they carried no bags). The dancers returned to their place behind the curtains at the front of the longhouse and the two guards resumed their position in front of the curtains.

With great formality, the leader of the ceremony pronounced the Grandmother's new name: Sane ne, the name her mother had carried well. She receive it with quiet emotion. Many of the women in the tribe wept quietly. It was a sacred moment. A ray of sunlight beamed down at just that moment illuminating the front of the longhouse right in front of the large drawig of the raven (their tribal symbol). That was amazing.

The Grandmother remained sitting regally and invited a white woman who has helped the tribe very much to come forward. The Grandmother gave her the woven cedar mat that had been placed in front of her. She received it with great thankfulness and humility.

The daughters of the family came forward, helped the Grandmother move her chair to one side of the beautiful new blankets piled on the floor. Each blanket was given to someone the Grandmother mentioned. The family members again lined up to give each person money in addition to the blanket.

Each elder in the tribe was presented with a new blanket and coins, in the same manner with the family members filing by the elders.

The women of the Grandmother's family brought out large baskets and placed them on one side of the Grandmother's blanket. The canoe captains were called out, lining up on the other side of the blanket of the Grandmother. The family presented the canoe captians with blankets, gifts, and money in the same manner as the others.

More baskets were brought out and the cooks and cooks helpers called forward. The family filed past, giving them blankets, money and other presents.

A white man sitting near me was flabbergasted and said, "Surely they must run out of money soon!" The old woman I sat beside just laughted.

Finally, huge baskets and tubs were brought out until they filled about a quarter of the floor of the huge longhouse! The family went to every person who attended and gave each one gifts and money. I had only come that day to cut up a little fruit for lunch, but I received a new blanket, a drum, a fan with Sane ne's picture, a beautiful necklace with semi-precious stones, and a Bible cover.

The ceremony was over. The leader invited people to give gifts of songs. In several corners of the room, drumming and chanting began and continued through the next meal which was fresh alder-smoked salmon, huge containers of crab, beef and macaroni, beef and vegetables, rice, beans, potatoes, salad, potato chips, and cake. It was delicious! All the food was provided by the family of the Grandmother. Over a thousand people were fed.

I learned how to eat a crab as the Lummi do, cracking the claws with my teeth and using a small claw to dig out the meat. No napkins were provided. (The natives never had them in the past; no need for them when they were so used to eating without them.)

I told someone that I was amazed that this one small family (whom I knew to be quite poor) had given out so much money and so many gifts and fed to many people. The woman said, "Oh, we do it all the time. We spread the money around, so no one is poor here."

Almost all the Lummis are Christians now. The woman who sat next to me said that this ceremony had been banned by the U.S. government for many years and that they had to go underground to preserve their ceremonies and culture.

I'm glad they did. There is much we other Christians can learn from them.