We have had the privilege and the honor to learn about Native Americans from Native Americans! One of our Seabury students is a Cowlitz tribal member. Her grandpa and her dad came in to tell stories and to teach us about how to carve.
Western Red Cedar is used for many things.
A hat made out of western red cedar
A wooden comb
A close up look at arrows and arrowheads
Splitting planks from an old growth cedar
Carving
A Native American tradition - giving gifts
We each received a roughly carved feather
and were given the task to smooth them out
using four grades of sandpaper.
"Thank you for the cedar carved out wood feather."
Notice the detailed clothing and nets."
"Thank you for showing us how to carve feathers out of cedar. I liked smelling the wood."
A beautiful, three-generation picture from several years ago
How can we best express how thankful we are?
Perhaps in a related Salish language:
lemlmtš
"This word is most often translated as "thank you," but it is really much more profound. It is based on the root word "lemt" meaning thankful or glad. In the fullest sense, it is really an exclamation of deep gratitude. It can be used as an expression of thanks, but many of our elders also used it to greet one another, much like we would say, "Oh, I am so glad to see you!""
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