This May, the intertribal nonprofit Se’Si’Le has invited the faith community to show up in solidarity with Lummi tribal members, the House of Tears Carvers, and Native communities across the Pacific Northwest in support of a Totem Pole Journey uplifting the Indigenous-led movement to honor the spirit of a free-flowing Lower Snake River and restore the health of salmon and orca.
Click here to learn more about the Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey
The Native leaders of this Totem Pole Journey have requested a strong faith community presence at the Spirit of the Waters events, asking us to participate as an act of solidarity. As people of faith, we are held to our faiths’ moral standards and called to be leaders of integrity and conscience. We have an ethical responsibility to support this Indigenous-led movement to protect their salmon and orca relations at this critical time and to hold the US government accountable to our treaty promises with Native Nations. Solidarity from the faith community helps amplify the tribal leaders’ message that the need to recover abundant salmon and orca is at its core a deeply spiritual, moral issue.
Earth Ministry/WAIPL is encouraging our community members to join us at these powerful ceremonies across the region, and we are honored to be the non-profit point of contact supporting the May 20 event in Tacoma. Please use the RSVP link below to sign up if you plan to attend any of the Totem Pole Journey events so that we can have a sense of faith community attendance. Thank you!
Totem Pole Journey Itinerary
Bellingham, WA – May 3
Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship, 6:00-7:30 pm
1207 Ellsworth St, Bellingham, WA 98225
Learn more and share with your networks here.
Eugene, OR – May 5-7
University of Oregon
May 5: The Science in Ceremony Roundtable, 2:00-4:00 pm / EMU Gumwood Room, learn more here
May 6: Art, Ceremony and Activism, 12:00 – 2 pm / EMU Ballroom, learn more here
May 6 and 7: ‘Spirit of the Waters’ Totem Pole Journey Event & Exhibit Screening, 7:30 – 9:30 pm / EMU, learn more here
Chinook Nation, Astoria, OR – May 9
Towler Hall, Clatsop Community College, 2:30-4:30 pm
1651 Lexington Ave, Astoria, OR 97103
Portland, OR – May 10
The Redd, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
831 SE Salmon St, Portland, OR 97214
This event will be livestreamed but in-person attendance is strongly encouraged.
Facebook event
Celilo Falls – May 11
Celilo Park, 8:00 am ceremony
10:30 am – Salmon Peoples’ Testimonials in the Longhouse (Invitation-only)
7:00 pm – Ceremony for the Totem Pole departure
Pendleton, OR – May 14
Umatilla Tribe, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute
2 pm Meet the Carvers at the museum
7-8:30 pm Totem Pole Journey pogram
8:30-9:30 pm Whale Protectors Exhibit IMAX screening
learn more / share with your networks here.
Lewiston/Clarkston – May 16
Nez Perce Tribe, Hell’s Gate State Park, 8:30 am – 2:30 pm
5100 Hells Gate Rd, Lewiston, ID 83501
Learn more, share with your networks here.
Fort Hall, ID – May 18
Shoshone-Bannock Tribe
10-11am Meet the Carvers
12-1:30pm Totem pole blessing
Seattle, WA – May 19
University of Washington wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
4249 Whitman Ct NE, Seattle, WA 98105
This event will be livestreamed but in-person attendance is strongly encouraged.
More info and Facebook event here
Tacoma, WA – May 20
St. Leo’s Parish, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
710 S 13th St, Tacoma, WA 98405
This event will be livestreamed but in-person attendance is strongly encouraged.
Facebook event here.
Earth Ministry/WAIPL is the non-profit point of contact providing support for the Tacoma stop and is following the leadership of Se’Si’Le.
Join us for a special evening with these great speakers:
Jay Julius/Sequoyah Julius of Se’Si’Le
Annette Bryan, Puyallup Tribe
Willie Frank III, Chairman, Nisqually Tribe
Gian Lawrence, creator of The Black Stonefly
Fiorella De La O and Jewell James, House of Tears Carvers
Fr. Patrick Twohy, S.J.
BACKGROUND: The May 2022 totem pole journey is the latest of a dozen totem pole journeys conducted by the project leads over the past 20 years. In 2021, the Red Road Totem Pole Journey to DC, was dedicated to the protection of sacred sites and reached an estimated 1.2 million people over a period of the twenty-day journey to the Capitol (www.redroadtodc.org). The 2022 journey builds upon, strengthens and reaffirms the growing indigenous-led environmental movement across the Pacific Northwest that began with a successful campaign to oppose proposed fossil fuels projects. The fossil fuels campaign included 4 totem pole journeys conducted by the project leads.
GOAL: The 2022 totem pole journey aims to inspire, inform, and engage Pacific Northwest communities through intergenerational voices, ceremony, art and science, spirituality, ancestral knowledge, and cross-cultural collaboration in support of the indigenous-led movement to remove the Snake River dams and restore to health the Snake River salmon runs and our relatives, the Southern Resident Killer Whales (Skali’Chelh in the Lummi language) that depend on them.
APPROACH AND SCOPE: To achieve its goal, the totem pole journey will engage the intellect, emotion, and imagination through an inspiring mix of generational voices, collective vision, science, ceremony, and venues. The journey includes public events in metropolitan areas (Eugene, Astoria, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma), and tribal communities (Lummi, Chinook, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Shoshone-Bannock, and the Village of Celilo). At each stop, art and culture will spark understanding of our natural heritage. In two locations (Eugene and Umatilla) the award-winning Whale Protectors Exhibit will all be featured. In-person events will include ceremonial moments steeped in ancestral knowledge to present the challenges the region faces—and avenues for cross-cultural collaboration and engagement on solutions.
JOURNEY PARTNERS
Se’Si’Le (saw-see-lah) is an intertribal 501c3 nonprofit founded by Lummi tribal member Jay Julius. The goal of Se’Si’Le is to reintroduce Indigenous spiritual law into the mainstream conversation about climate change and the environment. Se’Si’Le is the fiscal sponsor and lead entity of the Snake River to Salish Sea Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey.
Additional partners include:
Lummi Nation House of Tears Carvers, Children of the Setting Sun Productions, Earth Ministry/WAIPL, Saint Leo Parish, Columbia Riverkeeper, Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, Sierra Club, Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, Salmon Nation, Ecotrust, The Natural History Museum, University of Oregon (Department of Philosophy and the Center for Environmental Futures), University of Washington (wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ– Intellectual House), Freebuilt Films, Myer Memorial Trust
Click here to learn more about the Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey