Huuayaht "The People of Resilience"

Huuayaht 

      What does it mean to be Huuayaht? It literally means we're "The People of Resilience" no matter what obstacles life will throw our way we'll find a way to not only survive, but to thrive! Some of our greatest triumphs in ancient times have to do with natural events. Here is one such example.

Anacla Signage! 

Tsunami: is a natural occurring phenomenon that happens approximately every 300 to 800 years. We have been here for over 5500 hundred years, I'm certain much longer, but that is the oldest verified date by science. So based on that logic it's safe to say that our people have endured a Tsunami on multiple occasions.  So much so it has been embedded into the culture and history of Huuayaht. Our famed leader of the past Chief Louie Nookemis is one well documented source of information relating to Tsunami and Earth Quake.

        Our stories tell us that the Full moon of December, 26th, 1699, mere 4 days after the Solstice, was the beginning of a strong storm. This storm was relentless for the entirety of that lunar cycle it rained, and it poured. Water filled all the basins of mother Earth, and thunder clouds of black filled the sky. The constant rains and thunder took nature to the breaking point, something had to give. On the 26th of January, 1700 a magnitude 9.2 earth quake struck the West Coast the epicenter Juan de Fuca fault line, and that quake resulted in a massive wave 19 meters high plowing through ought the Pacific. As if the Quake itself was not enough, the water filled basins of mother earth turned everything into a soup, and the long houses, the canoes were either devoured into that soup or broken and devastated by the crash of the Tsunami. There was no escaping the disaster! 

      This story and others like it are of survival and the legacy of The Huuayaht. Those lost in this disaster have been immortalized into the spirit of culture, our Ancient Spirit if you will! In order to endure our ancestors devised a Tsunami Warning system, by doing what they did best, being attune to nature. They created a song and a dance to educate the little ones of Pawats "Bird Nestor's" featuring a pair of two Thunderbird's One to represent the thunderous cloud that shook the earth, the other to represent the Wave that swooped across the Pacific and they the little ones were the other birds of the world. They did this so that the children and people knew when the Paired Thunder Birds have come out to the storm song, when nature is about to reach the breaking point, do as the birds do and go to the high ground. This was designed with intention, each of the birds although similar have distinct markings to represent species of birds, the children would dance these birds around until thunder shook the ground. The dance would culminate when all the birds and children are safely at the high ground. The original Tsunami Warning System was through Song, dance and education.

      On the 18th of October 2016 at our Annual Peoples Assembly! As per The Ma-nulth treaty we were so fortunate to have these cultural treasures relating to this history returned to our peoples. The twin Thunderbird's Quake and Tsunami as well as the 40 plus little birds each representing a distinct species of bird. These treasures have come home, what better time than now to awaken and invigorate our ancient spirit, now more than ever we need to hear the stories of resilience.

      The world as we know it is in peril! Chaos and turmoil are running rampant. It is most evident in the form of greed and selfishness. There is a clear lack of humanity, have we forgot how to treat our fellow humans humanely? It is mainly because we're caught up in the Covid-19 this Corrona virus. It is at times difficult to be at peace with this knowledge of epidemic and being still with it makes it even that much more intense My hope in sharing this is that we can find peace in the fact that we have that Resilience factor embedded into our DNA. We have endured disaster in the form of Earth Quakes, Mud Slide and Tsunami on multiple occasions we can endure this. We did so historically by banding together, by uniting and this virus has us divided and in solitary but that does not mean that we cannot unite on the metaphysical level. Unite emotionally be a support to one another, unite spiritually life up one another. Meta Physical unity is what will get us through this epidemic!

Horizon:

Look to the horizon! The place in a distance where Physical World meets Spirit World and walk as our ancestors walked. Thus ensuring that past not only becomes present, but future as well, for one day our children will walk as we do!