Blessing the c'waam

   The Creator told the Tribes they would live off the fish, which would remain abundant as long as they gave annual thanks.      

   More than 100 attendees, including members of the Klamath Tribes and non-members, gathered along the Sprague River Saturday to pay homage to their Creator for the c’waam — the Klamath name for the Lost River sucker — at the 22nd annual Return of the C’waam ceremony.

   “(It’s) an ancient ceremony that we’ve resurrected that calls the sacred c’waam back to the place where they were born and allows us to carry on as a people,” said Perry Chocktoot, director for the Klamath Tribes’ culture and heritage department. “They’re very culturally significant to us as a tribe.”

   The ceremony  

   The ceremony consisted of prayers and blessings from tribal elders, songs and the ceremonial blessing of the fish. Two were released into the river, the third sacrificed on a fire.

   A buffet lunch and tribal powwow with ceremonial dancing followed.

Young tribal members Natayah Lang, 10, and sister Tinikwah, 8, and close friend Lauretta Barney, 10, look on during an event in Chiloquin to celebrate the return of the c’waam Saturday.

   It’s a ceremony tribal vice chairman Don Gentry said was especially important for attending youth, as many never got to see how important the fish is to the Tribes’ culture. The fish was listed as an endangered species in the late 1980s.

   “Some of our young people may have never even

caught the fish,” Gentry said. “We pray for those fish to return, because that’s a part of us. To be able to use everything the Creator placed here for us is part of who we are.”