Dinner at the Rock Creek Longhouse

Author’s note: In order to preserve and protect the sacred foods and culture of the first peoples featured in this story I have deliberately left out certain details.

Dinner at the Rock Creek Longhouse

Each spring, usually around Easter time, the first peoples from the Rock Creek Longhouse invite friends and family to the first foods feast. The ceremony, as I understand it, in my limited ability to understand is to celebrate the return of the roots and salmon. The people gather to celebrate the foods which have nourished and sustained them since the beginning of time.

The ceremony stands in stark contrast to how I experience food in other places so thought I would attempt to share the essence. I wanted to add my experiences to the food dialogues.

In the West end of the longhouse singers and drummers beat drums and sing songs which honor the food. Each food has a song. Each food is brought out into the longhouse by a small army of servers and placed on tule mats. The food is placed with deep intention, efficiency, speed and reverence. There are usually several hundred people to feed. The foods are placed on the mats in the order of the time of year that they are gathered. Each food has a song and each food has a special place. In an astonishingly short period of time the mats are overflowing with roots, berries, venison, elk, and salmon. Everything here is organic, nutritious, wild and sustainable.

When all is ready, the people wait for an announcer to shout “choos!” I am unsure of the spelling but the word clearly means water. When the announcement comes everybody in the longhouse (except me of course and the other ADD kids because once again I wasn’t paying attention) raises their small cups full of water in unison and drinks water.

The meal begins with prayer and water.

Each food has a song because each food has a spirit.

When I think about food I have images in my mind of how I have experienced food in other cultures, especially ancient cultures which are still intact. I contrast this with the industrial food supply I encounter at convenience stores. And I generate questions.

      What if we sang a song for every food we ate?

      Should I eat foods for which there is no song or prayer?

      Is there a secret song for Ho Ho’s?

(to be continued)