Giving thanks at annual Elders Day Dinner

TOPPENISH -- Wafts of roasting táki, xtsya lined up on the tables, pyaxi ladled into bowls, lapátaat swimming in lakamiin -- it may have looked much the same 388 years ago.

Legend tells us that roast turkey, cranberries, roots, potatoes and gravy took hallowed places at the first Thanksgiving.

When Squanto and the Wampanoags Indians extended their hands in friendship to the Pilgrims of Plymouth, and the new arrivals shared their bounty, it set our country down a path of saying thanks, still cherished and honored.

So, on Friday, when the students of the Yakama Nation Tribal School in Toppenish held out their hands in greeting the elders of the tribe, they were continuing a caring tradition started in Massachusetts at the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

For more than 20 years, students at the school have hosted the Elders Day Dinner during the school day to show their respect for their elders, the revered seniors of the tribe.

Girls in their wing dresses, boys in ribbon shirts, the students brought out plates laden with salmon, roots, turkey, ham, cranberries, mashed potatoes, gravy and huckleberry pies for their 300 guests.

"Everyone pitches in and helps," said Frank Mesplie, the school's principal, explaining that school cooks lead the way, with teachers, parents and staff helping prepare the annual dinner.

A private institution that opened in 1980, the Tribal School serves 100 eighth- through 12th-grade students. The school stresses academics while reinforcing the significance of Yakama culture, tradition and language.

The emphasis on knowing their past helps students look to the future, explained Mesplie.

"Here with our small classes, the students are excelling. They're blossoming," he said.

Students not only serve the Elders Day Dinner, they also entertain by drumming and playing music there.

The event always begins with an invocation; this year Alex Stewart, assistant minister at the Independent Indian Shaker Church in White Swan, chanted and rang the bell.

Stewart, who graduated from the Tribal School in 1986, has had the tables turned on him; instead of serving plates of food as a student, he now enjoys being an honored guest. "I try to come every year," he said.

Seniors at the school helped carry on another venerated tradition by creating beaded medallions, or necklaces, in Ezilda Winnier's Yakama language class.

Students began the project about 10 days ago, carefully sewing colored beds into geometric or spiral designs, complemented by white dentalium shells, onto fabric circles.

The idea was to make a medallion to present to an elder at Friday's dinner.

"We try to teach the native way of sharing and being generous," said Winnier. "Traditionally, when children do something for the first time, they give it to an elder."

Elders have been important in her life, according to Mariah Schuster, a senior at the school. Her grandmother, Helen Hill, first taught her how to bead, while her other grandmother, Rose Miller, made her wing dress.

Grandmothers were especially honored during the event; just before the meal began, Gordon Gardipee presented his medallion to his grandmother, Arita Dave.

Grandfathers weren't left out, either. Schuster gave her medallion to her grandfather, Stan Miller.

"In our culture, we really take care of our elders," Schuster said. "When we were younger, and they were younger, they took care of us, so now we return the favor."

In her colorful wing dress, with otter pelts woven into her braids, wearing beaded moccasins and a beaded belt bag, Samantha Olney, also a senior, said she particularly enjoyed digging roots with her classmates to serve at the dinner.

Root digging and huckleberry picking are two meaningful traditions reinforced in class, said English teacher Mary Looney, who has worked at the Tribal School for about 17 years.

Students almost always take a school trip in the spring to dig roots, such as bitter root, on the reservation and in the fall to pick huckleberries in the mountains, Looney explained.

"Otherwise, some of our kids never have the opportunity to go into the mountains," she said. "Some kids have never picked huckleberries before. So we believe in teaching our cultural ways."

Winnier agreed, underscoring the importance of preserving the Yakamas native language -- Sahaptin -- so it doesn't disappear.

When she was growing up, Winnier heard elders speaking in Sahaptin but didn't learn the language herself. Then, as an adult, she began teaching herself basic words and sought out mentors to help.

"I'd follow elders around and listen to them, then write down what they said. I'm getting closer and closer to being fluent," Winnier noted.

So, as Tribal School students dress in traditional clothing, learn the customary language, join in age-old activities, such as beading, berry picking and root digging, they are showing their elders that the ways of the Yakamas will be carried on to future generations.

As Looney said, "We always ask the students, 'What does it mean to be Indian?'"

On Friday, at the Elders Day Dinner, it meant saying thank you to ancestors and honoring a tradition that goes back to 1621 -- and beyond.

* Jane Gargas can be reached at 509-577-7690 or jgargas@yakimaherald.com.

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