Sacred Cedar, Water, and Salmon Ceremony

In what has become a New Year’s Day tradition, several Salal + Cedar members braved snow and ice this morning to join with roughly 50 others of the Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance and friends along the banks of the Vedder River in Chilliwack. Observed by an eagle, crows, puppies, and other furred, feathered, finned, and leafed relations, Stó:lo elder Eddie Vedder from the Skwah First Nation, led the assembly in songs and prayers to the accompaniment of drums and rattles. In a circle around a sacred fire, participants prayed for purification and renewal, a fresh start, and a beautiful future, and offered gifts, and gave thanks for the sacred elements of water, fire, earth, and air.