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| Traditional Basket |
Kla How Yah
Kla how yah.
Kla how yah means hello. Like Aloha, Kla how yah also means goodbye.
My name is Harvest Moon. I'm a Quinalut native, storyteller and basket weaver. My name, Harvest Moon, was given to me by my great grandfather.
Like most babies I decided to come into this world during the middle of the night and it happened to be a night when there was a full moon. So my great grandfather realizes my name would be With the Moon. He then also noticed that my tribe, which is the Quinault Tribe, had just finished harvesting a large amount of salmon from the Quinault River and it was then that he realized that my name would be harvest moon.
I went on a vision quest when I was in my teens to find out the meaning of my name, which is a light shining forth in the midst of darkness. It was then that the storyteller started to emerge. Storytelling has always been a part of folk life regardless of nation race or creed in fact stories and legends have served as the history books of mankind for thousands of years.
It was not different in the tribal cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Following long held traditions tribal legends and stories are passed down from generation to generation and placed in the hands of the storytellers. To be carried as gentle as a newborn and nurtured into full-blown lives.
The storyteller must learn to use her mind and tongue. A tongue that is as sharp as the eagle's talons, as a tool that touches people's minds young and old, words that have the power and convictions as the chief, shaman, elder or even the Great Spirit. The storyteller must be focused 360 degrees just like a circle, a circle of great importance in native cultures. Not so much speaking as you might think but more of listening. Listening to stories that people tell provide storytellers with the foundation for future tales that in turn are passed on as history and they become legends in themselves. History often repeating itself gives the listener knowledge to make it right the first or as many times as it takes with every telling of the story even after hundreds of times both the teller and the listeners gain something new.
Change is fluid; like the change in the creek bed over time, the color of leaves on the trees or the shapes of the moon. Our stories must do the same to be meaningful to all people. The many gifts a storyteller carries such as the story that is so well woven with words that people cannot stop from absorbing a vivid picture to each individual mind. To feed off by watching the listeners as they travel through a mirage of feelings and thought as a story is shaped and molded right before the listener ears. Then the myths and the legends will provoke an in-depth look into one's sole. So taken aback that their travel through life they come upon a spark of light that brings words of the wisdom of the storytellers.
Storytelling was primary for entertainment during the long winter nights of the long house, but also preservation of history of tribal family and legacy of famous feats that people accomplished. It's been said that many of legends coincide with the settlers great book of wisdom they called the Bible.
Learning the power of oneself comes if you hold a high reverence towards the plants and the animals and last and most important are morals; morals that will teach a sturdy foundation for a strong spirit, soul and heart. All stories have a specific time, thesis or age of one lifetime. Like a medicine woman the storyteller carefully measures each word. The mighty raven has the power to change herself into anything. With the use of good acting, tones and gestures, adding even some magic transforms a promising performance of multiple talents out of just one person.
When I learned that storytelling was in the program a hesitation came upon me. This day and age with movies, special effects and video games what generation would have any interest in the art of storytelling, but to my surprise as years gone by I started polishing the short legends. It takes me aback at how many people come up afterwards wondering if that story is true. A slow process that takes a whole lifetime to strive to be the best storyteller on this mother earth. It's a real privilege to share among thousands of people young and old the importance and the knowledge of the Pacific Northwest storytellers.
Kla how yah,
©2004 Wisdom of the Elders