MISSION — The Children’s Root Feast returned to the Mission Longhouse after a three-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 500 community members gathered May 11 to celebrate the in-person return of this annual celebration and feast.
Three days before the feast, the education department of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation took more than 300 participants to the Blue Mountains to gather xous (pronounced “kowsh”) roots, a traditional First Food used by all the Plateau Tribes. The gathering of roots for the feast was done as an educational opportunity for tribal and nontribal students from Cay-Uma-Wa Head Start, the CTUIR After-School Program, Nixyaawii Community School, Ataw Miyanasma Learning Center and Umatilla Language Immersion Program.
Cooks worked long hours in the days leading up to the Children’s Root Feast on May 11, 2023, to provide meals for nearly 500 people in attendance at the Mission Longhouse. From left are cooks Syreeta Azure, Teara Farrow-Ferman and Wenix Red Elk making fry bread on the day of the feast.
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Vice-Chair Corinne Sams, left, stands with son Kellen Herrera, front, and Guy Herrera, right, during the first dig ceremony May 11, 2023, at the Children’s Root Feast at the Mission Longhouse. Sams also is a a board of trustees member at large for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Fallyn Plume, right, followed by Dahza Joseph, left, follow the line of servers May 11, 2023, bringing roots to the some 500 hundred Children’s Root Feast guests at the Mission Longhouse.
Cole Sazue, right, prepares to dance three songs and then tell the story of his first successful hunting trip as part of the first kill ceremony on May 11, 2023, during the Children’s Root Feast at the Mission Longhouse.
Longhouse cook Teara Farrow-Ferman, center, directs youth on how to line up during the serving of food May 11, 2023, during the Children’s Root Feast on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. More than half of the 300 diggers were students, who were guided throughout the day as they learned the First Foods customs and traditions.
Walulah Jade Green, right, is gifted a beaded medallion by her grandmother Keysha Ashley, left, on May 11, 2023, during the Children’s Root Feast at the Mission Longhouse. Green, an Ataw Miyanasma student, gifted Ashley a bundle containing the roots from her first dig.
Donald Sampson, executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation takes a break from drumming May 11, 2023, during the Children’s Root Feast at the Mission Longhouse.
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