By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
As springtime gets underway and herring spawn on local beaches, a gathering will be held at Harrigan Centennial Hall Saturday to celebrate the return of the herring and the end of winter.
Yaaw Koo.eex’ is a celebration of spring after the cold, dark months of winter, Kh’asheechtlaa Louise Brady told the Sentinel.
Dionne Brady-Howard plays the drum during a dance rehearsal Tuesday night at ANB Founders Hall. Organizers are getting ready for the Yaaw Koo.eex’, a Tlingit celebration of the return of herring and the end of winter,
which will be held Saturday.
(Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
“For me - and I think for a lot of people - there’s nothing like Sitka in the springtime,” Brady said. “There’s nothing like it, that first taste of herring eggs. And I really believe for us as Tlingit people it’s the definition of Tlingit life, because it’s the start after the long fall and winter, and everybody comes out.”
There will be a canoe landing at noon, followed at 1 p.m. by food, song, dance, and gift-giving.
Brady stressed the importance of the Koo.eex’ as an expression of community relationships.
“That’s one of the things about the Koo.eex’ – it’s to honor our relationships with each other as a community and for us as Tlingit people to honor our relationship with what we call the opposites. I’m Raven, so we invited Eagles,” she said.
While the word can have many meanings, she noted, a Koo.eex’ involves a celebration or ceremony, but can include a feast or an invitation as well. A herring Koo.eex’ was held in 2018 and 2019, but the pandemic forced a cancellation in 2020. An outdoor Koo.eex’ took place in 2021 despite difficult weather.
With a larger event planned this weekend, Brady was happy for the chance to celebrate.
“It feels like a big celebration. It really is,” Brady said. “The days are longer. So for me, the Koo.eex’ we see all of our relatives, birds and mammals and everybody celebrating the herring.”
Unlike in previous years, this weekend’s celebration will include visitors from across the state and some from out of state, she added.
It coincides with a visit of members of the Native Movement, an Alaska-based advocacy group that supports Indigenous world views and social justice causes. More information on the group is available at nativemovement.org.
The event will involve gifts as well, but unlike in previous years, organizers this year chose to focus on more traditional, non-monetary items. Brady described this as an effort to “indigenize” the Koo.eex’.
“People who are going out and harvesting can harvest for gifts for the Koo.eex’, like this Hudson Bay tea that was harvested,” she said. “So we will be processing these and putting them in tea bags and these will go in the fire dishes as gifts for people. Because that’s one of the other things. I really believe we’re working on indigenizing the Koo.eex’ and taking some of the western influence out, because a lot of it is still focused on money. We’re not going to do money.”
In prior celebrations, fire dishes were ceramic plates ordered online, she said, but this year the dishes are small cedar baskets woven by hand. Brady spoke with the Sentinel in a room that smelled strongly of cedar bark and was half-filled with gifts, some of which were still being made on Tuesday afternoon. Along with fire dishes and tea, some will receive hand-made copper tin’aas.
“Some people refer to tin’aas as our form of money, but I think it goes deeper than that. It’s the way that we show value, that we value something or someone. And so instead of money we will be giving tin’aas away,” Brady said.
She feels a strong personal connection to the herring.
“The more I’m involved with this, as a Kiks.adi woman, introducing myself as a herring lady, that brings with it responsibilities. And I know that we are given our history. We define history in a different way than the western world. The story of the herring lady is our original instruction as to the special relationships that we have with other beings and their natural world,” she said.
Brady emphasized the importance of having a deep relationship with the natural environment.
“There are so many people throughout the world that don’t understand that we can still have a really vital relationship with the environment, you can still harvest your own food, and I think that that’s a really unique experience for so many people, because people go to the store and buy their food,” she said.
Along with food and festivity, guests will see the unveiling of a new herring robe, which Brady said is meant to represent the commercial herring sac roe fishery.
“The herring are not silver,” she said of the robe. “It’s a representation of the western world’s ability to only see the value of money.”
Paired with the robe are a new song and dance that tell a story of the commercial fishery.
She was appreciative of the help received from community members in the leadup to the Koo.eex’.
“This couldn’t have happened without the community, our allies and everybody who has stepped up and helped.”
The event will be hosted by the Kiks.adi and the Herring Protectors. Food has been arranged through Edith Johnson of Our Town Catering.
Attendees are asked to wear masks, and rapid COVID tests will be ready for use. More information is available at herringprotectors.org.
