Culture Week closes out the school year at Wellpinit

By Jack McNeel

WELLPINIT, Wash. - A series of cultural events held June 11 - 13 at Wellpinit School on the Spokane Reservation culminated on the final day of school with an all-school picnic of food items created earlier in the week.

Even before the week began, some students had already started preparations. Elders took some students out to traditional sites to dig for camas, using digging sticks as it has been done for many generations. Thirteen students were involved and nearly five gallons of camas were collected.

Other students collected moss from tamarack trees, using poles about 10 feet long with hooks on the end. This allowed them to reach high in the branches, twist the moss around the pole and pull it down. The moss was then brought to school, cleaned of twigs, washed several times and cleaned again.

Marsha Wynecoop, one of many elders assisting throughout the week, explained the cooking procedure: ''When it's soaked, we mix a little sugar in and it's put in a muslin bag and placed in a pit, several layers of it. It has a sort of licorice taste and is eaten like a pudding or dried and cut up. It's high in calcium and one of the first baby foods when they're being weaned because of the calcium.''

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