Page 7 - Chehalis Tribal Newsletter - March, 2018

7

Power

of plant

medicine

Class urges traditional
teachings to be passed
on to next generation

Contributed by Caytee Cline,
Youth Support Services Coordinator
Tsapowum Chehalis Tribal
Behavioral Health prepared
donations for the 2019 Elders
Luncheon by making healing salve
and lip balm at the plant medicine
class on March 19.
The class is hosted by the
R.E.D. RoAD project and is led
by instructor Winter Strong,
Native traditional plant herbalist
and enrolled member of the
Skokomish Tribe.
“I really like the Chehalis
community,” Strong said. She
enjoys and finds comfort in the
fact that the Chehalis tribe is
close-knit and similar to her tribe.
She has a passion for discovering
different ways that the tribes are
connected, and is able to so during Tribal members provide assistance during plant medicine class as they pour wax into lip balm containers.
discussions with elders who attend
the classes. to get more in touch with their heritage
She has taught herbal medicine and gain an understanding of how
for more than 15 years. More ancestors lived in the past.
specifically, she teaches about As these methods are reintroduced to HEALING WONDERS
traditional plant medicines that the tribal people, Strong and others hope Calendula: Antifungal, anti-
are native to the Pacific Northwest that these practices will be passed on to inflammatory, antimicrobial,
region. She takes it even a step the youth and carried on for generations astringent. For all of these reasons, it
further by narrowing it down to come. is perfect to use in remedies for skin
from regional specifics to micro Tribal people are granted the right to issues internally (tea) and externally.
specifics for each tribe. hunt and gather on reservation land. In
She explained that while the many instances, tribes focus on fishing Plantain: Astringent, promotes healing,
Skokomish and Chehalis Tribe and hunting but gathering materials for anti-inflammatory. It relieves inflammation
are not far apart in distance, medicinal purpose seems to get forgotten. or irritation both internally as well
there were subtle differences on Strong stresses the importance of as externally. Internally, it is very
what the two groups relied on. exercising the right to “firmly connect to helpful to heal inflamed intestinal tissue.
For example, Strong noted that the land that we stand on.” Comfrey: Contains allantoin, astrin-
there is access to a lot of camas in She acknowledges that she’s Skokomish gent. This means it speeds healing and
the Chehalis region, something and not Chehalis, but she believes it’s soothes.
the Skokomish tribe didn’t farm important that there is someone like her
in abundance. The Skokomish in every tribe. Ultimately, she hopes each INFORMATION
sought camas in trade. tribe will have a tribal member who can
Camas is just one example of provide knowledge and proper practices The next class is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 10. Partici-
many plants that can be used for to create plant medicines. pants will learn how to cook nettles and discover how they
traditional medicine. The group She also thinks it’s important to keep help create a natural state of balance for the body.
learned about calendula, plantain these practices within the community to For more details, contact Caytee Cline at 360-709-1818 or
and comfrey, which are used to prevent exploiting the resources used to come by and see her in the Behavioral Health Department.
make healing salves. make specific products, and/or selling
These classes help tribal people them for profit.