Lummi Nation elder Pauline Hillaire, Scälla -Of the Killer Whale, will be honored at 7 p.m. (CT) Friday, at the Library of Congress for her lifetime of cultural work and teaching. Hillaire is collaborating with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Professor of Philosophy Gregory Fields on two books.
Both books are being published through the University of Nebraska Press. The first, “A Totem Pole History,” will be available in December, and “Rights Remembered” will follow.
Hillaire is one of nine individuals nationwide to receive a 2013National Heritage Fellowship, awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts. The award is the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Among past recipients is blues great B.B. King.
A live webcast of the NEA event will capture the event at www.arts.gov.
Hillaire’s daughter, Audrey Chicone, will receive the award on her behalf. Chicone says, “Through her art, she dares you to have heart. Through her dance, she encourages you to dream. Through her story-telling, she dares you to remember.
“With mother’s help and never-ending enthusiasm to teach, our culture survives, not only for our family and the members of the Lummi tribe, but also for the world.”
Chicone conveys what her mother might say of her work, if she were able to attend, “This responsibility is a gift not only to the recipient, but to the one sharing.”
Hillaire is being recognized additionally with the Bess Lomax Hawes NEA National Heritage Award, for an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of cultural heritage.
Lummi singers and dancers will honor Hillaire at a public concert Friday at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Led by Hillaire’s grandson Benjamin Covington, the group of elders, adults and children includes Covington’s wife Lila, son Dillon and cousin Jeremy Covington.
Ben Covington says of his grandmother, “Her love for her parents, Joseph and Edna Hillaire, was infinite and methodical. She dedicated herself to the Children of The Setting Sun Song and Dance group.
“She encouraged all she met to be involved in their own way, from chopping wood to keep the people warm, to college education to keep the people informed. No matter what walk of life you are in, keep yourself grounded. Always remember where you come from.”
Covington says of the songs to be sung in D.C., “The Star Song is a way to tell your loved one how you feel for them: ‘You were once right there, and now you are gone; I will always remember you.’
“The Farewell Song tells your friends, ‘Until we meet again, farewell; the visit was worthy of telling your people of.”
For more information, contact Fields, (618) 972-9042.