Please join The Dungeness Crab Festival organizers in honoring the land upon which we host our event at the traditional Elwah Klallam Welcoming Ceremony, held on Saturday, October 12, 2024 at City Pier. A time will be announced as soon as possible. 

The word ‘Dungeness’ comes from the Old Norse language and means ‘headland,’ with its origins coming from the coastlines of southern England. In the 1800s, when English and European settlers arrived on the Olympic Peninsula and saw what is now Dungeness Spit and the surrounding bay, they named it after their home country. 

Dungeness crabs, formerly known as ‘market crabs’ have been harvested commercially by non-Native people since around 1848, but for centuries before that, the nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm̕ or Klallam and S’Klallam People inhabiting the peninsula’s coastal region utilized this rich Salish Sea resource.

The nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm̕ (S’Klallam or “Strong People”) are divided into three politically sovereign tribal governments that hold a sacred attachment to much of the lands in Clallam County, and some lands in Jefferson and Kitsap Counties. The tribes have named themselves the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. 

Their lands stretched west to the Hoko River, east to Kingston and Poulsbo, north to a portion of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and south into the Hood Canal to Hamma Hamma (other tribal treaties necessitated boundaries beyond these lands). Since time immemorial, the S’Klallam People have stewarded the land, calling it their sacred duty from the Creator to care for their brothers and sisters of creation. 

In return, the lands, seas, plants, and animals would provide all the resources humans needed to thrive. The relationship between the S’Klallams and the land was deeply powerful, spiritual, and relational. Celebration of creation was common and still is in S’Klallam ceremonies. As long as careful respect was given to any creation, it could be used for sustaining the villages through building homes and canoes, making clothing, tools, weapons, food, toys, art, trade goods, and more. 

Additionally, the Creator and creation taught the S’Klallams a culture of sharing resources generously with one another; a S’Klallam did not gather food or firewood for themselves only, but gathered for others in the village. The Dungeness Crab (called ʔáʔčx̣ or “ah-ch-throat clearing sound”) was a plentiful relative. The S’Klallam villages and their guests (both Native and non-Native) never worried about hunger or lacking the ability to trade. 

The earliest method of catching Dungeness crab was by traps in deeper waters. Ancient crab traps were square or rectangular wood boxes tied together with twines, and later made with wood and chicken wire. Crabs were then stored on the beach in the boxes so that the ocean could keep them alive and fresh. 

The ancestors taught that the best way to process the crab was boiling them whole in salt water to maintain the natural flavor of meat. As both native and non-native commercial crabbing became more popular, overharvesting was a concern and considered a disrespect to creation. Throughout the decades the S’Klallam/Klallam Tribes have worked closely with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to co-steward creation, including the Dungeness crab, so that they will be available for all peoples to harvest for generations to come. 

Not only do Dungeness crabs provide humans with a healthy food source, but also wisdom and friendship, according to legends. In one, Grandmother Crab was a teacher of responsibility, and the importance of protecting your family; in another legend, a group of crabs protected a fisherman and children from the large forest woman, Slah-poo, by pinching her until she fell in the water and drowned. These relationships, values, and life lessons have stood the test of time and evolution, proving that deep connections are never lost.    

Information adapted from The Jamestown S’Klallam Story (Stauss & Oppenheimer, 2002) and told by Tribal Culture Director Loni Grinnell-Greninger.