Huehca Omeyocan – An Offering to our Healing Ocean at Neah-Kah-Nie High School August 2nd

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Story by Romy Carver; Photos & Video by Don Backman

Drumming.  Chanting.  Dancing. Leaping. Notes from a flute trilling in the air.  Brilliantly colored regalia and plumage flashing in the sunlight.  Dancers and participants from throughout the Pacific Northwest and farther away came together on the weekend of August first and second in an annual event that honors the Ocean.

Huehca Omeyocan has been hosting the popular event for ten years, and the last nine years have been held at Cape Lookout, which was unavailable this year. Thanks to the efforts of Robin Swain, Vice President of Neah-Kah- Nie Coast Art, Music & Cultural Foundation, the venue this year was Neah-Kah Nie High School.

The event draws participants from a wide area.  Sashi Nicole is a sound healer, and feels “deeply connected” with MesoAmerican culture and the ocean.  She and her partner traveled from Colorado last August to celebrate his birthday by camping at Cape Lookout.  Some might call it coincidence that they stumbled across Huehca Omeyocan’s “An Offering to Our Healing Ocean” ceremony that day, but she believes it was more than coincidence.

She found the celebration so meaningful that she and her partner planned their entire birthday trip around this year’s event.  They loaded their cat (yes, their cat!) into the car and drove over 1,300 miles to participate.  She adds, “When we are honoring the elements, with our feet on the ground under a blue sky, it’s one of the pathways to healing.”

Over 250 people, both dancers and onlookers, gathered at the football field last Sunday to be part of the celebration, which featured dancers of all ages in tribal regalia, altars with burning sage and palo santo, drummers, and sacred rituals.  A large group of people came from Seattle for the event.  One of the Seattle area organizers noted that there are about 20 of the events each year around the Pacific Northwest. Huehca Omeyocan attends some of those as guests, Huehca omeyocan group members host two ceremonies throughout the year, one is the ocean celebration and the other is the “Gathering of Seeds.” The other celebrations are organized by different dance circles throughout the Northwest and each ceremony has its own focus and purpose often related to honor nature.

The group later moved down to the beach to conclude their ceremony.  A small group of women carrying tall plumes of colorful flowers waded waist-high into the turbulent surf to toss the offerings to the ocean. They were under the watchful eye of the Rockaway Beach Fire and Rescue which provided lifeguard service.

The leaders of Huehca Omeyocan expressed deep gratitude for the welcome they received from the Rockaway Beach community, including NKN School District Staff and the Rockaway Beach Fire Department.  “We feel so welcomed here,” Lisa Avena, one of the organizers, said, mentioning some of the many people had stopped by to welcome them.

RBFD Captain Geoff Grace stated, “We were honored to support this event and are truly grateful for the opportunity to experience the rich history and culture that were shared. We hope the event returns to Rockaway Beach next year, giving even more Tillamook County residents the chance to enjoy and learn from this remarkable experience.”

And Sashi Nicole, her partner, and her cat, plan to return next year to be part of the magic. She loves that “it’s a way of life and what keeps us well.”

Here is a description/explanation from Huehca Omeyocan leader Eduardo Cruz Torres about the event:

An Offering to Our Healing Ocean

By Amictlan Eduardo Cruz Torres
The ocean is more than a body of water. It is an ancient relative, the keeper of memory, the source of life, and a living presence that connects every shore, every river, every cloud, and every heartbeat. Through An Offering to Our Healing Ocean, we gather each year to honor this sacred relationship with gratitude, humility, and joy.
Cultural Workshops
Our celebration begins the day before the ceremony with cultural workshops that awaken creativity, tradition, and community. Through the ancestral movements of Mexica-Chichimeca dance, the heartbeat of ceremonial drums, songs, ceramic whistle making, rubber stamp carving, sound baths, and the creation of flower offerings, we prepare ourselves in both spirit and intention. Each activity is an invitation to remember that culture is not simply inherited—it is lived, shared, and renewed through each generation.
Environmental Commitment
Our commitment to the Earth is reflected in the way we gather. We collaborate with environmental organizations, mental health and educational organizations.
We choose reusable materials instead of disposable ones, nourish ourselves with wholesome foods, and avoid single-use plastics, recognizing that every small act of respect becomes part of the offering we bring. The ceremony begins long before we arrive at the shoreline; it begins with the choices we make.
Ceremony
On the day of the offering, the drums and the sea shell trumpets call us together. The dance starts like poetry in motion, dancers move in prayer, carrying traditions that have endured through centuries, honoring the elements, the directions, our ancestors, and all living beings. Guided by the rhythm of the huehuetl and the breath of the conch shell, we walk together in procession toward the ocean, carrying flowers gathered with love and intention.
Reciprocity
At the water’s edge, through dance, song, and prayer, we deliver the flowers to the sea. This is not a gift given out of obligation, but an act of reciprocity—an acknowledgment that the ocean has always given to us. The flowers become symbols of gratitude, healing, remembrance, and hope, carried by the tides to join the endless cycles of life.
The flowers  remind us of the fragility of life, therefore we are the flowers and we ourselves become offering.
Closing Invitation
This gathering welcomes all who come with respect and an open heart. Whether dancing, singing, creating, or simply witnessing, each person becomes part of a living tradition that reminds us we belong to the Earth, not apart from it.
“May this offering of flowers strengthen our relationship with the waters that sustain all life, inspire us to care for the world with reverence, and remind us that healing begins when we remember our place within the great circle of creation”