Pala tribe recalls 'trail of tears,' honors ancestors at Cupa Days

NORTH COUNTY – While the morning rush of gamblers filed into Pala Casino yesterday, members of the Pala Band of Mission Indians gathered for a different kind of cultural event.

Several blocks from the electronic wizardry of the casino floor, native elders and children reached back into history to remember the days when some of their ancestors were forcibly removed from the Warner Springs area and marched to their current reservation east of Bonsall.

The “trail of tears” still stings more than a century later, but it has also become a source of spiritual strength that's exhibited during the annual festival known as Cupa Days. It's part street fair, part family reunion and the cultural highlight of the year on the North County reservation. A few thousand people are expected for the 33rd event, which commemorates the 1903 journey of the Cupeño people to Pala.

“You can't really call it a celebration,” said Shasta Gaughen, acting director of the Cupa Cultural Center. “It is the most tragic event of the Cupeños' history, and it is the defining event of their identity.”

Just ask Elijah Duro, 18, who has the word “Kupa” – an alternate spelling of his ancestors' homeland – tattooed on his arm.

He's part of a native dance troupe. Along with a few dozen other children and young adults, he performed several ancient songs in the dusty arena outside the cultural center. Some songs had deep historical significance. Others were fanciful stories set to the music of maracas.

“I get involved because it's what I am,” Duro said. “It's part of me.”

His mother, Diana Duro, leads the dance team and said the continuation of traditions would please bygone generations because the performances help to connect young people with their past.

“It's so vital that our children know where they are from,” she said. “They get to see that we never were lost.”

The spirit of Cupa Days touched flutist Michael Goodluck, a Navajo from Prescott Valley, Ariz. He has visited numerous such gatherings over the years, but said this one stands out.

“It's more welcoming. There is a lot more generosity and love here,” he said after his performance.

Goodluck said he's planning to stay in the area for a while and work with native youth programs. He already has a good feeling about his venture.

“I am really impressed with the way (the native men) carry themselves and how the children are part of that,” he said. “It brings back the memory of how it takes a community to raise a child and how much that is needed today.”

Mike Lee: (619) 542-4570; mike.lee@uniontrib.com