Education News
Where History is Shared and Stories Continue
OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2024
KUNOOPEAM NETOMPAÛOG, WELCOME FRIENDS!
Hello Readers! We’ve come to our final newsletter for 2024. The season begins with taquonk (autumn) and progresses into papone (winter) under the moons of harvest, hunters, and darkness (read about them in previous issues). As I’m pondering what to share on these pages, I’m riding through the Dawnland (New England) from Narragansett Country (Rhode Island), through Abenaki & Pennacook Country (New Hampshire), to spend time in Wabanaki – Abenaki, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot – traditional homelands (Maine). It’s the last day of August and here in the Northeast Area of Turtle Island (United States), the leaves have already begun changing color. I’ve driven through valleys, climbed mountains, and navigated S-curves, and sloping roadways. There are farms of apples, pumpkins, and mums in shades of pink, deep red, yellow, and orange. By the time you read this newsletter, the foliage will be in full color, bogs will be full of cranberries ready to be picked and turned into relish, sauce, jelly, or eaten fresh! There are festivals, fairs, and harvest celebrations throughout small villages and towns where freshly picked and homemade foods are available. Drive through the Dawnland and visit some roadside stands and farmers markets that have become a symbol of this time of year in this region. While visiting, learn about the origins and remember the history of this place and all its people who lived, moved, and had relationships within these landscapes.
The Harvest
cattails in late summer/early fall
It is the season for harvesting all that has been grown or that grows naturally. Cattails brown fuzzy cones burst open to release their seeds for the wind to carry through the air for reseeding. Did you know cattails were edible? The roots can be ground into flour, the sap to thicken soups, and the tender shoots may be eaten raw or cooked. Cattails have medicinal qualities as well. Their pollen can be applied to cuts to control bleeding and ingested for internal bleeding and menstrual pain. Cattail is an astringent with antiseptic qualities. A poultice may be applied to treat infections, blisters, stings, or as a skin wash. Even their roots are mashed and used as a toothpaste. As cattails are water plants, they are a good source of oxygen and necessary for maintaining wetlands. Their roots draw up nutrients from the water removing toxins. Warning! Our waters are no longer the pristine, life-giving source they were before colonization and the Industrial Revolution. They are continuously being contaminated. These plants are great for protecting life existing in their presence, but human consumption now may be harmful to your health. Be sure if you harvest cattail, to do so in an environment unmolested by man-made features and structures. Check out this YouTube video for more!
Chicken of the Woods
Do you enjoy foraging for mushrooms? A popular favorite used by many Narragansett Tribal members is Chicken of the Woods (Click here for more information ). To prepare safely, cut the “petals” of the mushroom from its base. Cut into slices about 1/4” thick and boil for about 10 minutes. Drain then sauté with peppers and onions. We add these to spaghetti sauce in the place of meat and serve over pasta or spaghetti squash for a healthier option! Many varieties of mushrooms are edible, but many look-alikes exist as well that are toxic. Some, while not edible, have medicinal qualities, such as the turkey tail. It supports gut, liver, and kidney health and maintains healthy inflammation levels. It is widely known for boosting the immune system to fight off cancer. It is important to do your research when harvesting mushrooms for food or medicine.
turkey tail
Once you’ve developed a relationship with the environment around you, you will begin to recognize the edibles and medicinals more readily. But remember, in harvesting to be honorable. Never take too much, leave some for someone else, leave some to grow and spread, and share what you have.
The Hunt
The Hunter’s Dance, a traditional Eastern-style dance, demonstrates men leaving camp in search of deer during the hunting season. Robin Spears III, a Narragansett traditional eastern war dancer, was taught the Hunter’s dance by his uncles Cassius Spears Sr. and Thawn Harris. He in turn has shared this knowledge with two younger dancers ensuring the continuation of these beloved traditions to the next generations. The dance begins with a smudging ceremony with the community before they leave for the hunt. Then the two men gather their dugout canoe from the shoreline and place it into the water. They row across the bay to their desired hunting grounds, disembark from the canoe, and pull it onto shore. They journey through the woodlands in search of game. When one is spotted, they aim and shoot their arrows falling their prize. Together, they follow the drops of blood to the place where the game lay. They shout their sounds of victory, thank the Creator for the gift, and make an offering of tobacco. One lifts the front legs of the game, the other the rear, they carry it back and place it in their canoe. They row back across the bay, lift it from their canoe, and bring it to camp delivering it to the women who will begin to process it. A large buck provides much meat that will be dried, roasted, and stewed.
Here’s a contemporary recipe for venison stew.
1 small venison roast cut into 1-inch cubes, carrots, onion, potato, garlic, salt & pepper (other seasonings as preferred), and Stock (beef or vegetable). Brown the meat in a large pot on the stovetop. Remove. Add onion, carrots, garlic, and seasonings to the fond. Sauté together until softened. Return roast to the pot, add potatoes, stock, and cover. Place in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove, and let rest. Enjoy! This is a very basic recipe. Feel free to add lib to your preference.
Living off the land was how Native people survived and thrived in the centuries before colonization. But as early as the 1700s, settlers cut down forests to build their colonies and create vast farms and plantations. They hunted and trapped without limit as there were no laws prohibiting them. Many native animals such as bears, wolves, and mountain lions were killed in their efforts to protect their cattle, sheep, and other animals they brought with them. Their lack of understanding or care about the necessity of these natural predators caused a great imbalance over these last centuries. These practices also had a significant impact on the traditional practices of the Native peoples and their lifeways. By the 1800s the black bear disappeared from Narragansett Country (RI). People didn’t understand the behaviors of the bear not having a relationship with them as the Natives had. They chased the bear away or killed them outright. It was not until 1900 with the passing of the Lacey Act that the federal government made efforts to protect wildlife. This, after over 200 years of devastation. Over the years, there has been an increasing need to regulate hunting due to changes in purpose, attitude, and perspective. The 20th century found many more laws, educational requirements, and labels such as “endangered” or “threatened” defining populations of species to be protected being established. In the present day, Rhode Island’s Division of Fish and Wildlife continues its efforts to protect, restore, and manage wildlife populations and their habitats. This is an honorable and necessary effort, but one that is a reminder of the lack of respect for our earth Mother and her gifts to us all, and the lack of respect for traditional ecological knowledge of Indigeous peoples both here and across this nation and throughout the world. The education of these laws and why they are necessary must be part of every educational curriculum reaching across subject matter and inclusive of all. We are all responsible for how we live and relate to our environment as we are all affected by the results to continue to live and thrive. History, Science, and Traditional Indigenous Ecological Knowledge must work together to ensure our future and the generations to come.
A Time to Share
All across Turtle Island, Indigenous communities have traditions around the giveaway. The purpose is sharing. There are lessons connected to the ceremony that teach us to let go of our possessions and our ideas of importance connected to them. The more prized the possession and the greater the sense of ownership, the more powerful the lesson. The Give-Away Ceremony is never used to get rid of belongings that one no longer wants or uses, are no longer functional, or are badly in need of repair. To give cast-off items is a disgrace to the giver and shows a lack of respect for the receiver. Gifts are not to be obligatory or used as a means of coercion or control for this is not a true giveaway and does not include the spirit of sharing to meet the needs intended. Some gifts may be made especially for the occasion. In the Pacific Northwest, these giveaway ceremonies are known as potlatch. At a potlatch, a family gives away everything they own to the tribal community. In return, the community gives back to the family, thus ensuring they have all they need. Among the Anishinaabe, there are also giveaway ceremonies where a blanket is laid out and people place items on it. Once all gifts have been placed, there are prayers and words, and the then all can come and take an item from the blanket.
Nikommo, the Narragansett word for giveaway, took place throughout the year. And this time of year was no exception. During this season, what was harvested was shared among the community so that no one went without particularly through the winter months. Giveaways were a part of larger thanksgivings of which there were many. These Thanksgivings were a time of joy where the sharing of food, playing games of chance in friendly competition as well as skill building, dances simulating hunting, or the movements of animals as well as a time for choosing one’s mate, and much storytelling. Stories of origin, stories to teach, and stories to remind would be shared. What you may know as the Annual August Meeting Powwow today is a modern version of thousands of years of traditional thanksgiving gatherings. Powwow is derived from the Narragansett language meaning medicine man or paûwaû. And while the Narragansett Nation celebrates an annual August powwow today, our ancestors celebrated many more throughout the 13 moons. As people who lived in a close relationship with the environment, we recognized that what surrounds us was created for us to live in harmony with, with an intrinsic sense of knowing we were a created being by a Great Spirit in the skyworld - our Creator. This knowledge fostered thankfulness in the community. The pauwau led ceremony during times of gathering and sharing; times of thanksgiving and the giveaway. Today, we continue these traditions but with the limits of space, community, and knowledge. That which was able to be passed down from pre-contact to now is still shared, often among individual families living throughout Rhode Island and the United States. Some have not forgotten the traditions of the past, and others are learning. This is our continuation - to remember, teach, and live as close to our ancestral ways as possible amid an ever-changing, modernizing, and challenging environment. This is our resistance to erasure, resilience despite challenges, and reclamation through action!
Aquéne kah wunnánmónat peace and blessings!
~Chrystal Mars Baker
CHILDREN’S BOOK NOOK:
Hello Children! This season is all about harvesting, hunting, and sharing. Did you grow a garden this year? If so, what did you grow? Are you getting ready to harvest the remaining foods from your garden? Maybe you are learning to hunt with a parent, uncle, or other grown-up? What will you hunt for? Do you celebrate Christmas or other traditions that celebrate sharing or giving away? These are Native traditions of the past and of today. They are traditions of many other cultures and peoples also. You may have your own stories, experiences, and traditions around these activities. I love to take long country rides on back roads to throughout the Dawnland (you may know this as New England). I love to ride up into the White Mountains of Maine and New Hampshire, the Berkshires of Massachusetts, and the Green Mountains of Vermont. Riding through back roads this time of year you may see fields of corn, pumpkins, apple groves, and squash. You may also see evergreen tree farms. There are so many wonderful stories and experiences to reminisce about or create anew. What will you do this season? What are the traditions and plans, you are preparing for?
In Native culture this season holds so many opportunities for thanksgiving, not just one celebrated in November as has been misrepresented in U.S. history for generations. There are harvest thanksgivings, hunting thanksgivings, and giving traditions involving sharing with the community so none goes without. And there are many different traditions around harvesting, hunting, and giving away.
The Deer was a main source of protein and served as a main food staple for Native peoples in this region. But it was not just a food source. The deer provided so much more. Almost every part of the deer was used for something important to the community such as clothing, bedding, and tools. The diagram below shows these uses. Using every part of the animal was a way of showing thanksgiving and appreciation for this relative giving its life to feed, clothe, and help the people. Did you notice I said, “relative?” Yes. Animals, plants, trees, and other creation was called relatives by Native peoples. In this way, they remember to treat them with respect, honor them for their provision, and thank them for giving themselves to sustain them, in the same way, we learn to treat our mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and other members of our families and communities.
Harvest
The Sacred Harvest: Ojibwe Wild Rice Gathering by Kakkak Reggiunti - An Ojibwe boy is introduced to wild rice harvesting as he comes of age and takes another step on the path to manhood. (Recommended for grades 6-8). In this book, you will read about Glen Jackson, Jr., an 11-year-old Ojibwe Indian from the Leech Lake reservation in Minnesota. His people are wild rice growers. Glen is taking part in this cultural tradition for the first time and is worried that he won't be strong enough to push the canoe through the rice beds without tipping over.
Hunt
Today there are many Wampanoag people still living in their homelands. Some are in Mashpee and some are in Aquinnah. These places are located in what was once their entire territory known today as the State of Massachusetts. In the book, Tapenum’s Day, A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times, you will learn how the Wampanoag lived before the arrival of colonists through the eyes of Tapenum. Tapenum means “he is sufficient” in the Wampanoag language. This story is about how he strives to become a pniese, a warrior counselor, and what skills are required for such an honor.
The author of this book is Kate Waters. She is neither Wampanoag nor Indigenous, but she wrote this book with input from Wampanoag people including Nanepashemet (David Walbridge) who is Mashpee Wampanoag, and Linda Coombs, who is Aquinnah Wampanoag among others who have the knowledge, experiences, skills, and stories to share with her to complete the writing of this book. For many years, the history of Indigenous people has been recorded through the eyes and voices of non-Native people, written by them, and shared from their perspective. This book is an important exception to that practice. The people themselves were able to have input into the writing and telling of their history and stories! In the back of the book, you will find the meanings of the Wampanoag language used in the book and all the contributors to the book.
Sharing
The Give-Away by Ray Buckley is similar to the Christian story of Christmas but from a Native perspective. The premise of the giveaway is more than gifting. It is a denying of oneself so that another may have a better way. Among the Northern Plains tribes, all of creation (humanity, animals, birds, insects, and plants) is part of the sacred hoop. It is an important theological concept that the birth of Jesus took place in a stable, not just to signify a lowly birth, but the presence of the Four Leggeds and Those Who Fly. The message of Jesus becomes one of not only restoring humanity to God, and human to human, but also human to "all of our relations."The Give-Away relates an engaging dialogue between the Whooping Crane, the Snow Goose, the Deer Mouse, the Bull Buffalo, the Eagle, the Fox, the Bear, Old Beaver, Grandmother Turtle, the Wind, the Ancient One, and the Creator. For all ages, The Give-Away is sure to become a Christmas classic
RESOURCES:
At Tomaquag we are continuously doing the work of educating new generations of children as well as the general public about the lives, traditions and life changes of the Indigenous peoples of Rhode Island and neighboring communities. Follow us on our website at tomaquagmuseum.org, Youtube and Facebook. Check out these resources!
To learn more about Chicken of the woods mushroom click here.
For book reviews click here.
To purchase books and support an Indigenous business and authors, click here.
To support Tomaquag museum, other Indigenous businesses, and artists, shop our store here.
Did you miss last quarter’s Newsletter? Click the link below to read now:
July-September 2024 Newsletter