School of Abenaki Pilots First Summer Remotely

In its first summer as part of Middlebury’s summer Language Schools, the School of Abenaki engaged 23 students in a two-week pilot program on Abenaki language and culture. Jesse Bowman Bruchac, a citizen of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe, led Middlebury’s first Native American language program. The school allowed all of its students to attend this year free of charge, something Bruchac noted as a demonstration of the college’s support of efforts to preserve indigenous culture and language in the area.

Like all of Middlebury’s Language Schools this summer, the program was conducted remotely.

“Being online helped to bring people together,” said Bruchac, who has spent his career traveling across New England and the country to teach. Bruchac has nearly 30 years of experience teaching the Abenaki language and working to preserve its culture… (continued)

Read the full article by Catherine McLaughlin in The Middlebury Campus digital paper.

 

Kchi Psahakw: American Wild Mint

Kchi psahakw (Western Abenaki) – great/big smell(ing) plant, from “kchi” = great/big, plus “psah-” = to smell, plus “-akw” = a plant

American wild mint (Mentha canadensis)

American wild mint is the only native Mentha of the half-dozen species found in New England. This one has a very strong mint smell and enjoys wet, rich soil.  People seek it as medicine for stomach upset, insomnia, and to relieve anxiety – similar to contemporary uses for peppermint.

Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust at Wantastegok

“The Elnu Abenaki Tribe have partnered with Mount Grace since the early planning of the Gunnery Sergeant Jeff Ames Wheelchair Accessible Trail, which now guides visitors through a series of interpretive signs emphasizing the Abenaki’s continued connection to the lands that make up Squakheag/Northfield.

Elnu representatives worked with Mount Grace, and with the Wampanoag Aquinnah and Narragansett Nations, to describe the cultural importance of the Alderbrook Meadows site and helped design the educational signs for the trail.

This August, Mount Grace was invited to Vermont by the Elnu to witness the reclamation of Wantastegok–”at the river where something is lost”–the original name of the confluence of the West River with the Connecticut in Brattleboro.”

Read the full article in the 9/8/20 Mount Grace newsletter.

 

Apenak – Groundnut

Apenak or penak – also skibô (Western Abenaki) – “[edible] root” from “pen-” = downward

Groundnut (Apios americana)

Wlipogwatol wajapkol ta adbakwasisal. Ta wlinôgwatol pskwasawônal!

Tasty roots and little beans. And beautiful flowers!

 

Pakwaaskw – Cattail

Pakwaaskw (Western Abenaki) – “arrow plant”

Cattail (Typha latifolia)

N’wlitobnal pakwal ta n’mijibnal wajapkol.

The stems used to make blunt arrow shafts and the roots eaten as a starch.

The Dialogue of Change

So, this happened: observations and extrapolations.

About two weeks ago, on August 13, 2020 – building upon a multi-faceted exchange that had already been underway for about four years – Abenaki community members, in collaboration with the Retreat Farm, dedicated a marker near the water’s edge. The site chosen was and is not coincidental. It is a place where worlds come together – sky, land, and water – a place that has cared for many and has been cared for in return, for thousands of summers. The marker is a recognition of the enduring relationship between People and Land – the duality embodied by indigeneity. Through the deliberate action of “Reclaiming Wantastegok” – restoring the space within which both this place and its occupants are singularly identified – a process of remembrance and reconnection has been recognized and enabled. See here and here for local media reports on the day’s celebration.

The event hosted its maximum allowable number of guests: 150 at an outdoor venue, according to the state’s Covid-19 guidelines. Sadly, a few had to be turned away. But, by all reports, the experience was as well-received as it was attended. Many folks traveled home having happily added to their understanding of  being an integral part of one’s surroundings. The word “Wantastegok”, spoken aloud, reaffirmed the Place where it had first been voiced, so many rivers ago. A fresh dialogue between People, Land, and Water was convened, mixing old words with new, and Original Peoples with more recent arrivals. An opportunity for a community to learn together what it means to be in relationship: hard truths, healing connections, humbling realizations, affirming values.

A little over a week later, someone decided to chalk the Abenaki words “Wantastegok” and “Ndakinna” on the “Welcome to Brattleboro” sign just 300 feet further south. Both sign posts were tagged, and the words Brattleboro, Vermont overwritten as well. It was a little jarring, and dismaying, to witness. What was the point of this?

I posted the discovery on Facebook for reactions, thinking that perhaps most of the respondents – in common with the proponent of this action – would have known that this dialogue for change was already well underway in the community, a shared effort, and forefronted by Indigenous voices. I didn’t count on Facebook’s randomized algorithm; consequently, many of the commenters were not aware of the previous week’s events, much less the lead-up during the previous years. No doubt the chalk-wielder, however, was well-aware because they knew the significance of these two words and of their proximity.

Some of the post comments, though, were right on the mark. This, from Amber Arnold of the SUSU Collective, expresses it succinctly:

“In my opinion….which doesn’t matter much as I am not Abenaki, but I would say it matters more so who wrote it and if it was a collective decision I guess? If someone outside of the Abenaki community wrote on the sign it seems it could be harmful because then it just puts you in a position to seem responsible or take the blame or scrutiny I guess or negativity from others. If it was a collective decision made in your community and you all feel that it is needed and important than I believe it is a good decision…but in my opinion really depends on who wrote it. It always sucks when well intentioned outsiders do these things because it puts lots of labor on the actual people who experience attempted erasure.”

Wliwni – thank you, Amber.

And, to everyone: we can do better, together. And we will.

Layers of Land, Layers of Experience

Visitors to the Retreat Meadows on Route 30 across from the Retreat Farm have a new opportunity to experience the confluence of the West and Connecticut rivers from a perspective that celebrates and honors the region as the homeland of the Abenaki people.

After a brief ceremony on Aug. 13, leaders of the Elnu Abenaki and the Retreat Farm joined Native Americans and others in the community in unveiling an interpretive sign for Wantastegok, the original Abenaki word for the area.

“It refers to the confluence of the West and the Connecticut rivers, a place where things come together, a place where things are lost, a place where things are found,” said Rich Holschuh, a spokesperson for the Elnu Abenaki and author of the text on the sign at the edge of the Retreat Meadows.

Read the full report from Olga Peters in The Commons (issue #576, 08.26.20), photography courtesy of Josh Steele.

 

Abenaki Trails Project Proposes a Start in Hopkinton NH

The country is searching for roads that lead to racial equality and social justice. Contoocook native Daryl Peasley hopes the Abenaki Trails can be one of them. The trails would offer a deeper understanding of the influence the Abenaki people had on the area through a series of new monuments and artistic installments in towns along the banks of the Contoocook and Merrimack Rivers.

Peasley, 59, is part of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki and one of the original members of the state’s Commission on Native American Affairs. He’s heard all the stories about massacres and violence, like the one remembered at the Hannah Duston Memorial in Boscawen. He’s heard people describe New Hampshire as just a pass-through state for Native Americans, a place where tribes spent little time. Now, he wants to tell the other half of the story

Read the full story in the Concord Monitor here.

Kchipenak – Canada Lily

Kchipenak (Western Abenaki) – “great edible root”

Canada Lily (Lilium canadense)

Pitta kwenakwezid, kwinatta wakapwal wji mijwôgan ta wlinôgwatol peskwatawal.

A “very tall one”, with a really large root for food and beautiful flowers.

Wôbimizi – American Chestnut

Wôbimizi – “white tree” (Western Abenaki)

American Chestnut (Castanea dentata)

Wlipogwzoal bagônal – delicious nuts!