January 29 2016
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Next weekend at the Missisquoi
Wildlife Refuge, join a presentation by Dr. Fred Wiseman examining 10,000 years of #Wabanaki clothing and accessories.
Where: Missisquoi Wildlife Refuge, 29 Tabor Road, Swanton
VT 05488
(Photo credit:
Donald Soctomah)
Last fall, Dr.
Fred Wiseman of Swanton Vermont, as well as the Wapohnaki Museum Cultural Center and the Passamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum, co-produced an historic fashion show in Maine.
It featured 24 of Dr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman’s original and re-created
clothing outfits, based on over 25 years of study of historic and
ancient Abenaki clothing, headgear, and jewelry and fashion accessories.
Anyone interested in learning about a little-known facet
of Vermont’s fascinating fashion history will want to join Dr. Fred M. Wiseman to hear how the event
went — and most importantly, how the wearing of ancestral clothing affected the
young Native people who wore the attire.
This deeply moving cultural experience has much to teach indigenous people
in Vermont about tribal revitalization, and points the way, perhaps, to new
directions in Abenaki arts.
Dr Wiseman will share a rich slide show of reconstructed and original prehistoric and historic clothing, including that of an Ice-Age
mariner on the Champlain Sea, 1600’s warriors defending their homeland, and
1920’s basket sellers at Highgate Springs, Vermont. ABENAKI from the PANADIS' FROM ODANAK.
In addition, he will share some rare examples of historic
Abenaki, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy clothing that have survived until this
day. Dr. Wiseman will also preview the “Alnobak”
clothing exhibit that is planned to open in June at the Lake Champlain Maritime
Museum in Vergennes, VT. Following the
presentation there will be time for questions as well as time to view the
original Abenaki clothing from Wiseman’s collection.
February 09, 2016
The Caledonian-Record Newspaper, Page A2
OBITUARY – ALBERT
JEAN DAIGNEAULT
Albert Jean
Daigneault, 67 years of age, passed peacefully surrounded by his wife and
four children on January 19, 2016 in his log
cabin that he so proudly built 34 years ago. Albert was born on June 24, 1948 to Lionel
and Eleanor (nee: Remick) Daigneault.
He attended schools in St. Johnsbury and later married Johnna Rosselot in 1970.
Albert was an avid hunter and fisherman. He also enjoyed
motorcycles and snowmobiling. His greatest love was his family. Albert served
in the U.S. Navy and was a proud member of the first crew that commissioned the
USS John F. Kennedy Aircraft Carrier. He also served and retired from the Vermont
Army National Guard. Multiple sclerosis became a part of his life but he was
determined to not let it rule him. He continued to be productive right up until
his passing.
Besides his parents and his wife Johnna, he is survived
by his sons Justin and wife Barb, Jared and wife Janet, Josh and Nicole,
and daughter Emily Rivard, as well
as grandchildren Jailyn, Lillianna, Ashlyn, Valerie, Jaxson, Logan, Colton and
Rosaleigh; his brother Normand and
four sisters, Suzanne Wallstrum, Theresa Fried, Denise Russell and Annette
Ruffner as well as many nieces and nephews.
A graveside service will be held later at Mt. Pleasant
Cemetery, date and time to be determined. Memorial Contribution in his name may
be sent to: Wounded Warrior Project at 4899 Belfort Rd., Suite 300,
Jacksonville, FL 32256, CFC #11425
June 20, 2016
The Addison Independent Newspaper
Abenaki to present
their history at Maritime Museum
FERRISBURGH — What does it mean to be Indian in Vermont?
What does it mean to be an indigenous artist? On June 25 and 26,
2016 members of Vermont’s Abenaki
community gather at Lake Champlain
Maritime Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vermont to present their own history and heritage directly to the public.
Abenaki Heritage Weekend is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. A highlight of the event is the Native Arts Marketplace of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association (VAAA),
where visitors can talk to artists, watch crafts demonstrations and purchase
outstanding beadwork, quillwork, jewelry, basketry, woodworking and other
items.
“Indigenous artists no longer need to choose between
traditional and contemporary art forms,” said Vera Longtoe Sheehan, of the Elnu
Abenaki Tribe, and founder of the VAAA.
“Many of us practice both, and our contemporary art is informed by tradition.”
Throughout the weekend there will be songs and drumming,
storytelling, cooking demonstrations, kids’ activities, and demonstrations by
Abenaki artists and artisans. Drumming, dancing and singing will be led by the Nulhegan Drum. Members of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe will present
storytelling, food preparation, crafts and other life ways at an encampment in
the Pine Grove.
A garden of heirloom plants, including corn, squash,
beans and pumpkins, planted this spring on the LCMM
museum grounds, is a result of a multi-year quest by Dr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman to discover sources for ancient local
crops and bring the precious seeds to renewed harvests.
“Always in Fashion,” an illustrated
program about clothing and accessories worn by the original people of Northern
New England and neighboring areas of Canada will showcase images and original garments and accessories gathered by Frederick
Matthew Wiseman for the Wobanakik Heritage Center’s collection.
for ceremonial use and field testing will also be
presented in slides, music and video.
Visitors are encouraged to participate. They may be
invited to join a drumming circle, or join in a song, try their hand at
stringing wampum or creating a design, or working to create designs in clay.
Lake Champlain
Maritime Museum (LCMM) is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., a
family-friendly 4-acre lakeside campus with daily hands-on opportunities, Lake Adventure Camps for ages 7-16 are
offered June 20, 2016 through mid-August 2016.
Upcoming events include the Big ShaBang July 03, 2016, Rowing and Racing Weekend July 09-10, 2016, and Rabble in Arms, August 06-07, 2016.
June 25-26, 2016
Abenaki Heritage
Weekend
This special weekend hosted by Lake Champlain Maritime Museum gives visitors an Abenaki
perspective on life in the Champlain Valley. Members of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe, the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk and Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas Abenaki
Nation, and the Vermont Abenaki
Artists Association work with Museum staff to plan and present the event.
The Native people at this event are experts in the living
indigenous arts and traditions which they come together to share with one
another and with visitors. They have inherited, researched, reconstructed, or
apprenticed to learn the techniques with which they create outstanding
beadwork, quill-work, basketry, pottery, woodworking and other items for
personal use or for sale. Tribal members will also share songs, drumming,
dancing, games, food preparation, and other life skills.
Abenaki Heritage
Weekend also includes opportunities to share cultural heritage through
illustrated talks and Round Table discussions on topics such as efforts to
preserve Abenaki as a living language, and the cultivation, use and exchange of
heirloom plants. “I have been amazed by the richness and depth of the cultural
and historical information brought out by the Vermont Indigenous bands during
their research for Vermont State Recognition,” says Frederick M. Wiseman, Ph. D., and Director of the Wobanakik
Heritage Center in Swanton. “This is a new stage with great potential in
Vermont culture and history – for Native people to work on their own history
and culture and then present the results.”
June 25, 2016
11:00 a.m. Dr.
Frederick M. Wiseman’s findings from Seeds of Renewal, his multi-year quest
to discover ancient local crops from written documents and modern Indigenous
oral history. He has tracked down seed sources as far away as Manitoba and
Colorado, and brought the precious seeds to renewed harvests in their ancient
homeland.
His presentation includes an illustrated talk and a visit
to demonstration plantings on the Museum grounds.
Learn more about Dr.
Wiseman’s Seeds of Renewal project in a Teacher Training Workshop at LCMM August
1-5, 2016 and a Special Exhibit
at LCMM in 2017.
October 23, 2016
The Rokeby Museum
4334 Route 7
Ferrisburg, VT 05456
(802) 877-3406
Rokeby@comcast.net
Abenaki Artifacts
Rowland E.
Robinson had friends among the ODANAK Abenaki who camped, hunted, and fished along
the shores of Lake Champlain. He collected baskets, snowshoes, and other items,
some of which are unique in New England. Frederick
Matthew Wiseman spent the winter surveying all of Rokeby’s ODANAK (?) Abenaki
artifacts and will share his research into this little known archaeological and
ethnological collection. Professor
Wiseman has made some surprising discoveries, including a “possibly unique”
ash splint basket woven around a cedar frame. Join us on Sunday October 23, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. to learn more.
Professor Frederick Matthew Wiseman directs the Wobanakik Heritage Center
in Swanton, Vermont. The program is $2.00 or free with Museum admission.
March 30, 2017
The Vermont Cynic
Maddy Pimentel
Radio show offers
a voice to the native community
One woman discovered the power of community radio in 2009, when the indigenous people of Vermont were
still not recognized at a state level.
Some tribes of the Abenaki nation, the people native to
the region now known as Vermont, achieved state recognition as late as 2012, according to the state website.
Deborah Regers,
host of Moccasin Tracks on 90.1 WRUV, felt conversations about
these people were held exclusively at state and professional levels.
“As a non-native person, I felt like I needed to know the
truth,” she said. “I wanted to hear the truth from the people themselves, not
be told by privileged white people.”
Deborah Regers
created Moccasin Tracks to voice the
stories and perspectives of Native Americans.
“The material that Deborah
Regers single-handedly brings to this radio station is unmatched, here and
at other radio stations,” said sophomore Rachel
O’Neill, WRUV station manager.
Through her show, Deborah
Regers shares the current cultural revitalization
of the Abenaki with the larger community, she said.
“Some descendants are trying to
reclaim their identities in these modern times,” Deborah Regers said.
Many Abenaki people are discovering who they are by
learning their native languages, songs and traditions, she said.
Languages survive through music and oral stories which
are passed on through generations, Deborah
Regers said.
“All the music I play is by native artists from all over
the country,” she said.
Moccasin Tracks
also hosts a range of artists, including a traditional basket weaver and a
birch-bark canoe maker.
Like music and language, traditional arts are passed down
through generations, Deborah Regers
said.
“I don’t think people are aware these arts are still
practiced by many of the nations today,” she said.
“There is a huge network of history, art and music,” Deborah Regers said. “The challenge is:
how do I bring that on the radio? How do I share that with the larger community?”
Rachel O’Neill
remembers listening to a broadcast around Halloween on cultural appropriation
which brought her to tears, she said.
“If we can understand history through communicating with
the original people, we can achieve mutual respect,” Deborah Regers said. “There is racism everywhere, including
Vermont.”
In recent history, Abenaki people were sterilized
due to eugenics, a science dedicated to improving a human population
by controlled breeding, Deborah Regers said.
Henry Perkins,
a UVM professor in the 1920’s, was a major proponent of the Vermont eugenics movement, according to
the University of Vermont’s website.
Moccasin Tracks
also focuses on current events such as political and environmental challenges,
which are threatening native culture, Deborah
Regers said.
“They are losing a lot of human rights, tribal rights,
sovereignty and the ability to protect the earth for future generations,” she
said.
Native Americans who participated in the Standing Rock resistance have voiced
their experiences on Moccasin Tracks.
“I want to hear from the grassroots people,” Deborah Regers said. “Although I have
heard from professors and professional people, I’m really interested in the
extraordinary things ordinary people do.”
Through Moccasin Tracks, Deborah Regers calls for an
awareness of societal and cultural conditioning, she said.
“From doing this radio show I am learning to be an ally;
I am learning to decolonize the way I think,” Deborah Regers said. “A lot of the times that means relearning what
I have learned in school.”
While certain setbacks still exist, such as enduring
prejudices and resistance to climate protection, Deborah Regers is grateful to be alive during this time of rising
consciousness, she said.
“It’s a beautiful thing to witness,” Deborah Regers said. “The Abenaki people are re-indigenizing
themselves and reaffirming their traditions with each other and with their
larger communities.”
Deborah Regers
hosts Moccasin Tracks from 2:00 p.m.
to 4:00 p.m. every Thursday on 90.1 WRUV.
My Response dated March 31,
2017:
"With all due respect, the Abenaki Peoples living
within the boundaries of Vermont were NOT "recognized" whatsoever.
The Abenakis were told to shut up and could not testify at Senate Committee
Hearings by the State after being invited to testify. But the
"recognition" process from the beginning to the end was an affront
and an insult to the Abenakis. Confused? You should be because that is what
'they' wanted you to be. The Public of Vermont have been greatly deceived by
what has been done in the State of Vermont and by these so-called
"Abenaki" groups that have now State Recognition as "Tribes".
And yes, we do have proof of the merits of what I have stated herein.
For
example, the Professor, Mr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman stated and quite openly implied that the
Phillips family MUST BE Abenaki through the Phillips ancestor Antoine Phillips
Sr. through the Philips Deed of 1796 here in northern Coos County, NH ... and
yet research has clearly proven otherwise, just by reading the 1859 and 1873 Burlington
Free Newspapers! Therein, in 1859 the articles indicated that Antoine Phillips
Sr. was a colored man as were his two sons Peter and Michael Phillips Sr.
Apparently Mr. Wiseman didn't research too much, because if he had, the
narrative and "proof"/ "evidence" he and they threw on Senator Vincent Illuzzi and Senator Hinda Miller's desks as well as Senator Diane Snelling's desk would have been
detected to be lies! But none of those countless Vermont politicians did a
stitch of research or validation of the data shoved in front of them. They
didn't care about the lies and they sure as heck didn't care about the truth!
None of them ... not the Professor, not the "Chief's" of these
501(c)3 groups claiming and implying they were "Abenaki"
"tribes" to the State and varied other entities where they sought
status, recognition and grants etc. Genetically, the Phillips family,
documented in the Eugenics Survey of VT were Black, Born-Out-Of-Slavery ca.
1780's African descendants, targeted by Henry F. Perkin's Field Researcher
Harriet Abbott, not because they were "Abenakis" let along Indians,
but rather, because the Black man Antoine Sr. had married a French Catholic
woman from Quebec, Canada in the 1830's and their children and descendants were
in the Burlington Free Press newspaper, and getting themselves incarcerated
both at the County and State levels throughout the late 1800's and early
1900's. The 4 Alburgh Indians that the Partlow's claim is their proof to
"Abenaki-ness' was also propped up as "evidence" by both the
Professor and his groups of pretenders. A simple trip to the Alburg Town Clerks
office to see the official original records would have sufficed, had any
politician in Vermont done that. But they didn't. It is proven that the 4
Alburgh Indians were in fact Bero, Loran, Laughlin, and Squires (NOT Partlow,
Vosburgh, Olena, or the other white fella listed by name on that Town Book
page). But the descendants, the groups nor the politicians cared much about
FACTS or the TRUTH. And on and on and on down the list the reality goes, that proves,
that the so-called "researched' evidence by this Professor afore
mentioned, etc and their other "expert' 'unbiased' scholars was NEVER
done. Genealogically and genetically these people are not Abenakis whatsoever.
So what is this radio show hostess Deb Regers, host of Moccasin Tracks on 90.1
WRUV, really doing, but helping to perpetuated to the naive masses of the
Vermont public, that she is documenting the "Abenaki" pretender
people are re-inventing themselves and parroting their so-called "traditions"
with each other and with their larger communities. If they are becoming larger
"groups' of pretenders, it very likely because the groups themselves, are
allowing anyone and everyone with 1 drop of or NOTHING ... or one ancestor in the 1600's
to come into the group and become members. I mean if my 9th or 15th great
grandmother was a documented Native woman, such as there is in the Phillips
family, due to Antoine Phillips Sr.'s French wife Catherine Emery dit Coderre,
that still doesn't make the descendants 'Abenakis' ... now does it?! I could go one
about Mr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman Ph.D. but the naive Vermonter's like to
keep their heads stuck in the Vermont soil, with their arses up in the air
apparently about these so called "Abenakis" parading themselves to
the naive media." Don Stevens Jr. is am Antoine Phillips Sr. and Catherine Codderre descendant through their son Peter Phillips (ca. 1833-1906).
April 08, 2017
Mountain Lake PBS
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
153 Main St
Burlington, VT 05401
Burlington, VT 05401
Alnobak: Wearing
Our Heritage – Opening Reception
Amy E. Tarrant
Gallery: April 08, 2017 through June 17, 2017
Opening Talk: Saturday, April
08, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. with co-curators Eloise Beil and Vera Longtoe
Sheehan
AD + ASL available for opening talk.
To request, call 802-652-4504 by March
24, 2017.
What does it mean to be Indian in Vermont? What does it
mean to be an Indigenous artist? Native identity finds expression in different
ways with each generation. Since the State of Vermont recognized four Abenaki
Tribes in 2011-12, Vermont’s Indigenous artists have embraced the right to
identify their work as Indian art. The inspiration for Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage
emerged from a decade-long collaboration between Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) and Vermont’s Abenaki
artists, community members and tribal leaders.
“Identity is a negotiation between what others expect of you and what
you expect of yourself,” says Frederick M. Wiseman, Ph. D., Abenaki scholar and activist, who has
spent several decades gathering, interpreting, and reconstructing
artwork, artifacts, images and traditions of the Abenaki throughout the
Northeast. An essay by Dr.
Frederick Matthew Wiseman will provide historical and interpretive context
for the exhibit.
In the quest to interpret Native art and culture from an
Indigenous perspective, Vera Longtoe
Sheehan has made the transition from community member and tradition-bearer
to contemporary artist and curator – and founder of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association. “Indigenous artists no longer
need to choose between traditional and contemporary art forms,” she says. “Many
of us practice both, and our contemporary art is informed by tradition.” Vera
brings these multiple perspectives to the selection of works and images and to
the exhibit text and proposed print-on-demand catalog.
In the Maine State Museum’s 2009 landmark exhibition, Uncommon
Threads, co-curator Bruce Borque called Wobanaki textiles “one of North
America’s most dynamic indigenous textile traditions,” and expressed concern
that the “scattered, scarce and fragile” historical examples are slipping away.
Historical images of Western Abenaki clothing are especially scarce, even
through the mid-twentieth century, giving heightened significance to both the
rare family photographs and the robust body of work by Vermont’s contemporary
Abenaki artists that will be brought together in Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage.
Background: In
2009, as the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s visit was commemorated
in the Champlain Valley, Vermont’s Abenaki people were immersed in their
struggle for recognition. Amidst the Quadricentennial
activities in Burlington, contemporary Abenaki artists and artisans
presented a Fashion Show of replica garments and accessories in styles worn by
their ancestors as far back as the Archaic period (ca. 7,000 – 1500 BC). The
accomplishments and the frustrations of participating in the Champlain Quadricentennial gave rise to
a new commitment to self-determination and self-expression among Vermont’s
indigenous people.
affirmation, to affirm
connections with family, clan, band and tribe, and to express identity within
the geographical locale co-occupied with mainstream culture.
We hope that this exhibition will encourage public
engagement and understanding of some of the issues associated with Native
identity and recognition, and evolving creative expression by members of a
traditional culture.
The importance of clothing, accessories and regalia to
Vermont’s Native people as an expression of personal and community identity is
eloquently expressed by Francine
Poitras-Jones, a Member of the
Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation.
On joining the Vermont
Abenaki Artists Association in 2014, she
wrote, “I have drawn and painted almost
as long as I can remember. . . In addition to painting and making leather
pouches, I make regalia. In 2014, I made my mother’s first regalia from her
head (headband) to her toes (beaded moccasins), including her dance fan, dress,
and shawl. She was 86 years old at the time and had never danced in the circle because
she had never been allowed to speak of her heritage.”
There is a special sense of urgency in presenting this
exhibit to audiences in Vermont, while it can be shared with members of the
oldest generation of tradition bearers, as well as opening new creative
horizons to the younger generations who can now express their heritage with a
freedom undreamed of until now.
April 13, 2017
The Burlington Free Press Newspaper
By Brent Hallenbeck
Abenaki exhibit
comes to Flynn Center's Tarrant Gallery
A new exhibit at the Amy E. Tarrant Gallery highlights
the wearable art of the Abenaki population in and around Vermont.
“Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage”
opened Saturday with a discussion by co-curators Vera Longtoe Sheehan of the Vermont
Abenaki Artists Association and Eloise Beil of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The
exhibit will be on display through June 17, 2017.
“Wearing Our
Heritage” looks at how garments reflect Abenaki heritage and are still
being made to express native identity. “You can see our clothing has changed
very much over the years but our identities have very much remained that of the
people,” Vera Longtoe Sheehan said
at Saturday’s opening reception at the gallery affiliated with the Flynn Center
in Burlington.
Donald Warren Stevens, Jr. of Shelburne, chief of
the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe, said
after Saturday’s opening that the tribe has long had good
connections with the Maritime Museum as well as the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake
Champlain. He said the exhibit adjacent to the Flynn Center is another
big step forward for the Abenaki.
“This is kind of a culmination of a mainstream venue
accepting us and wanting to display our items, so this is a great day,”
according to Don Stevens.
WHAT: “Alnobak:
Wearing Our Heritage”
WHEN: Through June 17, 2017;
open 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Saturdays; also before Flynn Center performances and
during intermission
WHERE: Amy E.
Tarrant Gallery, 153 Main St., Flynn Center, Burlington
ADMISSION: Free. 863-5966, www.flynntix.org
Seven Days Newspaper
An Introduction to
Abenaki Horticulture & Garden Forestry
When: Mon., February 05, 2018
from 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Slides, videos and demos supplement Frederick Matthew Wiseman's short but comprehensive introduction
into ancient food systems.
Price: Donations.
June 18, 2018
The Burlington Free Press Newspaper, Page 09A-10A
From Staff Reports – USA TODAY NETWORK
Abenaki Heritage
Weekend on tap: Lake Champlain Maritime Museum will hold two days of special
events.
On Saturday, Abenaki scholar Frederick Matthew Wiseman introduces his new book, “Seven
Sisters: Wabanaki Seeds and Food Systems” at an afternoon book signing.
On Sunday, Fred M. Wiseman will discuss new directions in the consideration of
Indigenous art by collectors, investors, museums and galleries, in “Who
Owns the Past?”
The vent opens with an Abenaki Greeting Song each day.
There will be storytelling by Chief Roger
Longtoe Sheehan and music from the Nulhegan
Abenaki Drum Group. Activities for the kids are offered all weekend: making
a bracelet of glass wampum beads, identifying animal tracks, and fire-making
with flint and steel. Sign up for a special workshop on making a gourd rattle
(register as you arrive, first-come, first-served).
The Native Arts
Marketplace will provide opportunities to browse for traditional and
contemporary artwork, jewelry, and regalia. The exhibition features garments
and regalia by contemporary Abenaki
artists together with cherished photographs of earlier times. A gallery
talk with the curators and artists will provide insights into how Native
identity finds expression in different ways with each generation.
Chief Shirly Hook
and Doug Bent of the Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas Abenaki
Nation will be doing a fire pit cooking demonstration. They will begin
digging the fire pit on Friday and the turkey and beans will be cooking all day
on Saturday. Shirly Hook, and avid
gardener who prepares foods that she grows herself, will have a display table
with photos and seeds from tribal garden. Her young gardening apprentices will
be selling some of the plants that they have grown under her guidance. Proceeds
of the sales will benefit Koasek youth
group and children’s activities at the Abenaki
Heritage Weekend.
On-site lunch will be available from noon to 2:00 p.m.
Location: Lake Champlain Maritime Museum 4472 Basin Harbor
Road, (adjacent to historic Basin Harbor Club), Vergennes, Vermont 05491.
Admission:
Adults $14.00; Senior’s $12.00; Youth 6 to 17 yrs. $8.00, and Children 5 and
under are free.
Blue Star Museum:
Active service members and families free; Veterans $7.00
June 24, 2018
The Burlington Free Press
Newspaper, Page 1C-3C
By Vera Longtoe Sheehan and
Eloise Beil – For the Free Press / USA TODAY NETWORK
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum exhibit shares Abenaki heritage
Aaron Todd York [step-son to
Frederick M. Wiseman], the Abenaki artist who constructed the
Quadricentennial bark canoe for the First Navigators project, has traveled
extensively learning the arts and skills of the Wabanaki nations.
Examples of
original Abenaki outfits
Abenaki scholar and activist Frederick Matthew Wiseman gathered original garments and
accessories to assemble representative outfits like those worn by Abenaki men
and women before 1850, as well as outfits for a man and a woman in the 1900’s
through 1920’s. The items in his collection were brought together through a decades-old process of research and
discovery, and they reveal a fascinating combination of local and
international origins.
Eighteenth and nineteenth century Abenaki outfits from the Frederick M.
Wiseman Collection on view at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in 2016. Low light
levels help prevent damage to fragile textiles.
July 15, 2018
The Greenfield [Massachusetts] Recorder Newspaper
By Max Marcus - Recorder Staff
Northfield’s day
of history presents ‘living archaeology’
Saturday, July 21, 2018
at Northfield Mountain center
NORTHFIELD — Members of the Abenaki nation will bring
people into the history and culture of local indigenous groups on Saturday, July 21, 2018 at the Northfield Mountain Recreation and Environmental Center.
This “day of history,” from noon to 3:00
p.m., is the second in the Northfield Historical Commission’s series on
“bringing to light the native history of our area” that encompasses a period of
at least 12,000 years, Commissioner Lisa
McLoughlin said.
Roger ‘Longtoe’
Sheehan, Chief of the Elnu band of
the Abenaki nation, will talk about local history from the 17th century up
to modern times, using period-authentic “things that we would have had in the
17th century,” like muskets, spears and bows and arrows, he said.
Roger Longtoe Sheehan specializes in what he calls
“living archaeology” of the 17th and 18th centuries, using materials and
traditional stories to help people understand the way Abenaki peoples lived
when they occupied vast regions in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and
eastern New York.
But, “a lot of people have questions about modern
history, too,” he said. Now, the Abenaki nation has
about 15,000 members and is mostly based in Vermont, with
reservations in Quebec. The Elnu band
has about 60 members and is based in southern Vermont, making it the
southernmost group of the larger nation.
Rich Holschuh,
representative of the Elnu band,
will lead a walk through Northfield Mountain’s trails where he will try to
communicate the traditional understanding of the environment.
“I want to talk about the very real hands-on things in
front of us, and then I want to talk about the relationship of the people to
this place,” Holschuh said. “All of the various aspects out there in the
natural world are considered to be a part of you, literally a relation to you.
So you’re going to interact with them as equals. It’s not simply a harvesting
or a taking, but there’s also a giving, a reciprocity. It’s a two-way
relationship.
“Some of these things would be very practical,” like
identifications of plants, Holschuh said, “but you’re also perhaps going to
learn a lesson from the plant about how it is, why it’s growing there, how it’s
growing there.”
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Bryan Blanchette will play traditional and new songs in both
Abenaki and English.
Study update: King
Philip’s War
Also, an update on a National Park Service-funded study
of King Philip’s War will be discussed by David Brule, president of the
Nolumbeka Project. The Nolumbeka Project advocates for a more thorough
understanding of indigenous history up to and including the colonial era. The
study, now in its third phase of funding, is focusing on the Battle Turners
Falls.
Contact Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 261.
July 22, 2019
Saturday – 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Ongoing Activities until 4:30 p.m.
Living History Encampment, 18th Century Life Skills (Pine
Grove)
Arts Marketplace (Boat Shed)
Children’s Make-and-Take (on the Green)
Garden Apprentice Table and Plant Sale (on the Green)
Ash Baskets with Kerry Royce Wood and Aaron Wood (on the
Green)
Wampum with Linda Longtoe Sheehan (Boat Shed)
In-Ground (Fire pit) Cooking Demonstration (Roost)
Animal Tracking (Roost)
Fire Making with Flint and Steel (Roost)
Flint Knapping (Roost)
10:30 a.m. – Greeting Song, Land Acknowledgement, and
Opening remarks (Pine Grove)
11:00 a.m. – Enjoy ongoing activities
11:30 a.m. – Children’s Gourd Rattle making workshop.
Space is limited, first come, first served (on the Green)
12:00 p.m. – The Vermont Indigenous Heritage Center with
Frederick Matthew Wiseman, PhD. (Auditorium in Gateway)
1:00 p.m. – Storytelling, drum music, and dancing. Chief
Donald Warren Stevens Jr. and the Nulhegan Abenaki Drum Group (on the Green)
2:00 p.m. – Nebi (Water) short films and discussion with
Lina Longtoe Sheehan (Auditorium in Gateway)
3:00 p.m. – Nulhegan Abenaki
Drum Group – Music (on the Green)
4:00 p.m. – Nebizun: Water is Life Gallery Talk (Schoolhouse)
The Vermont Indigenous Heritage Center with Frederick M.
Wiseman, Ph.D.
Since 2008, the Vermont Abenakis and partner
organizations have discussed the creation of a place for the study and teaching
of Abenaki ancestral tradition. In 2018,
the Winooski Park District and the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum offered to
provide a "home" for such a Center. See how this rapid transformation
has taken place.
September 09, 2019
Saint Albans
Museum displays Abenaki agriculture exhibition
“Seeds of Renewal” – Abenaki Agriculture Exhibit on
Display at the Saint Albans Museum The Saint
Albans Museum is pleased to host a special exhibition – Seeds of Renewal –
on loan from the Vermont Historical
Society from August 28, 2019 through October 04, 2019.
The Seeds of
Renewal exhibition was created in 2018 by
the Vermont Historical Society in partnership with Dr. Frederick M. Wiseman, an Abenaki community member and retired
professor and department chair of humanities at Johnson State College. Frederick Matthew Wiseman developed the Seeds of Renewal Project in 2011 to recover the produce raised and consumed by
the Abenaki communities of the Far Northeast, and to reclaim the traditional
cuisine of the Abenaki region, along with the systems surrounding seed
nurturance such as agricultural technology and engineering, song, dance, and
ceremony.
The exhibit includes panels exploring Abenaki
agricultural history and techniques, varieties of indigenous Abenaki plants,
agricultural ceremony and harvest dinners, and cooking techniques. It also
includes models of indigenous squash varieties, examples of different types of
indigenous corn, and recipes. The exhibit aims to raise awareness of Abenaki
agricultural history, cuisine, and ceremony, and how one can play an active
role in Indigenous cultural awareness and revitalization.
“This is the first museum exhibition in Northeastern
North America that is focused on the ecology of the region’s modern Indigenous
peoples. It serves as a prototype for future interpretations of the critical
ancestral seeds and environmental knowledges still held by Native communities
from Nova Scotia to New York State. If it leads to one more crop variety saved
from extinction, or an improved relationship between indigenous and
Euro-American gardeners, it will have served its purpose,” said Frederick
Matthew Wiseman.
Support for the
exhibit was provided by a Making of
Nations Grant from the Champlain
Valley National Heritage Partnership (CVNHP) and funding from the Montpelier Community Fund.
For more information, please call (802) 527-7933 or visit
www.stamuseum.org. SAM is located at 9 Church Street in St. Albans and is open
Wednesday – Friday, 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. and Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
October 01, 2019
The Seven Days Newspaper
By Melissa Pasanen
Sweetwaters Chef
and Abenaki Community Honor Traditional Foodways
Seated in the dining room of Sweetwaters on a recent
afternoon, the Burlington restaurant's executive chef, Jessee Lawyer, pulled two tribal identification cards out of his wallet.
One had a photo of Lawyer's serious, bearded face in the
top left corner. Text printed to the right said: "The card certifies
citizenship in the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of the
Missisquoi."
The second card, yellowed with age, had a photo of
Lawyer's late father, John, his broad smile framed by long, dark hair.
Jessee Lawyer
had just cooked a three-course demonstration meal featuring many traditional
Abenaki ingredients: seared duck breast with toasted cornmeal polenta,
blueberry glaze and sunchoke chips; maple-brûléed squash with smoked-squash
broth, wild rice and roasted squash seeds; and a sunflower seed- and
cornmeal-crusted squash pie with blueberry sauce.
According to the chef, the inspiration for the duck was
an Abenaki legend in which the hero distracts an evil wizard with dried meat
boiled with blueberries and maple sugar.
The duck dish became a weekend special with a mention of
its indigenous connection. This meal is not what one might expect at
Sweetwaters, a Church Street standby known more for burgers, nachos and salads.
But since the beginning of summer, Jessee Lawyer has been offering Abenaki
specials about once a week, combining traditional ingredients with indigenous
and European cooking techniques.
"If you just do what was done hundreds of years ago,
it's not a living, breathing culture. There needs to be growth," explained
Jessee Lawyer, 32 years of age. "I just want people to recognize that this
is an actual type of food. We are reclaiming and decolonizing our food ways,
not only for ourselves but for the general public."
Decolonizing involves the rediscovery and honoring of
indigenous traditions that have been devalued, stifled or prohibited due to
colonial oppression and its aftermath.
During the eugenics movement of the first half of the
20th century, both in Vermont and nationwide, those with Native American blood
were among the groups obliged to hide their heritage to avoid persecution,
institutionalization and even forced sterilization.
Unlike many among the older generations, Jessee Lawyer's
father, John Two-Rainbows
Lawyer, openly claimed his Abenaki identity. "In my family," Jessee
Lawyer recalled, "it wasn't hidden as much. My dad told me my grandmother
hid it but my grandfather didn't."
Jessee Lawyer's father grew up in Alburgh, VT and
Burlington, VT in the 1940’s and 1950’s. He wasn't always proud of his roots,
something he later told his son he regretted. "It really wasn't cool to be
Native back then," Jessee Lawyer noted with understatement.
According to the website of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, at least 1,700
Vermonters claim to be direct descendants of indigenous Native communities.
Starting in the 1990’s, John Two-Rainbows Lawyer became
active in the effort to gain recognition for Native Americans in Vermont. The
legislature eventually established a state process for recognizing Native
American Indian tribes in 2010.
Subsequent official recognition of four tribes within the
Abenaki Nation — including the St.
Francis-Sokoki Band, to which the Lawyers belong — prompted renewed efforts
to preserve and share their history and traditions.
During his own childhood, Jessee Lawyer said, food traditions were less a focus than the
Abenaki art skills of his father, which earned him a living and local acclaim.
Shortly before John
Two-Rainbows Lawyer passed away in 2013, Lawyer became interested in his heritage,
including the food ways.
"I was in New York State working in a pizza shop. I
hadn't really begun to think of indigenous foods," he recalled. "We
went up to a tribal council meeting together. Dad said, 'Learn as much as you
can from Frederick Matthew Wiseman."
Frederick Matthew Wiseman
is an ethno-botanist and retired professor, resides in Swanton, Franklin County,
Vermont. He has Abenaki lineage on his paternal mother's side
and had worked with John Two-Rainbows Lawyer over the years advocating
for tribal recognition.
In 2012, Frederick
Matthew Wiseman started a project called the Seeds of Renewal to find
and preserve seeds cultivated by the Abenaki and other regional Native
communities. He has gathered about 50 different seeds through networking. They
range beyond the "three sisters" of corn, squash and beans — a
popular culture understanding of Native American agriculture — to include
sunflowers, Jerusalem artichokes and ground cherries. Tobacco was also grown
for ceremonial purposes.
Varieties have been named for the towns in which they
were saved, such as the Morrisville sunflower and the Hardwick ground cherry,
or sometimes after a specific tribe, such as Koas corn. Frederick Matthew Wiseman
is working with the Interval Center,
the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum and
Sterling College to catalog and
protect the seeds.
But seed saving is just the start, he emphasized. Frederick
Matthew Wiseman's goal is to build a complete understanding of traditional
agricultural practices. His research indicates that the Abenaki practiced
complex soil-management systems; seasonal ceremonies and cooking techniques
were also integral.
"In Native society," Frederick Matthew Wiseman
explained, "dances like the sun dance, rain dance and green corn dance are
a very important part of the food system. We believe you cannot nurture seeds
with human energy alone."
Frederick Matthew Wiseman helped start a recently
established nonprofit called Alnôbaiwi,
an inter-tribal organization of people with Abenaki and other Native American
heritage. The word means "in the Abenaki way," explained the group's
co-chair Kerry Wood during a
mid-August tour of a garden in Burlington's Intervale that was planted with
seeds from Frederick Matthew Wiseman's project.
"I didn't know I was Abenaki until I was well into
high school," said Kerry Wood,
56 years of age. "My great aunt Jeanne A.
(nee: Deforge) Brink (?) says her mother would not teach her the Abenaki
language. Families would say, 'Don't talk about it. It's not safe.'"
The group is dedicated to building community around
revitalizing and celebrating Abenaki culture, she explained: "If we don't
[do that], then the assimilation is complete."
Alnôbaiwi
partnered with Ethan Allen Homestead
to host a traditional green corn celebration on September
14, 2019. It was exceptionally windy as Frederick Matthew Wiseman guided
more than 75 people through traditional dances and other activities to honor
the harvest of fresh corn on the cob. The corn was later roasted and eaten.
An impressive wigwam structure built from hand-hewn cedar
lodge poles reached to the sky; its canvas cover had not been put on due to the
weather. The outdoor kitchen was centered in a round a stone-bordered fire,
flanked by colorful pumpkins, including the Abenaki varieties, Penobscot and
Worcester.
Maine yellow eye beans, another traditional seed, had
been cooking for hours in a bean hole dug three feet deep. They were seasoned
with salt pork and maple syrup — but would have been made with bear grease and
maple sugar before European contact, Wiseman explained.
Many tribal members from around Vermont came to share
their expertise and stories. Shirly Hook,
Doug Bent and Colin Wood were seated by another in-ground oven in which a turkey
was cooking near a fire over which an elk and vegetable stew was simmering.
Shirly Hook and Colin Wood are co-chiefs of
the Koasek of the Koas Abenaki Nation.
Doug Bent's
great-great-grandmother was Native American, though he's not sure which tribe.
Shirly Hook, who is Doug Bent's partner, grew up in Chelsea, Vermont.
"My brother found a letter from 1932," she recounted. "It was from two cousins, children, who had
been taken to the Brandon Training
School where they did a lot of the sterilization. They tried to
telegram back to the family, but it came too late."
Shirly Hook and Doug Bent cultivate a large garden at
their Braintree, Vermont home, including many varieties from the Seeds of Renewal project. In turn, they
contributed the Koas corn to the effort. "We have 200 ears hanging to dry
from the rafters back at the house," Doug
Bent said.
Jessee Lawyer is a member of the Alnôbaiwi group, too, but he was working the day of the green corn
ceremony. He knows Shirly Hook and Doug Bent and hopes they will save him some
Koas corn cobs to use for smoking ingredients.
The chef continues to work on honoring the food ways of
his ancestors by researching, reading and experimenting. In May at Dartmouth College, he cooked alongside
a leader in Native American cuisine: Sean
Sherman, a James Beard Award-winning chef from Minneapolis. In addition to
continued specials at Sweetwaters, Jessee Lawyer has also made guest
appearances at other local restaurants; he'll be at the Great Northern in
Burlington in early December.
Jessee Lawyer appreciates the opportunity to apply his
professional skills in such a personal way. Since Samuel de Champlain arrived
in Québec in 1608, he said, "Our numbers
have been decimated, the language is almost gone, the food crops almost lost.
But we're still here; we've stood
the test of time. Without practicing our culture, we become extinct."
The Ethan Allan Homestead and the Alnôbaiwi group will
host a harvest celebration on Saturday, October 12,
2019 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the homestead.
See facebook.com/alnobaiwi for events around the state to
celebrate Vermont's first Indigenous Peoples' Day on October
14, 2019.
The original print
version of this article was headlined "Tribal
Treasures | Sweetwaters chef and the Abenaki community honor food and
agriculture traditions"
October 03, 2019
Something of
Value: The last 400 Years of the Abenaki Experience
Public - Hosted by Ethan Allen Homestead Museum
November 07, 2019
Something of
Value: The last 400 Years of the Abenaki Experience
Public - Hosted by Ethan Allen Homestead Museum
December 05, 2019
Something of
Value: The last 400 Years of the Abenaki Experience
Public - Hosted by Ethan Allen Homestead Museum
The TRUTH about Frederick Matthew Wiseman PhD.- PART 7 will follow next ... 😊
