Great Barrington — The town will be host to a ceremonial walk to commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Sunday, October 13, starting at the gazebo behind Town Hall. The event, which has been organized for the fourth year by local organization Alliance for a Viable Future, will be held one day before the official Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday, October 14.
The holiday honors Native American peoples and their cultures and was first celebrated in 1992 in Berkeley, Calif. In the ensuing years, many municipalities across the country have adopted the holiday on the second Monday in October, on the Columbus Day federal holiday.
In 2019 Great Barrington adopted the holiday, and in 2021, President Joseph Biden issued a presidential proclamation commemorating the holiday.
“Since the first Indigenous Peoples’ Day, there has been a paradigm shift from celebrating Columbus Day in this country,” Alliance for a Viable Future co-director Lev Natan told The Berkshire Edge. “If we go back in history, [Columbus Day] is a celebration of the genocide of native peoples in this country. There has been a growing awareness and reflection on the kind of healing, reconciliation, and repair that needs to be done in this country. Indigenous Peoples’ Day has become an annual cultural practice for us to come together and remember all of that, and give us the energy and inspiration to do this work throughout the year.”
Organization co-director and member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans Shawn Stevens said that Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a way to remember the history of cultural Indigenous teachings. “A lot of [the teachings] are prophetic,” Stevens said. “They were handed down by many indigenous people thousands of years ago up to recently. Some of it talks of a day where the world is going to get sick and where we need to get back to those Indigenous teachings because we have been separated from them. When we get separated from our history, we lose respect for the world, ourselves, our family, community, and the environment.”
Stevens said that learning about teachings from Indigenous peoples and sharing those teachings with others has helped him in a very profound way. “I’ve been coming to the Berkshires for over 20 years to share my people’s history and culture, showing others that the Mohican peoples are all still around,” Stevens said. “When I started coming over to the Berkshires, nobody even knew that we still existed. Some people are still coming around to the fact that we are still around and still living out here. Sharing our ways and our culture is something that we were told that we have to do, not only for ourselves but also for the greater good of the world. Within our Indigenous teachings in culture, there are other people’s Indigenous teachers. When I say ‘Indigenous,’ I don’t just mean a certain race. I mean those original teachings of being connected with the Earth that all of our ancestors have. There are a lot of people who are disconnected [from history], and not just Native American people. It doesn’t mean going off to living back in huts, but it means just having respect for the Earth, animals, water, air, and your fellow human beings.”
Stevens said that he optimistic about the continuing increased recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Indigenous people year round. “But even today, there are still a lot of Native [American] people who are very standoffish about sharing things,” Stevens said. “But over time, we have been given signs that we have to start sharing what we know because it’s for the betterment of the greater good of everyone. It’s not easy [getting Indigenous people to share their teachings]. Usually, it takes some time and some dialog with each other.”
Stevens said that he has taken the time to encourage other Indigenous peoples to share their history. “We just can’t make things good in our backyard because the whole world is connected,” Stevens said. “We have to share [our histories and teachings] if we want a nice, good place for ourselves to live, a healthy, good, decent place for ourselves and the next generation. Part of the [Indigenous peoples’] prophecy is that, for the whole world, you have to talk with people in order for them to understand the older world. A lot of [Indigenous people] want to do that work because they get to meet a lot of good people and people who are willing to help because they care.”
“The way we treat each other is the same as how we treat the Earth, the rivers, and the ecosystem,” Natan added. “The Indigenous teachings have transformed my perspectives. From reading and listening to elders, it’s a way of looking at life where we see our relationships with each other as humans, as families, relatives, and communities, are all connected. The way that we treat each other is the same as how we treat the Earth.”
Natan said that the event is “kind of healing work as a community to say that something really bad happened here.” “Over 200 years ago, Mohican people had to leave, and not in a good way,” Natan said. “They were forced out of here violently. That’s something we don’t want to look at. It’s an elephant in the room throughout the country, and we don’t know how to respond to it. We’re trying to figure it out. How do we ask for forgiveness? How do we heal? How do we make amends? In the last few years, there have been a lot of tears shed, and I’ve seen other people in the community through the healing ceremonies that we’ve done. [An event like this] is healing for us as people. The same people who are showing up for these events are also showing up for conversations about what we need to be doing to make our community be prepared for a viable future.”
Stevens said that, while he thinks that the recognition and education of Indigenous peoples’ history has come a long way over the years, there is still a lot more that needs to be done. “While almost all the schools throughout Berkshire County have Indigenous peoples’ history in their curriculum, I think something still needs to be done across the country to expand education about Native Americans,” Stevens said. “Part of the history of our country is the history of the Native American peoples. These are people who were here [in America] for tens of thousands of years beforehand, yet there’s only maybe a couple of pages in many school books that talk about Native Americans. A broader sense of education within schools is important in understanding that, with Native Americans, every tribe is different. They don’t all speak the same language; they all don’t have the same culture; and they all should not be wrapped in the same category.”
For more information about the event on Sunday, October 13, visit the Alliance for a Viable Future’s website.
