Great Barrington — The Alliance for a Viable Future organization commemorated Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the Berkshires with a three-day series of events.
The holiday, which honors Native American peoples and their cultures, was first celebrated in Berkeley, California in 1992. Over the years, many municipalities adopted the holiday, which is held on the second Monday in October on the Columbus Day federal holiday.
Great Barrington adopted the holiday in 2019, while President Joseph Biden issued a presidential proclamation commemorating the holiday in 2021.
“We have a delegation of 15 Stockbridge Munsee and Mohican relatives that have traveled here from Wisconsin to heal their relationship with their homeland,” Executive Director for the Alliance for a Viable Future Lev Natan said. “This is their homeland.”
Natan said that the delegation planted a sacred tree at The Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge on the morning of Saturday, October 8, along with a meeting of the Northeast Indigenous Climate Council. “It was the Stockbridge-Munsee relatives that were able to put that tree into their homelands,” Natan said. “We’re grateful to all of the tribal nations who have come from across the country for these events, along with the support from our communities.”
Natan said that, while Indigenous Peoples’ Day is only one day a year, it is important to recognize the contributions of Indigenous Peoples’ year-round. “The more that we as a community learn to acknowledge and honor the gifts and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples’ the more we are going to be prepared as a community for climate change and to be climate resilient,” Natan said. “There’s a very deep connection between healing our past with Indigenous Peoples, and our capacity to heal our future.”
The series of events started with the Honoring Native America program at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on Saturday, October 8. The event included performances by The Stockbridge-Munsee Powwow Drum Family, The GiiTaa’se Singers, and NAACP-Berkshires President Dennis Powell awarding Larry Spotted Crow Mann of Okheteau Cultural Center with the first-ever Indigenous Award.
“It means a lot to our people that you are welcoming us,” musician Shawn Stevens said at the October 8 event. “Our history isn’t a pretty one. We were made to leave these lands over 250 years ago. We weren’t very much appreciated. But through that time, up to today, a lot has changed. The people of this area want us to come back. They want us to share these things because there is a lot of intergenerational trauma that has gone down through the generations. To be able to come [to these events] there is not only healing for us but also healing for our ancestors.”
Stevens said that “in the beginning, very few people knew about the Mohicans, other than the fictitious book and the movie.” Stevens explained, “Even many Native Americans didn’t believe there were Mohicans. But we are here, and we live in Wisconsin. We’ve gone through a lot of turmoil. But it’s great to see how it’s progressing that people are understanding of the First Nations people who are here in this area.”
Participants at the October 8 event spoke about Indigenous Peoples’ heritage, culture, and environment. “We’ve been here a long time,” musician Joan Henry said during her performance. “When we talk about the land, we’ve been here for so long that the dust is us. When that dust gets on your things, and the dust makes you sneeze, it makes you think about your breathing. And when that dust gets on your hands, as it does in our way, it becomes dirt, which becomes paint, which is sacred. Ask yourself, what’s the difference between that and any other thing on mother earth?”
The series of events continued with a virtual Indigenous Voices panel and included discussions with Native American community leaders Chief Jake Singer, Aaron Athey, and Shawn Stevens.
The finale for the series of events took place at the Town Hall Gazebo on Monday, October 10.
Grandmother Margaret Behan, a former member of the International Council of 13 Grandmothers, and the founder of the Cheyenne Elders Council was one of the speakers at the event.
“We have been called here,” Behan said. “It has taken a long time for the Munsee to be welcomed back to their homeland. It makes me cry to witness this celebration. We can all feel this history and who we are, and the concern that we have all been called here as a council. We all have oral traditions about this climate and this home. A lot of times in this dominant society in this modern day, we don’t want to bring our ornaments, our regalia, or our traditions out.”
Toward the end of the event, artist and activist Nayana Lafond spoke about missing and murdered Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada. “This is a very serious crisis,” Lafond said. “I am standing before you as a survivor, a daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of a survivor.”
Two years ago, Lafond started a project of painting portraits of missing and murdered Indigenous Peoples. “Indigenous women and girls are 10 times more likely to go missing or be murdered than any other group in North America,” Lafond said. “Please say a prayer for all of those who are missing, their children are missing their mothers, their sisters, their brothers, their cousins. Because every single Indigenous family is affected by this. I just want to leave you with a sense of urgency to protect your loved ones and not forget about those who are lost every single day.”
