Before I start this post, let me say straight out. There is no nefarious plot to combine the bands, change the spelling of Nipmuc Nation, or overthrow the current administration. OK?
That being said, we accomplished alot in the working together column.
In April, the Natick Nipmuc Band presented at the Nipmuc Nation tribal office “2010 Deer Island Memorial Sacred Run & Paddle: Nipmuc Perspectives on the Sacred Journey.”
The Second Annual Joint Strawberry Moon between Nipmuc Nation and Chaubunagungamaug Band of Nipmuck Indians was held at the Nipmuc Nation Tribal Office in June.
Chaubunagungamaug Band members assisted during the 58th Hassanamisco Indian Fair in July on the Reservation.
Members of the Natick Nipmuc Band and the Chaubunagungamaug Band as well as many other Nipmuks were in attendance at the Fair.
The first Nipmuk meeting was held in August at Westville Lake in Sturbridge. The Nipmuk meetings are intended to promote cooperation between band members and those Nipmuks not enrolled in a band in the hope of building our futures together.
Members of the Nipmuc Nation assisted at the Chaubunagungamaug Band’s September Pau Wau at Holland Pond.
The September Pau Wau was well attended by Natick Nipmucs, Hassanamiscos and other Nipmuks. Honestly, one of the best pau waus I’ve ever attended.
Natick Nipmuc Youth leader actively led Hassanamisco youth on paddles, to conferences, summer camp and other activities.
The three Nipmuk bands joined forces on a state-government issue.
Natick Nipmucs and Hassanamisco Nipmucs jointly attended the first Youth Paddle at Lake Quiusigamond.
Nipmuks from everywhere attended or assisted at the Natick Nipmuc 2011 Deer Island Memorial.
The first (in many years) Nipmuc Spiritual Gathering was held on the reservation over two days in November. Nipmuks from everywhere actively participated.
Members of Natick Nipmuc and Nipmuc Nation jointly presented Nipmuk history in Littleton, MA.
All Nipmuks freely attended the various socials hosted by Hassanamisco and Chaubunagungamaug including Strawberry Moon, Nikkomo, and Harvest Moon.
At 12:00 am this morning, my grandsons and I blew into our noise-makers and jumped up and down. We had a party in my living room to welcome the year 2012. I rushed them outside to try and catch the firework display with our binoculars and telescopes but there didn’t seem to be one. We came back in, ate some more, drank some more, called and sent text messages to our loved ones. They finally settled down just before 2 am and to sleep we all went.
And so goes our calendar New Year celebration every year. But for us, the real beginning of the year comes when the seasons shift, the air warms, and green begins to return to our yard.
New Year in Nipmuc Country begins with Spring planting time. The exact date varies from year to year. The Nipmuc Nation will celebrate the New Year at our Planting Moon celebration on Saturday, May 5th at Hassanamesit. Won’t you join us?
Nikkomo is celebrated by many NE Woodland tribes. It is the first winter moon and is a time of giving what the Creator made possible through the harvest.
Come and celebrate this season with us on December 17th at the Nipmuc Nation Tribal Office.
The call came while Lydia flipped her grandchildren’s pancakes. Lydia glanced at the call ID and frowned as she looked at her treaty husband’s number. “Hello?”, “Oh, it’s you, Oakes. How are you?” She continued the frown while listening and plating the kids’ supper. “Uh huh, well, what makes you think I can do anything about it? Can you hold on, please?” Lydia called her grandbabies to eat and poured their drinks and maple syrup, taking her time returning to the phone. “I’m sorry, Oakes. I just don’t get why you’re calling me.” Lydia listened once more, rolled her eyes and replied “Ok, Ok. I’ll take a drive out tomorrow. See you then.”
Oakes Gardner and Lydia Printer were married a few months earlier, as the finalization of a treaty between Oakes’ federally-recognized tribe and Lydia’s state-recognized one. Oakes’ tribe wanted to open a casino but had no land. Lydia’s tribe had a 5000-acre forest but neither the money nor the authority to do much with it. The treaty enabled both groups to develop economic opportunities for their people. The Elders of both communities thought it best to seal the deal with a marriage between the tribes, to both mimic and honor what the ancestors would have done. To lessen any potential complications in the modern world, it was decided that the treaty bride and groom would be middle-aged, divorced or widowed, with grown children and self-supporting. Lydia and Oakes, both twice married and divorced, fit the criteria.
Lydia rose early the next day, fed the cats, left a message for her co-worker at the tribe’s cultural center and climbed into her jeep. During the two hour ride to Oakes’ house, she considered what he had told her the night before. Papers were missing from his tribe’s archive and not just any papers. Missing were detailed financial records from a previous administration. The papers had been ordered sealed to protect the tribe from unpleasant repercussions. Over the years, Lydia had developed a reputation for unraveling unusual situations. Oakes had helped her recently when a valuable artifact went missing from her tribe’s museum and now apparently thought they were some sort of detective team.
Nearly two hours to the minute, Lydia cursed as she realized she was lost. She had been to Oakes’ house once before and wrongly thought she remembered the way. The road to the tribal office was just ahead so she turned there instead and pulled into the parking lot of the tribe’s new health clinic. Oakes picked up on the first ring, “Where are you?” “At the health clinic since I forgot the way to your house.” Time skipped a beat or two before Oakes answered that he was on his way and hung up. Less than 15 minutes later, he pulled into the lot next to Lydia. He hopped out of the car and looked at her expectantly. Ignoring his look, she sighed “Ok, so, what’s going on and how can I help?”
On September 6, 2011, the National Register of Historic Places added the Hassanamisco Reservation to its list of national treasures. Known as Hassanamesit, the under 4 acre reservation serves as the cultural and spiritual center of the Nipmuc Nation, a state-recognized tribe in Massachusetts. Located on the reservation is the Cisco Homestead, which for two centuries served as home to Nipmuc tribal leaders and now houses the Hassanamisco Indian Museum.
Nipmucs occupied Hassanamesit since before recorded time. In the mid 1600s, missionary John Eliot established a “Praying Plantation or Town” in Hassanamesit in an effort to “Christianize” the native population. Metacom’s Rebellion (June 1675 – August 1676) brought an end to the praying town era, and in 1728, English settlers divided Hassanamesit into lots reserving some parcels for the Nipmuc families still living there.
Hassanamesit Allotments - 1728
The current reservation is all that remains of the Moses Printer allotment. A wood frame house was built in 1801 for Moses’ great-granddaughter, Lucy Gimby. Lucy’s granddaughter, Sarah Arnold Cisco, became the Nipmuc tribal leader in the mid 1850s and the house became known as the Cisco Homestead. In 1962, it became the Hassanamisco Indian Museum although the family still occupied the addition in the back of the building. The last member of the Cisco family to occupy the Homestead was Shelleigh Wilcox who moved from the reservation in 2006.
Cisco Homestead
Dr. D. Rae Gould, the Nipmuc Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), led the effort to place the reservation on the list. “This good news will increase funding opportunities for our efforts to raise approximately $300,000 for the preservation of the Homestead.” The reservation is designated as a Traditional Cultural Property “associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our (Nation’s) history.” Funding to aid in the nomination process was provided by Preservation Massachusetts.
Hassanamesit has meaning for all Nipmucs as it is the only land in Massachusetts that has never been occupied by non-Natives. And the Homestead is the oldest structure in southern New England to be continuously occupied by Native people. Natick Nipmuc Sachem, Mary Anne Hendricks commented “The Hassanamisco Reservation is not only a sacred place to Nipmuks but has been finally recognized as a place in history for all to appreciate.”
Thanks to all who assisted and supported this journey, in particular Chief Natachaman of the Nipmuc Nation and the Hassanamisco Band of Nipmuc Indians.
Many thanks and an abundance of gratitude to our ancestors who kept this land intact for our generations and those to come.
Ok so every second Monday in October the same thing occurs. Columbus Day. Named for that intrepid sailor who refused to believe that the Americas were not Asia until his THIRD trip here. Every year there are parades and every year Native people and others (btw, “Thanks, Others!”) protest the celebration of a man who dedicated years of his life to the exploitation, torture and murder of the inhabitants of the islands just south of our border.
It should truly be named “Italian-American Day” because it was the Italian Knights of Columbus that got FDR in 1937 to make the day official. And I think that would have been swell. I’d gladly parade through the streets with the promise of pasta at the end to celebrate my fellow Americans. It’s probably too late for that though.
I can’t celebrate Columbus. Honestly, he was lost, he was greedy, he was deadly and he was afraid of Ferdinand and Isabella. Plus he didn’t actually discover America – we already lived here! He wasn’t even the first European to hang out on our coasts (remember the Vikings?). The only thing good that I can say about that entire episode is “Thank the Creator he didn’t land in Plymouth.”
“Indigenous Survival Day”. That just sorta rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? And a holiday like that would recognize the enduring strength of the Americas’ First Peoples. After all, we survived Columbus, the Puritans, Andrew Jackson, Vikings, smallpox-infected blankets, Manifest Destiny, allotments, the reservation system, and the Wild, Wild West.
