my adult life has been rooted in service
to my Abenaki community and some of that
service meant fests itself in the form
of research because I find that looking
through the eyes of my ancestors brings
me closer to them when I recreate
something like a beaded bag I can almost
see their hands shaping the same styles
and patterns and hoping that our
children will do the same and it is that
vision that cements our community in an
unbroken line of tradition and love but
how can you create the type of world
that your people deserve if you don’t
necessarily understand where you come
from or understand the gifts that have
been given to you our future is found in
our past many people mistakenly believe
that the seven generations refers to the
future but actually it is the seven
generations you could possibly know from
your great-grandparents to your
great-grandchildren when we make a
decision we not only have to make a
decision for our children but we have to
bring our ancestors on our journey with
us the center of the Abenaki experience
is not ourselves it is each other
my chief tells me that at the time of
contact to think of our life like a
painting so when Europeans came they
took that picture and they chopped it up
into a lot of pieces and they threw it
up in the air and we’re still trying to
piece together that puzzle today but how
can you when the picture is always
changing my ancestors experienced
centuries of warfare disease settlement
in their homeland the effects of
colonization the eugenic sterilization
project and decades of identity wars
that did not end until 2012 with the
state of Vermont but this talk is not
about our pain it’s about our rebirth
and
and pride again in each other you cannot
live in the pain of the past and expect
to move forward because that is where
the plates of alcoholism and domestic
violence and all of those other issues
thrive right
if intergenerational trauma exists
imagine us is being born with holes in
our soul and only a frayed piece of
thread to fix it with but I am a weaver
what do you think that thread looks like
what do you think that our ancestors
would want us to weave forward the fact
that we even exist is a blessing it’s a
beautiful thing to tell our shared story
through all the products of our culture
what I think they’d want us to move
forward are their core values to see the
spirit and all things and to understand
our place in the community of creation a
few months ago I was having a terrible
day and I was mired in all my projects
and I was wondering is anything that I’m
doing even making a difference so I
walked from my office to my car my head
down and thought and then as I’m going
past the trees I hear a chattering and I
look up and there’s a pileated
woodpecker there are one of our most
important medicine birds there are
wayfinders they tell you where you’re
going by understanding where you’ve been
the ultimate seven generations bird and
with that he handed me back my thread
because I am a weaver I come from a
tradition of weavers
and our children will be weavers one of
the most beautiful things that our
ancestors ever gave to us is this idea
that all that’s part of creation is a
person and if everything is a person it
therefore has a spirit it has a
consciousness and it has will so we must
hold the plant Nations the animal
nations and all of those other non-human
persons with as much esteem as we hold
ourselves
ego has no place in my world my best
friend frog he tells me never to forget
the stories of all other things he once
said to me Mel you named your cat wheezy
what did your cat name you and in this
world of creation the ancestors are ever
present one of our elders Doris Winkler
she always said that the in sisters
lighter way like fireflies along a
summer path in 2009 during the Quadra
centennial celebration in burlington a
lot of our community members had come
out for it and there was a parade that
was scheduled ended up being cancelled
due to the weather
unfortunately but one of our people said
let’s March anyway let’s just do it for
us so we got everybody together and we
marched down Main Street heads held high
we sang as loud as we could and it was a
moment right people eventually followed
but it was our moment we heard the
voices of the ancestors in the rain
we heard the Thunder beings above and we
marched for our communities the scene
the unseen and the nonhuman my home I
told my grandfather about it this is the
grandfather that they his family had
always told him just leave everything
behind because it’s too dangerous to say
you’re a native person and he grew up
right around the time of the eugenics
survey and kind of put his head down
he’s like they clapped for you it’s like
of course they clap for us right and he
kind of thought about it for a while and
he never even acknowledged his culture
his whole life to me anybody right and
then he said let me tell you about quill
and my thread got a little bit stronger
that day my community got a little bit
stronger that day including the Vermont
community so I’m about to be an aunt
just very exciting and one of our
storytellers Gerard Sinagua he outlines
the wampum records as it relates to the
children welcome to the world little
baby for you are an ancestor two
generations yet unborn you are an
ancestor two generations yet unborn they
both carry the legacy forward and they
are the legacy themselves their places
already set in the history of our people
I used to worry that nothing would be
left for them and a few years ago my
elders rose and Linda they taught me how
to do finger weaving and then the
following year I taught one of the
youngest members of our tribe Brianna
and I see these pictures and I know that
it’s gonna be okay
we all have tens of thousands of years
of history and love and tradition
weighing on our shoulders our
responsibility then is to be a good
ancestor and to take pride in each other
and see the spirit in all things that
thread between the generations is lined
with stories and ceremony and music and
dance but most importantly those core
values that light our way through time I
am a weaver and you can be one too
Oh Leone [Applause]
to my Abenaki community and some of that
service meant fests itself in the form
of research because I find that looking
through the eyes of my ancestors brings
me closer to them when I recreate
something like a beaded bag I can almost
see their hands shaping the same styles
and patterns and hoping that our
children will do the same and it is that
vision that cements our community in an
unbroken line of tradition and love but
how can you create the type of world
that your people deserve if you don’t
necessarily understand where you come
from or understand the gifts that have
been given to you our future is found in
our past many people mistakenly believe
that the seven generations refers to the
future but actually it is the seven
generations you could possibly know from
your great-grandparents to your
great-grandchildren when we make a
decision we not only have to make a
decision for our children but we have to
bring our ancestors on our journey with
us the center of the Abenaki experience
is not ourselves it is each other
my chief tells me that at the time of
contact to think of our life like a
painting so when Europeans came they
took that picture and they chopped it up
into a lot of pieces and they threw it
up in the air and we’re still trying to
piece together that puzzle today but how
can you when the picture is always
changing my ancestors experienced
centuries of warfare disease settlement
in their homeland the effects of
colonization the eugenic sterilization
project and decades of identity wars
that did not end until 2012 with the
state of Vermont but this talk is not
about our pain it’s about our rebirth
and
and pride again in each other you cannot
live in the pain of the past and expect
to move forward because that is where
the plates of alcoholism and domestic
violence and all of those other issues
thrive right
if intergenerational trauma exists
imagine us is being born with holes in
our soul and only a frayed piece of
thread to fix it with but I am a weaver
what do you think that thread looks like
what do you think that our ancestors
would want us to weave forward the fact
that we even exist is a blessing it’s a
beautiful thing to tell our shared story
through all the products of our culture
what I think they’d want us to move
forward are their core values to see the
spirit and all things and to understand
our place in the community of creation a
few months ago I was having a terrible
day and I was mired in all my projects
and I was wondering is anything that I’m
doing even making a difference so I
walked from my office to my car my head
down and thought and then as I’m going
past the trees I hear a chattering and I
look up and there’s a pileated
woodpecker there are one of our most
important medicine birds there are
wayfinders they tell you where you’re
going by understanding where you’ve been
the ultimate seven generations bird and
with that he handed me back my thread
because I am a weaver I come from a
tradition of weavers
and our children will be weavers one of
the most beautiful things that our
ancestors ever gave to us is this idea
that all that’s part of creation is a
person and if everything is a person it
therefore has a spirit it has a
consciousness and it has will so we must
hold the plant Nations the animal
nations and all of those other non-human
persons with as much esteem as we hold
ourselves
ego has no place in my world my best
friend frog he tells me never to forget
the stories of all other things he once
said to me Mel you named your cat wheezy
what did your cat name you and in this
world of creation the ancestors are ever
present one of our elders Doris Winkler
she always said that the in sisters
lighter way like fireflies along a
summer path in 2009 during the Quadra
centennial celebration in burlington a
lot of our community members had come
out for it and there was a parade that
was scheduled ended up being cancelled
due to the weather
unfortunately but one of our people said
let’s March anyway let’s just do it for
us so we got everybody together and we
marched down Main Street heads held high
we sang as loud as we could and it was a
moment right people eventually followed
but it was our moment we heard the
voices of the ancestors in the rain
we heard the Thunder beings above and we
marched for our communities the scene
the unseen and the nonhuman my home I
told my grandfather about it this is the
grandfather that they his family had
always told him just leave everything
behind because it’s too dangerous to say
you’re a native person and he grew up
right around the time of the eugenics
survey and kind of put his head down
he’s like they clapped for you it’s like
of course they clap for us right and he
kind of thought about it for a while and
he never even acknowledged his culture
his whole life to me anybody right and
then he said let me tell you about quill
and my thread got a little bit stronger
that day my community got a little bit
stronger that day including the Vermont
community so I’m about to be an aunt
just very exciting and one of our
storytellers Gerard Sinagua he outlines
the wampum records as it relates to the
children welcome to the world little
baby for you are an ancestor two
generations yet unborn you are an
ancestor two generations yet unborn they
both carry the legacy forward and they
are the legacy themselves their places
already set in the history of our people
I used to worry that nothing would be
left for them and a few years ago my
elders rose and Linda they taught me how
to do finger weaving and then the
following year I taught one of the
youngest members of our tribe Brianna
and I see these pictures and I know that
it’s gonna be okay
we all have tens of thousands of years
of history and love and tradition
weighing on our shoulders our
responsibility then is to be a good
ancestor and to take pride in each other
and see the spirit in all things that
thread between the generations is lined
with stories and ceremony and music and
dance but most importantly those core
values that light our way through time I
am a weaver and you can be one too
Oh Leone [Applause]
Please follow and like us: