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Abstract
ABSTRACT The Abenaki Tribes living in Vermont are situated on the borderlands between the United States and Canada; they recently have been recognized by the State of Vermont but remain unrecognized by the federal government (more about State recognized Abenaki Tribes and their recognition dates can be found on the State of Vermont: Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs website. https://vcnaa.vermont.gov/recognition/recognized-Tribes). When the recognition applications of four Abenaki Tribes were compared, it became apparent that many Abenaki agricultural traditions had been preserved and that our cultural revitalization efforts could be extended not only to the planting and harvesting of heirloom crops but also to reviving ceremonial dances and the creation of regalia for both planting and harvest ceremonies. The regalia's role in this project was to help strengthen intertribal relationships and restore cultural context to the dances for the first time in generations. As women from different communities prepared for the renewal of the harvest dances, questions arose around issues of cultural identity, design motifs, materials, and custodianship of the regalia between ceremonies. Many Abenaki people have their own regalia, but this set of regalia was made for a community. This paper highlights the story of the Abenaki Women’s Group (AWG) that reinvented Abenaki traditional clothing for the modern age and focuses particularly on the regalia it made for use in Abenaki agricultural ceremonies. It explores the process of creating the garments, their materiality, and the outcome of the ceremony. It sets the stage for a discussion about the essential yet hidden leadership roles of Native American women in a consensus-based society. It demonstrates how a team of Abenaki women from different communities came together to play a crucial role in the cultural revitalization process through the creation and usage of regalia for agricultural ceremonies.
Acknowledgments
This article is dedicated to previous generations of Alnôbakskwak who left a legacy of kindness and strength that guides their descendants. Without these grandmothers, mothers, aunties, and sisters passing oral tradition through the ages, so much more could have been lost. There are community-held beliefs expressed within this paper to which I offer joint authorship to Abenaki culture bearers past and present. This information is a shared legacy that belongs to the community. Kchi wliwni (great thanks) to the countless Alnôbakskwak who continue to make and wear traditional Abenaki regalia. Among them are Melody Walker, Jeanne Morningstar Kent, Susan Havers, Denise Pouliot, and Sherry Gould, who are named in this article, as well as Takara Mathews, who helped design the regalia. I am especially indebted to Melody Walker for her contributions to support the Abenaki Women’s Group and this regalia making project; to Frederick M. Wiseman for preserving Abenaki culture through his publications; to Vermont Abenaki Artists Association for the images; to Eloise Beil and Beverly Gordon for reading and editing this article through many iterations; and to my husband for his support and patience while I worked on this project and this paper.
Data Sharing Statement
Due to the nature of this research, data sharing is not applicable for the protection of the Abenaki community. Participants of this project did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.
Notes
1 As members of a much larger kinship group of Tribes known as the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Abenaki share textile traditions with other Tribes in the confederacy.
2 Prior to the 2011/2012 recognition, Abenaki Tribes had not been legally recognized by the Federal government or the State of Vermont since 1791, the year Vermont joined the United States.
3 Drum groups and singers such as Elnu Abenaki Tribe Singers, Voices of the Koas, and Nulhegan Abenaki Drummers are teaching our songs to the next generation.
4 Alnobak is the Abenaki word for “people.” In the context of the exhibition, the title would translate roughly as “People or Abenaki People: Wearing Our Heritage.” Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage traveled to three New England states between 2017 and 2019.
5 The term Two-Spirit is a modern pan-Indian gender term for people who embody both male and female spirits or third gender.
6 Most germane to this paper is Frederick M. Wiseman’s book Seven Sisters: Ancient Seeds and Food Systems of the Wabanaki and Chesapeake Bay Region.
7 There will be a brief discussion about the dances in the Harvest Regalia Collection section of this paper. However, out of respect for the privacy of the community, the dances will not be fully explained in this paper.
8 Molly Molasses wearing her peaked cap and her hood. Wabanaki Timeline. Abbe Museum website. http://archive.abbemuseum.org/research/wabanaki/timeline/clothing.html. Accessed May 25, 2019.
9 A Huron and Abenaki of Canada, late 18th-century appears in Ruth Phillips's essay “Like a Star, I Shine. Northern Woodlands Artistic Traditions” in The Spirit Sings. Artistic Traditions of Canada's First Peoples.
10 Grandmother Alma Brooks is an Elder from the St Mary’s Wolastoqiyik community in New Brunswick. Grandmother is a respected title that is used to refer to highly respected female Elders within the Wabanaki Confederacy.
11 Sherry Gould is a citizen of the Nulhegan Tribe Abenaki Nation Vermont-Memphremagog.
12 The Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki Tribe does not have state or federal recognition.
13 Jeanne Morningstar Kent is a citizen of the Nulhegan Tribe Abenaki Nation Vermont-Memphremagog.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Vera Longtoe Sheehan
Vera Longtoe Sheehan is the Director of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association, and Founder of the Abenaki Arts and Education Center. She has a MALS in Interdisciplinary Studies from SUNY: Empire State College. In recent years, she has curated exhibitions featuring Wôbanaki (Wabanaki) textiles that have been presented in museums and National Park Service sites in Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
As an Abenaki culture bearer, artist, educator, and activist, Vera Longtoe Sheehan serves her community as the Director of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association (VAAA), a multi-arts services organization supporting Native American artists in the decorative arts, fine arts, performing arts, music, and literary genres. More recently, she Founded the Abenaki Arts & Education Center, an open education resource dedicated to teaching the continuity of Abenaki history and culture.
She holds a MALS in Interdisciplinary Studies from SUNY: Empire State College, where she was awarded a Dean’s medal for her work as an embedded scholar. Her BA in Museum Studies and Native American Studies from the State University of New York, together with her experience, allow her to act as a bridge between the Abenaki community and the mainstream art world in creating engaging exhibitions and educational programs and events that promote the vibrant culture of her people. Additionally, Vera leads the VAAA education team in the development of study guides and is creator of the graduate course “Presenting Abenaki Culture in the Classroom.”