For some, the once rich Native American history of Pioneer Valley has gone stale.
Educators of that rich history felt compelled to share their knowledge with others because they noticed the echoes of America’s first inhabitants — faintly everywhere — sink and wan, buried below the surface of the general public’s consciousness.
The Pocumtuck Homelands Festival breathes life again into this history. Organized by the Nolumbeka Project, a nonprofit organization that fights to preserve Native American history, the festival will take place at Unity Park on Saturday, Aug. 6, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. It will feature Native American artists, musicians, vendors and educators.
That spot along the Connecticut River where festival performers beat native drums, used to be a common gathering area, which the natives called Peskeompskut. But soldiers during the Battle of Turner’s Falls slaughtered natives in 1676, and the shores went quiet for 340 years. With the inception of the festival three years ago, the deep, healing sound of drums rang over the Connecticut River for likely the first time since then, said David Brule, co-president of the Nolumbeka project along with Lisa McLoughlin.
“Talk about emotion,” Brule said. “It was really very moving. That in itself is just a perfect reason to be there.”
Diane Dix, organizer of the festival, said she was drawn to become involved because of her own one-sided education as a kid in school.
She was told that the natives were savages, uneducated, un-Christian heathens. To learn the truth about the natives’ culture was eye-opening.
“People weren’t recognizing the native history, so our primary motive was to heighten people’s awareness,” Dix said. “I feel that I was cheated as a young person … I didn’t know at the time that the house where I grew up was right in the middle of a reservation.”
Brule made the important distinction that the festival is not a powwow. While some in the Nolumbeka Project are of Native American descent, such as himself, others are not. Regardless, though, he said the group’s goal is for the festival to welcome all people, all tribes and all ethnic groups, to spread education about the extensive history of Native Americans in the area.
Some performers and vendors at the festival, such as artist Amalia FourHawks and singer Theresa “Bear” Fox, who are both Native American, have had upsetting confrontations with people who did not know any of the natives were still alive and prevalent.
“We’re always astounded that people are so unaware of native issues and Native American presence,” Amalia said of herself and husband, Leonard. The two of them make pottery and jewelry and will be selling the art at this year’s festival.
Fox, who is part of the Mohawk nation and whose Mohawk name is Kenkiohkoktha, grew up on the Akwesasne reservation before attending The State University of New York at Plattsburgh. While there, she said, people would come up to her and begin speaking to her in Spanish. When she informed them that she wasn’t Hispanic, but rather, Native American, they couldn’t believe it. They said they learned all the natives had been killed, that there were none left.
“We’re still here,” Fox said. “We still have our language. We’re still continuing our families and we still have our culture.”
Fox’s singing society, comprised of a core of at least six members at any time, is called Kontiwennenhawi, which translates to “Carriers of the Words.” The women infuse their songs with the Mohawk language to keep it alive.
Fox still lives on the reservation, but often travels around to perform and spread her messages. Her songs are usually about giving thanks, she said — to water, to medicine, to people.
To her, the festival is important because it builds a mutual respect for others.
“We have to take care of the Earth,” she said, “and we have to take care of each other.”