ASHFIELD — Come Friday, community members can witness the Indigenous practice of making a mishoon, or a dugout canoe, from a single tree using fire, water and hand tools.
The event, to be held at the upper section of Belding Memorial Park over the course of three days, is led by No Loose Braids, a Nipmuc-led organization that works to “bring Eastern Woodland Tribal communities together in unity through cultural revitalization of traditional practices,” according to its website.
The mishoon burn will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., though members of No Loose Braids will camp in the park overnight to monitor the fire continuously. Overnight hours will be closed to the public.
The process will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. Overseeing the mishoon burn will be Andre StrongBearHeart Gaines Jr., founder and creative director of No Loose Braids. A Massachusetts Cultural Council Creative Experiences grant is funding the project.
“This is really for us, but we’re welcoming people into our space,” Gaines said. “[Before] 1978, it was actually still illegal to have our ceremonies and our ways. … We’re coming out of a fracture where we’re just now welcoming people into our space.”
The practice of mishoon burning was “sleeping in some fashion or another” for centuries due to colonization, according to Gaines. Throughout history, mishoonash (the plural of mishoon) were used by the Nipmuc people for travel, fishing and trade across the Northeast. Previous mishoon burns that Gaines has been a part of have taken place in Charlestown, Plymouth, Sudbury and Wales (Massachusetts). A mishoon launch has also recently been a part of the annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival in Turners Falls.
“It was really deeply significant for us to continue having these [cultural] revitalization efforts,” Gaines said. “[It’s] not so much welcoming the town to get to know us a little bit more, but having our own time with our community and our sister communities to enrich our culture and enrich our relationships.”
Ashfield town staff and volunteers will be working with No Loose Braids, involving coordination with the Town Clerk’s Office, the Fire Department and the Park Commission. Town Clerk Alexis Fedorjaczenko said this weekend’s event connects with the lighted boat parade planned for Sept. 12.
“During our early lighted boat parade planning in the spring of 2025, we had the idea that holding a mishoon burn would be a fun, educational project to align with the lighted boat parade,” Fedorjaczenko said. “We wanted to recognize the history of watercraft in the region and honor the peoples with a long history of stewarding the land that we enjoy here.”
The mishoon-making process typically takes seven to 10 days, and the portion of work that will be done in Ashfield only represents one of the steps. This burn began in July 2025 with a 14-foot white pine log in Becket.
Mishoon burns also serve as a learning opportunity for Native American apprentices and youth, where they can relearn traditional practices.
“The importance of coming to these spaces and acknowledging Nipmuc, local Indigenous peoples presence, is really huge,” Gaines said. “This was Nipmuc, Pocomtuc and Norwottuck territory. … These were our ancestral homelands, and so it’s important as Pocomtuc and Norwottuck quite honestly aren’t here in the ways that they were traditionally. … All Nipmuc are welcome and that’s what’s really important.”
