TURNERS FALLS — The rhythmic sound of drums flowed through the hot summer air, carrying with it melodious songs chanted and sang in languages unfamiliar to many local residents.
A bald eagle soared through the skies above, and swans, geese and ducks floated along the Connecticut River as hundreds gathered on the shores to celebrate the third annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival, held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday in Unity Park.
David Brule, co-president of the Nolumbeka Project, the nonprofit organization that organizes the yearly festival, and Joseph Graveline, the organization’s former president, spoke of how the festival is held in Turners Falls due to the area’s rich Native American history.
As more than 30 spectators gathered to listen, Brule and Graveline explained that on May 19, 1676, more than 300 Native Americans were killed by English troops under the authority of Captain William Turner, for whom the village is now named. Much of the Great Falls Massacre, as the event is known, took place on the same shores where the festival is now held.
“It’s a pretty powerful area,” Brule said. “There’s a tremendous spirit here.”
As Brule listened to the sound of drums beating, he commented on how appropriate it is to bring people from different tribal affiliations back to Turners Falls, a place of great significance for several Native American tribes.
“It’s reviving a voice that hasn’t been heard in the falls for a while,” he said. “Having a festival right here, celebrating these cultures, is pretty moving.”
Diane Dix, event coordinator for the Nolumbeka Project, explained that following the massacre, a reconciliation ceremony was held to bring peace back to Turners Falls. The Pocumtuck Homelands Festival, she said, has become a way to bring the Native American community back to the area in peaceful reconciliation.
“That’s our purpose — bringing people together, Native people but also people from other areas,” Dix said.
Dix noted that members of the Apache, Mohawk, Abenaki, Cheyenne, Nipmuc, Narragansett and other tribes regularly attend the festival.
Dix coordinates four events for the Nolumbeka Project annually: the Pocumtuck Homelands Festival, a Full Snow Moon gathering in February, a Beaver Moon gathering in November and a ceremony commemorating the Great Falls Massacre in May.
She said the events are ways to raise awareness about Native American culture and show residents that — contrary to what they may have learned in school — Native Americans still exist.
Howard Clark, anthropologist and lead researcher for the Nolumbeka Project, added that the festival is intended to be educational and bring continued awareness of the connections between cultures and tribes.
Throughout the day there were demonstrations on how to start a fire with friction and how to build huts from branches and vines. A large yellow and green tepee with wild animals printed on the side was set up at the far end of the festival for guests, adults and children alike, to crawl in and out of as they pleased.
Booths set up along the sidewalk sold food, jewelry, dream catchers, purses, pottery, musical instruments, prayer feathers, canoes and more. Musical performances by the Black Hawk Singers, the Medicine Mammals Singers, Mixashawn, Theresa “Bear” Fox and the Ko ntiwennenhawi: the Akwesasne Singers, and George Leduc could be heard throughout the day.
“The quality of the performers is top notch,” Clark said. “Some of them are local, but we also try to bring in the more renowned names.”
Dix said the event gets bigger every year, and that she hopes it could one day expand to become a two-day event.