GILL — The mishoon, or dugout canoe, that Nipmuc tribal member Andre “Strongbearheart” Gaines Jr. created in Ashfield last year took to the water on Friday, launching from Barton Cove to kick off the ninth annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival.
Gaines, along with members of Indigenous nations from across the Northeast, embarked on the “Paddle to Peskeompskut,” an event now in its third year that rings in the Turners Falls festival. Adventure East provided boats to those looking to paddle along.
“It is good to see all of you here today with this traditional vessel,” Jonathan James Perry, a member of the Aquinnah-Wampanoag tribe, told those in attendance. “They were the only vessels you used to see on this river.”
Some people paddled in mishoons, while others used kayaks. The mishoons were created with the traditional methods of fire carving — burning the inside of a tree for three consecutive days.
Speakers shifted from Indigenous languages to English during the opening ceremony. Perry noted it is important to speak in these languages, “because it was illegal to speak in our language until 1978.”
“I have always tried to learn things and pass them down the way they were passed to me,” said Perry, who traveled from Martha’s Vineyard for the Pocumtuck Homelands Festival. He explained “Aquinnah-Wampanoag” means “people of the first light.” The nation has this name because it is the eastern-most Indigenous nation in America, and thus sees the sun rise first.
While speeches went on, Perry burned sage in a ritual called smudging. As the sage burns, people wave smoke around their body, smelling the scent that is released. Perry also invited people to give gifts to the Connecticut River to thank the water. People put small amounts of tobacco into the water before they got inside their boats.
The event was co-sponsored by the Nolumbeka Project and the Connecticut River Conservancy.
“It is important to listen and learn from tribal nations,” said Andrew Fisk, executive director at the Greenfield-based Connecticut River Conservancy. “This river has sustained people for tens of thousands of years.”
“This expansive water used to be dry land,” Nolumbeka Project President David Brule said in an interview. “There were fishing villages here for 10,000 years. Their land is now flooded by the dam.”
Multiple speakers referenced King Philip’s War, which war took place across new England and is known as the “bloodiest conflict in American history,” Brule said.
“People were massacred right here,” he said.
Gill is on the site of the May 19, 1676 Battle of Peskeomskut. Also known as the Great Falls Massacre, the incident consisted of a surprise attack by William Turner and a colonial militia during which 300 Native American women, children and elders were killed, followed by a Native American counterattack that took place across 7 miles through what is now Greenfield.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Gaines spoke about the importance of welcoming the other nations.
“So much happened here on these ancestral homelands,” he said.
“It is amazing to have representatives from all these nations,” said Leah Hopkins, a member of the Narragansett Nation who traveled from Providence, Rhode Island. “We usually only have this many nations in powwows. It is nice to have something outside of that context.”
Those who missed Friday’s mishoon launch are invited for more celebrations of Indigenous culture at Unity Park in Turners Falls throughout the weekend. The free Pocumtuck Homelands Festival will feature musicians, dancers, history presenters and vendors. The event is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Bella Levavi can be contacted at blevavi@recorder.com or 413-930-4579