Land Acknowledgment
Introduction
Welcome to our collection of resources about the First People of our area, the Abenaki. These stories, shared by the Abenaki themselves, offer insights into their culture and history. We honor the chance to learn from a people who have faced oppression since the arrival of white immigrants. Today, only four Abenaki tribes are recognized by Vermont, with limited land ownership. The recognized tribes are:
Abenaki Creation Story
The Dawnland Singers
An Abenaki Family Sharing and Preserving Tradition
"THE DAWNLAND SINGERS ["Dawnland"] is a family-founded, native performance group that began in 1993 when they were featured at the Abenaki Cultural Heritage Days in Vermont. Their presentations include new and traditional northeastern Native music mixed with Abenaki storytelling. During their first years of performing, they performed at many venues, including the Champlain Valley Festival, the Old Songs Festival, The Eight Step, Caffe Lena, Kanatsiohareke, and as the opening act for the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan concert in Highgate, Vermont, which resulted in a laudatory article about them in the Grateful Dead Newsletter. Their first recording, Alnobak, was released in 1994."
Their most recent album was released in 2009 and is titled, "Honor Songs Gwsintow8ganal."
Nebi: Abenaki Ways of Knowing Water
Traditional Abenaki Sugaring and Stories
The Abenaki were some of the first people and first maple syrup producers in North America. In this virtual lecture from 2021, Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe tells the stories that surround maple syrup making. From sharing the tools and techniques used by his community, to taking questions from the crowd, this is an engaging and informative information session! To learn more about the Abenaki and their maple syrup production, please check out the tribe's website here.
Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises
This full-length feature documentary is the love song of Alanis Obomsawin to her Abenaki people. A powerful storyteller in her own right, this film follows Obomsawin as she returns to the porches and homes of her childhood and asks Abenaki community members to tell their tales and share their crafts.
Obomsawin herself was born in the Abenaki Territory of New Hampshire, although she spent much of her life in Canada. At an early age her mother moved the family to Odanak, an Abenaki reserve north east of Montreal. There, Obomsawin immersed herself in the songs and legends of her people and filled herself with memories. Although she would later grow up in Quebec and learn French away from her community, Obomsawin's love of her history sings out of every frame in this heartfelt documentary.
The Abenaki filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin.
Acknowledgment Statement
DREAM respectfully recognizes that Camp DREAM is located on the shores of Metcalf Pond in Northern Vermont, the traditional territory of the Abenaki / Abénaquis People as part of the Wabanaki (Dawnland Confederacy). This Land Acknowledgment is a work in progress, but please join us as we learn more about the Peoples' whose land we now enjoy and steward.
To gain deeper insight on what a Land Acknowledgement is and how to serve as an Ally to Native People, please see this tool kit from Wilfred Laurier University in Canada.