An unveiling is an event commemorating the placement of a tombstone or gravestone and typically takes place within one year after death. It serves as an important ritual that helps mourners process their grief realistically and helps grievers come to terms with what has occurred.
Participants stressed the significance of maintaining Indigenous spiritual ties to the land and working collaboratively in order to address larger inequities that contribute to climate change.
Unveiling Massachusetts Indigenous Heritage
Complex histories woven through our culture from both Indigenous and American roots run deep throughout our state, from Native spiritual practices to colonialism's legacies and reconciliation efforts, our ancestors left behind an immeasurable wealth of wisdom that continues to shape life today.
As part of its dedication to our ancestors' legacy and their pursuit of peace, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston will host a day-long event featuring music, dance, and activities that honor and reflect upon those responsible for taking care of this land for centuries past. Additionally, two artifacts restored by Indigenous artists will be showcased during this celebration; both pieces have been recreated using techniques they employed centuries earlier when first discovered by Indigenous stewards of this continent.
MFA will host a series of programs during November that will shine a light on ongoing efforts to promote peace. On Thursday, November 19th the MFA is joining forces with Weymouth's Historical Commission and Recreation Department to present new interpretive panels at Wessagusset Wetlands and Woodlands site. These panels will use history, maps, and artwork to tell the tale of the Massachusetts tribe at Wessagusset village. Steven Peters of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe will offer prayers during this program and screen his documentary entitled 'Mashpee Nine." It chronicles police action, arrest and trial that occurred between 1976-1980 involving nine members of their tribe who were drumming at Mashpee Pond campsite.
Reverend Timothy Cutler's 1754 sermon to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts offers us insight into Church of England attitudes toward Black and Indigenous people, while at the same time showing that missionary groups were less competitive over denominational lines, working collaboratively together to convert both Indigenous people and African Americans. This source allows us to comprehend colonialism, racism, and enslavement in Massachusetts more fully.
Professor Jaimie Crumley will explore the records of Old North Church and their connection to colonialism, including Elizabeth's baptismal record in 1733. This source will help us better understand the unique challenges that Indigenous women and girls encountered throughout colonial Massachusetts and beyond.
Indigenous Wisdom in Massachusetts: Land's Insight
Historically, Indigenous peoples of the Americas created complex knowledge systems to support their populations. Traditional knowledge was passed down orally through orally transmitted transmission and experience of nature; while indigenous plants provided food and spiritual sustenance. Indigenous communities also utilized various techniques for storing and preserving foods, clothing, and materials, as well as techniques for storing and preserving materials like potatoes. They cultivated avocados, peanuts, chocolate vanilla extract and many more fruit, vegetables and plants as part of this practice.
These diverse traditions remain alive today in Massachusetts and throughout the U.S. They can be found through sacred fire ceremonies to the sustainable practice of seven generations - helping all to respect nature in its entirety.
We celebrate Indigenous contributions to America each year but must keep in mind their history of colonization and exploitation that continues today. Therefore, education about indigenous heritage should become a top priority so that decisions made today benefit not only current but also future generations.
To do this effectively, we must challenge prevailing Western epistemologies that prioritize textual evidence when creating historical narratives. To this end, this symposium features scholars whose research engages Indigenous forms of knowledge production that may include non-alphabetic material texts and oral traditions.
At a recent panel discussion, co-founders of the Wopanaak Language Reclamation Project Jessie Little Doe Baird and Tom "Eagle Rising" Libby highlighted some of the ongoing difficulties indigenous scholars encounter when engaging with traditional sources like documents and photographs.
One way the university can contribute is by creating signage at locations that highlight Indigenous histories. Last year, Forrant served on a committee that led the university to recognize Indigenous People's Day alongside Columbus Day and created these signs with History Prof. Christoph Strobel who has published multiple books about Native American history in New England as well as Art and Design Assoc Prof Ingrid Hess featuring QR codes leading to more information on each site's Indigenous past - currently located at Northern Canal Overlook and Allen House respectively.
Sustainable Practices: Indigenous Wisdom in MA
At a time of global turmoil, Native American teachings provide more than just a warning: they offer us a roadmap for healing collective trauma and reconnecting to a spiritual source.
Indigenous perspectives worldwide share an astoundingly similar worldview that considers Earth a Mother and all living beings and phenomena as her children, whom we share a relationship of love, reciprocity, respect and responsibility with. Contemplative practices practiced within Indigenous traditions can create an awareness of kin relationships through our bodies' experience of being, which foster gratitude, awe and reverence towards all aspects of existence.
Sustainability science seeks to foster a new paradigm by cultivating consciousness of Earth as our collective home and its interconnectivity with life on it, but changing perception remains difficult for many people.
Numerous scholars have asserted that the recent surge of interest in traditional ecological knowledge within sustainability science demonstrates two things. 1) Integrate insights from Indigenous traditions into an ecological model for planet Earth. 2) Provide an ethical framework for understanding this wisdom.
This one-day symposium will bring together scholars who are investigating these questions across various fields, periods, and media. It will highlight those whose research challenges traditional Western epistemologies that privilege textual evidence as the only reliable resource for creating historical narratives; those whose methods, resources, or aesthetic practices engage Indigenous forms of knowledge production; or who develop such methodologies themselves.
Malden Reads, Plimoth Patuxet Museums and Project Misik have come together to present this event. Project Misik creates "yards" in various communities that center Black, Indigeneous and People of Color through music and movement.
Preserving Indigenous Traditions in MA
Native Peoples teach us that everything in life is connected and all forms have a life force, including winds, lakes, rivers, plants and animals. Their teachings emphasize how everything must be balanced to maintain sustainable relationships - such principles provide the basis for building spiritually grounded communities that can respond wisely and compassionately when faced with change and challenges.
Before European colonists came to what is now Massachusetts, indigenous Peoples lived as members of an extended community that moved throughout the landscape according to seasonal changes. Hunting and fishing for food were key while raising families was celebrated alongside honoring ancestors' lives - they saw themselves as caretakers of the land itself.
Native spirituality possesses an unparalleled quality and intensity that enables humans to directly experience their relationship to nature in an intimate manner. Their closeness with the natural environment enabled them to gain an in-depth knowledge of their immediate environment that combined practical and sacred elements into a holistic experience.
Indigenous Peoples rely on this accumulated lore, known as wisdom, to sustainably navigate their environment for generations. Additionally, it helps them realize how human actions and decisions have an effect either positive or negative upon Mother Earth.
Harvesting of clams and oysters, overfishing can disrupt the ecology of a bay; overharvesting puts these species at risk of becoming endangered. Furthermore, clearing forests for agricultural use alters natural habitats for birds and other animal species - thus necessitating wise decision making to ensure sustainable practices for future generations.
As part of Jewish tradition, unveiling memorial stones allows communities to commemorate their dead and keep them alive in memory. An unveiling ceremony can take place anywhere, including at home or within a synagogue; many choose an officiating rabbi; however this is not mandatory; JCAM offers information and poems of remembrance for use at an unveiling ceremony.
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