Indigenous People

This week on Indigenous People Day I was reminded of my trip over the summer to Cape Cod, a beautiful area that is so key to much of our U.S. history.  I learned so much about the Wampanoag tribes that enjoyed the beauty and fruits of that grand place for twelve thousand years before the arrival of European explorers.

For twelve thousand years these people came to the Cape each summer to reap seemingly endless bounties of fish, and to farm crops.  They did not own the lands, but rather revered them for the sustenance they provided for the Wampanoag people.  In the winter they would move again inland, and survive all winter long on their harvests.

As I stood on the shoreline, I could easily imagine these people spreading out on the water and the beach, searching for food and comfort.  Enjoying the summer weather and bounty.  It was harder to imagine how they would have dealt with hurricanes and the harsher winter weather.  We learned that they would migrate inland in the hurricane and winter season and avoid those weather challenges. 

Once we learn about the way the native people lived it is hard to believe we did not really know it for all of these years.  The European settlement and its impact on these natives is a difficult story to understand and reconcile in so many ways.  However we understand, it is critical that we think about it with our most open minds and remember the ways and the sacrifices made by these Indigenous people.

In passing so many road signs and natural features that bear the names of the Indigenous people, we can remember how they spoke.  We can remember what they called these places of common gathering.  We can remember how they stewarded all of the resources that they came in contact with.  Of all the things we can do now, most importantly, we can remember.