Indigenous People’s Day 2025: The Year of the Mishoon

The month of October began, for Ohketeau, with a historic event. For the first time in hundreds of years, a traditional Mishoon(see our last news letter for information on Mishoons and the Merrimack!) was launched on the Merrimack River.

We are grateful to Imagine Studios for the allyship that they showed with their support of this historic moment. Videos of the event are available. Taubotne, as well, to the Merrohawke Nature School, Maritime Museum Newburyport and all the other allies and supporters who made this possible.

Kuttabotomish to Jonathan James-Perry, Darius Coombs, Jared James, Phillip Wynne for their hard work on this Mishoon. Your traditional knowledge and skills are so vital, and our communities are better for your hard work.

In addition to this, Ohketeau was also proud to be a part of the Westford IPD wherein there were many inspiring speeches given by town leaders regarding respect to Indigenous history and culture. It is through events like this, and steadfast allies, that we are able to move towards a brighter future, together.

Health in Indian Country

This month the federal government has chosen to leave millions of Americans without SNAP benefits. While this tragedy is not new for Native peoples, our hearts go out to those struggling this month. The Massachusetts state government has responded with compassion and action, and local towns have bolstered their community food drives.

In these times, we encourage folx to consider traditional recipes and to bolster their relationship to the land.

CORN BREAD JOURNEY CAKES:

1 box corn bread mix
1 can of sweet corn
1 bag dried cranberries

Combine, and bake!

Ohketeau Womxn’s Group

This month we are making Ribbon Bags! All supplies provided!

Natives Run! T-Shirt Design Contest

It’s that time of year again!

Do you want your design featured in this years Boston Marathon? Now is your chance! Deadline is January 31, 2026 with a $200 award!

Email submissions to info@Ohketeau.org

Health in Indian Country

Mark your calendars for a training coming up in LifeSkills followed by Circle Tied to Mother Earth. This curriculum uplifts youth sobriety and coupled with Circle Tied helps to connect the material in relevant ways to our Indigenous communities.

1st of two sessions will be held on Saturday January 17th in person. Free, and with materials provided. Reach out to sign up.

Location TBD. Local transportation cost covered.

Ohketeau “Hygiene Bags”

Ohketeau offers “Hygiene Bags” for those who may be displaced or simply in need of some hygiene supplies. Reach out to info@Ohketeau.org for access or visit us at any tabling event.

Honoring Those Lost on Deer Island 1675

This year marks the 350th anniversary of King Philip’s War. This war took place from 1675-1676, and claimed the lives of many Native and non-Native people. Within the surviving descendants of the people in this war, we— the Indigenous people of the Eastern Woodlands, now called “New England” — hold our knowledge between families traditions, stories, and cultural perspective surrounding available scholarship.

The information that we have about the internment of the “Praying Indians” during the winter of 1675 on Deer Island lives in records kept by the towns, the general court, and the church. There are also various accounts written by settlers to narrate their experience of the war. It is through these glimpses into the past, and the sorting of our own bias’ that we can paint a picture of the war.

“Praying Towns” were established beginning in 1651 by Reverend Johnathan Eliot as a part of the English mission to bring education and religion to the so-called “savages” who resided on the New Land— New England. There were a number of towns established throughout Massachusetts wherein the Native peoples who became members of this time were converted to Christianity. The first of these towns was on the lands of Nahtik, or Natick, near the falls on the Charles River.

Work was done by Elliot to record and translate the Bible into the local language. As he grew his relations and gained access to communities, he plotted the creation of the “Mamusse Wunneetupanatamewe Up-Biblum God”, with type set and pressed by the Nipmuc James Printer. During the height of King Philips War in October of 1675, the general court convened to discuss “enemy Indian” attacks. Petitions had come in from fearful settlers regarding their neighboring Native people. Natick, fearful of ill placed punishment, sent members of their town to the court to petition an exchange of town members as prisoners for the assurance of safety. Instead of granting this request, the court instead declared that no Native person should be found outside of one mile of the town.

Not only was this all an abrupt change from the migratory life style of the first people, but this declaration carried the weight that any Native found outside of that one mile radius could be treated as an “enemy Indian” and could be killed if deemed such a threat.

By the end of October, the General court had sided with the settlers around the removal of the praying Indians from the towns. Men were sent with six carts in the middle of the night to gather the families from Natick and bring them across the Charles River to the barren Island called Deer Island. At the time of their arrival, the people of the town were not told where they were going, but simply that they must pack everything they could into the six carts and strength strengthen their belief in God. For the 200 or so members of the town this abrupt order was a sign of worse times to come. Reverend Jonathan Eliot met the townsfolk halfway through their journey to the island, at a place called “the Pines“ located in Cambridge Massachusetts. Therein he preached to them about the power of Gods good will on true believers. He revealed that they would be going to deer Island, and to remain strong in their faith.

Over the course of nine months, until the end of the war, more praying Indians from other towns were interned onto the island. Desperate men were manipulated, and taken from the island to serve as spies in the war. The amount of people sent to the island was so great that there needed to be overflow onto other surrounding islands. By the time the war ended, the number of Native people was greatly reduced. Those who were returned through the personal funding of Daniel Gookin, and Jonathan Eliot and not with the aid of the general court, who had sent them there in the first place, arrived back to the mainland with many ailments. Dysentery, frostbite, and deep trauma plagued the living.

The war was over, and the defeat was staggering.

It is through the acknowledgment of this tragedy that the surviving descendants returned to the shores of the island in ceremony each year. Each year, a paddle is held by the Natick Nipmuc people as ceremony around the lost. Descendants of the people lost to those islands gather at Deer Island(now a waste treatment facility site) to pray for our ancestors. In ceremony, we paddle from the shores of the island, across the harbor, and to Brighton wherein we leave the canoes and journey to the falls of Natick. The goal is to bring those ancestors home, and to honor the spirits lost.

We remember, and we shall always remain.

Written by: Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed

Celebration Space

Ohketeau is launching an initiative where we hope to celebrate our community members in the things that they do. If you have something you would like to celebrate, please fill out the form below, or simply send us a message stating what you are happy about. Shoutouts will be seen on our monthly newsletters!

What are we uplifting this month?

@meadartmuseum
Boundless is a nearly museum-wide exhibition that features work by Native American writers and artists, grounded in but not contained to the Northeast. Boundless takes shape like water, moving across generations and geographies, and expanding conversations about kinship, presence, resistance, and history through its flow. The exhibition never chooses one path, but moves in multiple directions and broadens as it goes.

Ohketeau Gets MASS Humanities Grant!

Grantee: Ohketeau Cultural Center
Location: Rowley
Project title: Into The Circle
Grant: $20,000
Category: Promises of the Revolution

Project summary: ‘Into the Circle’ is a public conversation series featuring Indigenous scholars, change makers and historians to speak about issues and stories from the American Revolution forward that affect Massachusetts’ peoples. Ohketeau requests support for honorariums, event costs, documentation and administrative management.