The Homelands PowWow, hosted this weekend at the Darrow School in New Lebanon, N.Y., marked the first powwow hosted by the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribe on their ancestral lands since their forceful expulsion in the late 18th century.
Saturday’s main event was Grand Entry, a procession of community leaders, dancers, and veterans of any service into a central circle where the majority of the powwow’s events took place. Directed by emcees from the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in Wisconsin and accompanied by Rez Dogs, a drumming group from Indian Island, Maine, participants processed into the circle, marking the high point of the day.
According to its website, this year’s Homelands PowWow was intentionally small so as to foster relationships and community that will grow the event into a sustained, annual tradition that celebrates the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans. “Our mission is to honor and reconnect the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican people with their ancestral lands,” the website reads. “Through the annual organization of this PowWow, we raise funds to support travel and lodging for tribal members who wish to return to these sacred homelands. Rooted in tradition, community, and cultural resilience, our work helps ensure that the connection between the Mohican people and their lands endures for generations to come.”…