Journey Through Time with the Esopus Indians
Description
Journey Through Time with the Esopus Indians and More
with Evan Pritchard
What Can We Learn From the Esopus “Indians?”
A Journey Through Time Back to 1665 * to Find Out What Really Mattered Then (And Might Still Matter Today!)
Saturday, March 23rd, 2019 11 am to 3:30 pm (half hour potluck lunch)
$5-$7 for Adults, Kids Free
Contact Pine Hill Community Center to Sign Up
info@pinehillcommunitycenter.
What were the priorities of the original Algonquian-speaking people of Pine Hill (Gawiensink) and the Shandaken (Ashind-hakee) area? In this first-time ever event, noted Native American scholar, historian, and author of Native New Yorkers Evan Pritchard will lead a half-day workshop to answer the question, “What can we learn from the Esopus River “Indians” (First Nations Peoples of the Esopus Valley) about how to live in harmony with planet earth and each other?
This interactive workshop will address four areas of Algonquin knowledge that many today will find immediately useful and enlightening. These are:
Esopus History: Learn to see the local terrain through Algonquin eyes. By making our own maps we will re-create the homeland of the Esopus River First Nations People as it existed in 1665, the year of the Nicolls’ Treaty with England. We will mark which Indian trials are now roads we drive on, also marking village sites, stone markers, planting fields, and important portages where travelers had to not only paddle their own canoe but carry it as well.
Hand sign language: Learn to think and communicate in pictures, using your physical body rather than your mouth, using your heart more than your brain. Few activities are better for uniting the body, mind and spirit. This knowledge is great for those who have trouble speaking their mind.
Medicine Wheel teachings: Learn to think from four parts of the self: spirit, mind, heart, and body, and then once you see how they are different, learn to see how they are equal: interact with all four of them, balancing then uniting them as one. Through certain activities we will seek the highest goals of each of these four selves including power, wisdom, compassion, and knowledge. We will build a stone wheel as a teaching tool to find out what direction we may be stuck in, and how to get back to our wild and unspoiled center where all is in balance.
Herbs Are Verbs (Animals Too!) Learn to communicate with plants (and animals) by learning the Esopus Munsee words for them. These action-oriented words have been compared to beads on a string, in that each syllable represents a different word or bead, creating a poem-like sentence for example, “the bee extracts the sweetness from the sunflower.” (honey!) Through learning plant and animal words in this ancient language we will learn how to see them as fellow sentient beings and not just “fast food.”
Along the way we will learn about the priorities and values of the Algonquin, the importance of individual freedom, and how they remained spiritually strong in hard times. We will learn that time, money, and possessions were of little importance to people who possessed a different kind of power and status. The Esopus Munsee called themselves “The Wild.” Why? What did that mean to them? The root of their word for “wild” is “knowledge.” Why? The answer may leave you rethinking your concept of civilization and who you really are.
Event Date:
03-23-19
Event Time:
See article
Location:
, NY
Contact Person: