15.5in H x 12in W The bronze statue titled, The Future Begins Now, was created by CPN tribal member Clyde B. Slavin in 2004. It depicts an important portion of the Neshnabé/Bodéwadmi Flood story, where the Muskrat places a piece of earth on the Turtle’s back to create a new world. Note from the artist reads: The Future Begins Now, …
Niben was the time of plenty. Villages converged to dance, celebrate and play games, strengthening the bonds among Potawatomi people and culture. With an abundance of natural resources, our ancestors tended to their fields, gathered fruit, nuts and wild plants, and harvested a variety of animals for food, tools and clothing. What was not used, shared or traded was stored …
The forerunner of lacrosse, stickball is considered one the oldest American Indian sports, played in various forms by woodland tribes for centuries. The sport has three distinct regional styles [Northeast; Southeast; Great Lakes], with equipment, gameplay and fundamentals varying for each. Known to the Potawatomi as pegnegewen [stickball], games are played for recreation, communal prestige, spiritual reverence and healing. Exclusively …
Similar to pegnegewen [stick ball], péski’a or double-ball is a Potawatomi sport played traditionally by women. Played for recreation, communal prestige, spiritual reverence and healing, bagjegejek [players] are equipped with their own bagwzhanatek [ball stick] and divided amongst two even teams based on their moiety, shkesh [first-born] and kishko [second-born]. Péski’a [double-ball] is played on a large open field, with …
The pattern of annual migration across an area’s ecological zones to secure the variety of food and household goods that fulfill social-economic and cultural needs. The Seasonal Rounds of the Potawatomi refers to the pattern of annual migration across the local landscape’s ecological zones to harvest plants and animals that feed, heal, and are useful to the Potawatomi people (Steen-Adams, …
Tobacco is the most revered and powerful of all the medicine plants and considered a gift from Mamogosnan [Creator]. It is used for protection and its smoke carries thoughts and prayers to the Creator.
Traditionally we are known as the Neshnabek [Man Sent Down From Above], a confederated nation comprised of the Ojibwe, Odawa and Bodéwadmi [Potawatomi]. Our confederacy is referred to as the Three Fires Council, recognizing that each tribe functions as brethren to serve the alliance as a whole. The Ojibwe, our eldest kinsmen, were first in igniting the flames of the …
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) describes the complex set of knowledge, practices and beliefs about the relationship that indigenous peoples have with the living and nonliving world around them (Berkes, 2003). It exists in societies that have a direct dependence on local resources. It is the intergenerational knowledge that develops from a long-term intimacy and attentiveness when people are materially and …
Games of Skill Neta Chikaswen [Games of Skill] are those in which the outcomes are determined by a player’s mental and physical abilities, rather than by chance. Traditional sports of this nature were and still are used by Potawatomi and other Native nations to build communal ties through leisure, celebrate and honor sacred and ceremonial events, cure the sick and …
Sage and its smoke are used for purification. This medicine is for ceremonies to purify the environment and those in attendance.