By Patrick Adrian EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — Members of the Ko’asek (Co’wasuck) Traditional Band of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation held its first celebration of the winter solstice in Claremont on Tuesday night, with a traditional fire ceremony to welcome the warmth and light of the sun as a community.
The Ko’asek, which consists of 430 members, received the land last year as a donation from the Kennedy-Bascom family, who previously owned the 10 acres of forested wetlands off Elm Street.
This was the land’s first use in a winter solstice ceremony, though the tribal band held a tree-awakening ceremony in April of this year and a fall equinox celebration in September.
The community event, called a “Unity Fire,” was held virtually with members and friends connecting via Zoom or phone from locations around the country, as well as one participant located in Peru. Some participants had ceremonial fires at their own locations, while others had lit candles.
In Claremont, Chief David Nepveu of the Vermont tribal region opened the celebration with a ceremonial tobacco blessing to honor the seven sacred directions of the North, South, East and West; the sun; the creator; Mother Earth; the water; the plants and animals; and the fire.
Nepveu said this is the first time he has set up and performed this fire ceremony by himself.
“I am relearning the fire ceremony,” Nepveu said. “I’m relearning again how to stack the fire and how to do this.”
Chief Paul Bunnell of the New Hampshire tribal region, who has also stewarded the land with Nepveu, participated in the celebration from his home in Alstead.
The fire, Nepveu explained, is structured specifically for ceremony rather than for warmth.
“The fire tonight is to give thanks to the sun for providing the energy to create everything we see here,” Nepveu said.
The wood, which represents “the fuel of the sun,” is from an ash, a sacred tree to the Abernaki.
“It is considered by the Abernaki that we came from the ash tree,” Nepveu said.
The wood and kindling is built in a tipi-style around a center of birch bark, cedar, tobacco, sage, and sweetgrass.
Each layer of the build has a symbolic value, according to Nepveu.
The innermost material, where the fire is first lit, represents “the birth” of the child, Nepveu said. Surrounding the center are smaller pieces of kindling, which represent the children. As the fire grows Nepveu adds larger pieces of ash around the build, also in a tipi-style arrangement. These pieces represent the elders.
“This is all a structure that protects and keeps the heat inside,” Nepveu said. “It is considered a family.”
As the fire dies the gray ash that is left is considered the grandparents, or “grandfather” to be exact, Nepveu explained, saying that the Abernaki regard fire as a masculine energy, whereas water, its counterpart, is a female energy.
Following the tobacco ceremony, Bunnell gave an opening prayer to bless the gathering and ask for peace, harmony and togetherness and healing for the earth and the environment.
Dan Duhaime, a Ko’asek artist, presented two songs: “Unity Chant” and “Drums in the Valley.”
Nepveu showed the underneath of a drum he made two weeks ago, using white cedar for the rim and elk hide for the drum skin.
“When you make the drum, this cordage [tying the skin underneath] where it ends is considered the umbilicus of the drum,” Nepveu said. “So I took the umbilicus off the drum and I am throwing it into the fire as an offering.”
Inside the umbilicus was a package of “kinnikinnick,” an native American smoking mixture. The mixture prepared by Nepveu contained tobacco, cedar, sage and coffee, representing each of the four directions: coffee in the east, sage in the west, cedar in the north and tobacco in the east.
The celebration had approximately 25 participants participating from at least 11 different states.
The Ko’asek hope to eventually construct a cultural center with a meeting hall, a museum and small residency on the property. The tribal band also plans to construct a wigwam and a longhouse for educational purposes and walking trails for learning about native New Hampshire trees and plants.
To learn more about the Ko’asek band and Abenaki Nation, visit koasekabenakination.com.
reporter @eagletimes.com
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