News Release

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Please note that as of December 25th 2011, this page will be used for Press releases only.

The latest news, as well as future events can be found on your brand new Blog "The Koasek Newstand" at: http://cowasuckabenaki.com/blog/.

2011 Annual General Council Meeting

October 1st 2011 - Thetford, Vermont

Our annual meeting this year will be held at twelve noon at the American Legion Hall (1851 School House), located west on Vt Route 113 off I-91, exit 14, about one mile, on top of the hill, to the right, across from the Thetford Elementary School. All members are welcome to attend.

Our thanks to Chief Nathan Pero and to the American Legion.

Special Meeting, May 22, 2011

Paul Bunnell
May 14, 2011

Kwai Kwai All,
This is a plea for all your help and support for our nation.

We have had several changes and challenges that have hit our people; a meeting will be held on the 22nd of May (Sunday), at the American Legion Hall in Thetford, Vermont starting at 10 AM, and a pot luck lunch at noon.

Nathan Pero is our new Chief until the present term of office is up in two years. He needs all your support by showing up for this meeting. Items to be covered are a report on the recent vacancies at the top of our tribal leadership and temporally filling those seats until elections. Giving reports on the status of our bank accounts, head counts, newsletter registrations and a the Vermont headcount needed for recognition. Prospects for Vermont recognition and where help is needed, mostly getting our Vermont cousins to apply ASAP.

IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND ATTEND THIS MEETING ON 22nd MAY at 10 AM. THE FUTURE OF OUR NATION IS IN YOUR HANDS. WE NEED EVERYONE THIS DAY. Thanks in advance for planning to attend.

2011 Annual Snow Snake Gathering...

This year, the Koasek Traditional Band of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation held the fourth annual snow snake games on February 19, 2011 at the home of tribal council member Nathan Pero in Fairlee, VT. 

In past years we battled with snow that was too deep and extremely cold temperatures, and this year we dealt with blustery winds, but that did not stop people from coming out. This year’s games were very well attended as we played host to citizens from the Nulhegan Band of Abenaki, the Elnu Abenaki Tribe, the Antaya Nation of Quebec, as well as students from UVM’s anthropology class, local citizens, Antropologist John Moody, and members of the Gray Wolf Clan of Rumney NH.

The games got off to a late start as a number of guests got lost on their way, and due to the wind storm, there was no phone service or electricity for the first few hours.  While we waited for the games to begin, everyone joined in for some drumming and singing lead by Nulhegan Chief Don Stevens, and we all enjoyed a great pot luck lunch with a large array of food.

The Snow Snake games themselves were a great success as Koasek Chief Brian Chenevert started off the games with an excellent throw.  The children went next and non-stop laughter could be heard as they each took a turn throwing their snakes down the path. The children proudly stood their snow snake in the side of the snow snake path wherever their snake stopped hoping the next thrower would not beat their mark. A dozen or so extra snow snakes were made available for those guests that did not have their own snakes to throw.

The adults went next and the longest throw of the day and the winner for this year’s event was Elnu citizen Anthony Longtoe who received a jug of maple syrup from the Pero Farm. The most memorable throws of the day were from VCNAA chairman Luke Willard who had a hard time keeping his snake on the track and received a good amount of friendly teasing from the other participants lead by his children ! The afternoon was then completed with dessert of maple syrup on snow served by the Pero Family.  It was a great day of socializing and fun had by all.

2010 Annual General Council Meeting

Our annual meeting this year will be held at twelve noon at the American Legion Hall (1851 School House), located west on Vt Route 113 off I-91, exit 14, about one mile, on top of the hill, to the right, across from the Thetford Elementary School. All members are welcome to attend.

Our thanks to Council member Nathan Pero and to the American Legion.

2010 Annual Snow Snake Gathering...

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

^3rd Annual Abenaki Snow Snake games

in Thetford, Vermont

The lack snow and cold temperatures didn't stop the Koasek Traditional Band of Abenaki from hosting the third annual Snow Snake games in Thetford, Vermont on February 20, 2010!

 The Snow Snake is a winter game played by the Abenaki. Most Abenaki snow snakes were hand carved pieces of wood, usually of hickory or ash, that were approximately 18-24 inches long, although some Wabanaki tribes made snow snakes that were up to 6 feet long. If someone wanted to start a game of snow snake he would run through the village calling out that a game would be played. Soon all those who wanted to play would join him, each bringing their own snow snake that may have taken months to make.  Then one or more of the players would take a log approximately 3 inches in diameter and drag it through the snow to form a path for the snakes to go down. 

 "For our first year’s games" said Chief Brian Chenevert," the snow was too deep to make a proper tunnel for the snow snake competition so we made a make-shift competition area in a long drive way. This year Tribal Council Member Nathan Pero spent many hours preparing the area for the competition even trucking in snow!" The point of this year’s game was to just have fun, there were no winners or losers. The children proudly stood their snow snake in the side of the snow snake path wherever their snake stopped hoping the next thrower would not beat their mark. Tribal Citizen Bernie Mortz made a dozen extra snow snakes so those onlookers who came and did not have one could give it try.  After the games, everyone gathered for a pot luck feast at the American Legion Hall.

2009 Annual Snow Snake Games

There was a slight change in location as the White Pine Association arranged for the 22 February 2009 games to be held at the White Pine Field in Haverhill, New Hampshire at 1 PM. The day was beginning to look like the ideal conditions with some snow predicted.

One of our Koasek citizens bravely showed up at 12:50 PM with his specially crafted snake cleverly named “Red Road Runner.”

The Second Annual Snow Snake Games were about to begin. Our excited citizen check the website before leaving to assure everything was as advertised.

Our lonely and disappointed sportsmen was now totally confused. He looked up into the sky and glanced around the field and couldn’t believe the snow snake games were canceled because of SNOW! He looked up into the sky once again. This time knowing that his ancestors were laughing at these modern-day people who called themselves Native American’s. How could they have snow snake games without snow? He thought again about the two websites he checked before leaving his home and how they never told of any cancelation announcement. Our Koasek Warrior then walked to the edge of the field and gave “Red Road Runner” one hard shove across the snow. It went good, not fast, but good. Maybe he won a Place or a Show spot, but no judge or White Pine Association member was there to congratulate him and present his prize, so after waiting until 2 PM, he got back into his car and drove back home where some snow indeed fell. Not a blizzard or life threatening disaster that would have kept any real Native American Brave from participating in the Koasek Snow Snake Games. Now, he had to return home and tell his family that all the Indians couldn’t come out and play in the snow because it was going to snow!

One of the Headlining Dancers
Picture Taken at Dartmouth Pow Wow

The Koasek Abenaki Tribe will host the second annual Nawihla Native American Festival at the VFW Field, North Haverhill, NH on May 31 and June 1, 2008. Drum groups and dancers will be coming in to perform from all over New England with a special performance by the Iroquois Traditional Singers and Dancers from New York.

Nawihla, an Abenaki word meaning " We are returning home", is a name chosen to honor the rich Abenaki history of the Meadows and the ancient Mission du Loup which was built to christianize the Abenaki of the Newbury and Haverhill area in 1685.

Nawihla Native American Festival will celebrate the history of the Koas Abenaki who lived in the meadows of Haverhill and Newbury for hundreds of years and still live today. The area which embraces the Connecticut River as well as the Ammonoosuc River was well known to Native People all over Canada, New York and New England. Native people would travel the rivers to visit and trade with the Koas Abenaki of the meadows. During the French Indian wars the well traveled route connecting the tribes of the south with the north was through the meadows on Haverhill and Newbury.

The history of the original people and the meadows has been over looked in recent years. It is an important part of the history of both the State of Vermont and the State of New Hampshire.

Nawihla has received financial help this year from New Hampshire Council on the Arts, the National Endowment on the Arts, Wal-Mart, Nookta Lodge and the All Seasons Motel, Beckett Academy, FarmWay Bradford, Wells River Savings Bank, NuNaturals, Kevin Fagnant Builders, Fennway Builders, Mashantucket Pequot Nation Graphics Department and Schemitzun committee, the Town of Haverhill and the VFW. "This event is a major undertaking," stated Koasek (Cowasuck) Tribal Council". "However, it is a wonderful celebration of art, dancing and music and gives us great pleasure to bring to the public a taste of our history and ancient cultural identities."

Nawihla will also host an 18th century living village where the public can take a walk through yester-year and experience the life-ways of 18th century Abenakis. In the 18th century, the Abenakis would trade many of their goods with ocean voyagers. Many things changed during that era and lodges were often times made from old torn ship sails made of canvas. Many of the lodges in the encampment will reflect that era as the Natives cook traditional food and demonstrate making of traditional crafts. Members of the living village will welcome questions and tell stories as visitors curiosity rises.

Special guest performance by the Aztec dancers of Mexico is scheduled for 2 PM both Sat and Sun. Special dancing and singing will take place throughout the two days with the Iroquois Traditional Singers and dancers. The public will be asked to participate!

Koasek Nawihla will be hosted May 31 and June 1 in North Haverhill, NH and the gates will open at 9 AM  Saturday May 31st untill 5 PM; and June 1st, from 10AM to 5 PM.  Grand Entry of all dancers entering the circle will begin at Noon each day. The Aztec Dancers will perform approximately at 2 PM each day. The Festival Directors encourage people to bring lawn chairs. In the case of rain the gym of the North Haverhill Town Building located next to the VFW field will be used.

What: Grandmother Doris 11th annual honoring
When: Being held May 10th 2008 begining at Noon.
Where: At end of Monument rd.
Who: Natives and Non Natives welcome

There will be a Feast following ceremony at Mary DeCarr's on Parsons Ave, St Albams Town.

POTLOCK ~ Please bring a dish to share.

 

Abenaki seek to buy Old Schoolhouse

in Wells River for Cultural Center

Published September 14, 2006
By Peter Jamison
Valley News Staff Writer

Wells River, Vt. -- Four months after Vermont's government recognized their existence, the Abenaki Indians aren't asking for a stirring landscape in order to rebuild their culture. Other tribes have land grants in the high desert of Arizona or the rolling forests of upstate New York. What the Upper Valley's Abenaki want is a squat brick building -- one on which they say their survival as a people depends.

The Abenaki Nation's Cowasuck band, which farmed the fertile flats along the Connecticut River before the arrival of European settlers, is trying to raise money to buy the Old Village Schoolhouse on Route 5 in Wells River, in the town of Newbury, Vt. The aim is to renovate the building, now used for apartments and office space, and use it as an Abenaki cultural academy.

The Abenaki, unlike their neighbors, the Iroquois, were never given a reservation, and as a result have been blending for centuries into the dominant European-American culture of Northern New England. This assimilation had a cost. Today, Abenakis are scattered across Vermont, New Hampshire, northwestern Massachusetts, part of New York and parts of Canada. Without a physical nucleus, the band says, their customs and language are being lost. [...]

The Abenaki fight to preserve a coherent cultural identity got a boost in May, when Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas signed into law a bill that recognized the tribe. As a result of recognition, Abenakis may claim minority status in job and college applications, seek grants available to American Indians and eventually sell crafts and artwork with a special label. But the state hasn't yet decided what criteria a person must meet to be counted a citizen of a band. [...]

Charlie and Sarah Calley of Newbury own the schoolhouse, which they have offered to sell for $289,000. By coincidence, the Calleys inherited a strain of finger-sized sweet corn from the late Carroll Greene, a farmer in Deering, N.H. Greene's ancestors had been among the first English settlers in the Upper Valley, and were given corn seeds by the Abenaki in the 18th century, the Calleys said. Yesterday, in a small ceremony that seemed geared toward the half-dozen photographers and reporters present, the Calleys gifted the Cowasuck tribal council with a handful of the corn, which can be used as seed for a new crop.

Band Citizen Mike Fenn said he plans to plant some of those seeds on the 17 acres he just bought across the Connecticut River in North Haverhill. Fenn said he knew he had Indian heritage growing up, but didn't begin to learn about his ancestors' culture until he attended the University of New Hampshire, where he took courses on American Indian history. Recently, he got back in touch with Millette, an old family friend, who is helping him reconstruct the remains of a fragile Abenaki past. “I have Scottish in my blood, but I've always felt the Indian side more,” Fenn said. “Now I'm looking forward to bringing it out.”

Koasek Abenaki Receive Gift

By Jacob L. Grant, Staff Writer

The Caledonian Record - Wells River,VT

 

 

Sarah Calley gifts corn to Chief Nancy Millette

 

They've been called the "original Vermonters." They are a tribe that was here well before the first settlers. And in the next few generations the last vestiges of their nation could become extinct. There are some within the nation who have been working to preserve their ways and traditions and on Wednesday, a little more hope was granted.

At the Old School House in Wells River, the Koasek Abenaki nation accepted the return of the corn seeds of their ancestors and took another step toward acquiring the schoolhouse for their planned White Pine Cultural  Center. Plans for the center - which comes under their nonprofit White Pine Association - include cultural exchange programs, historic preservation and language preservation. "We only have a few left who can speak the original language," said Chief Nancy Millette. "I expect it will be extinct in the next generation, maybe two, if we don't start preserving it now." Lyons (Millette) is leading the way to secure money through grants, donations and fund-raisers to buy the building from Charlie and Sarah Calley of Newbury, who said the building is being used for office space and apartments. Negotiations are taking place now, the Calleys said. "We can't imagine better stewards for this building," said Sarah Calley during a short ceremony in front of the schoolhouse Wednesday afternoon.

The big focus of the day though was the return of the Abenaki corn seeds, which have been out of the hands of the original people for about 300 years. Though it may seem like a small gesture on behalf of the Calleys, it meant a lot to the Nation's citizens who gathered at the school to receive the gift.

"This is the first time in 300 years our corn has come home to us," Millette said. "As customary after receiving a gift", Millette said, "the Abenaki would give a gift in return". She then presented the Calleys with Indian sage - an herb used for prayer ceremonies - a small Abenaki basket and a T-shirt bearing the name of the Koasek Abenaki Band.

 

A Cherished Tradition

Centuries before the arrival of English settlers in the 1760s, the native Abenaki people grew corn on the fields of the oxbows of the Connecticut River in Newbury, Vt., and Haverhill, N.H., according to historical information gathered by Charlie and Sarah Calley. When the settlers arrived, they obtained corn seeds from the Indians and continued growing it, always saving enough seed for next year's planting.

The process of planting this corn, which only grows about waist high and produces one four-inch ear per stalk, was passed down through the generations of the settlers and eventually came to the family of the late Carroll Greene. The Calleys met Greene in 1973. Greene, who had grown up in Newbury, grew the corn exclusively. He eventually gave the Calleys several ears of dried seed corn and asked them to keep the process going. Every spring since 1973, the Calleys said, they have planted the seed, thinning and weeding the rows and enjoying the corn, which comes early, usually in July. The Calleys said the corn withstands drought very well, thrives in a wet summer and never gets diseased.

The Koasek Abenaki plan to redistribute the seeds and start replenishing the corn. Millette said there are even a few members in their tribe interested in growing the corn themselves.

The return of their corn and the process of preserving their tribe marks some very important steps in the history of the Abenaki since they achieved official state recognition last May. For 30 years the Abenaki have fought for a bill recognizing the tribe's existence in Vermont. They finally won state recognition in 1977, but the recognition was later rescinded.

 

August 4th, 2006

Gov. Douglas appoints all-Native Native American Affairs Commission

Gov. Jim Douglas on Thursday announced his appointments to the new Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs.

The seven-member group is made up entirely of Native Americans, and was formed following the signing into law of Act 125, the bill giving State recognition to Vermont's Abenaki People, three months ago to the day.

Appointees include:

Don Stevens, 40, of Enosburg Falls;

Chair; Mark Mitchell, 52, of Barnet;

Judy Dow, 52, of Essex Junction;

Timothy de la Bruere, 24, of Newport; Charlene McManis, 53, of Worcester;

Jeanne Brink, 61, of Barre.

The members were announced in a statement issued by Douglas' office.

Mitchell will serve as Chairman of the Commission. A graduate of Daniel Webster College, Mitchell is a former member of the Governor's Commission on Native American Affairs and former executive director of the Abenaki Self Help Association, Inc., where he developed and implemented programs for education, employment, economic development, youth, substance abuse and housing. He is currently employed as program director for the Becket Family of Services in Pike, N.H., which serves troubled and underprivileged youth in residential and academic settings and is a behavioral consultant to similar programs.

 

May 8th, 2006

 

Howard "Grandfather Circle" F. Knight Jr. is no longer a Chief of the Koasek (Cowasuck) Traditional Band of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation.

 

He is now acting as Senior Advisor to the Band since stepping down April 18th, 2006.

 

May 5th, 2006

 

Brian Chenevert and Nancy Millette voted in as Chiefs by band citizens.

April 19th, 2006

 

Jeff Benay, Chairman Of Native Affairs Commission

 

Announces that S.117 State Recognition of the Abenaki People will be signed by Governor Douglas on May 3rd, 2006 at 10 AM on the Steps of the State House.

April 15th, 2006

 

Abenaki Councils in Unity move Forward

Historically the Abenaki Nation’s territory consisted of Vermont, New Hampshire, Southern Quebec, Western Maine, Eastern New York and North Western Massachusetts. With in this territory are many bands historically and many are alive and well today. In the last few months many of these councils have been meeting in Unity to plan for the future and help pave way for the generations to come. Councils and Bands have been focusing on programs to help preserve and make available to the youth and to the next generations issues that have always been on the minds of many.

Jeff Benay, Vermont’s Commissioner of Native American Affairs, Fred Wiseman historian, David Stewart Smith, Penacook and historian, Peter Newell, Intertribal Council, Roger Longtoe, El Nu Band, Howard Knight, Cowasuck, Yvon and Yannick Mercier of Sherbrooke, PQ are all pooling together the ancient history of their area and research to share and document for the future. All the bands above and several other groups are working to help Unify the bond between their band citizens as one Nation working for the better of all. Elders who are part of the Councils in Unity bring a spiritual awareness all focusing on the importance of brotherhood, responsibility, peace and ancient protocol. Fred Wiseman with the help of Jeff Benay and the Seven Fires, has recently produced a DVD "Out of the Darkness" which is a work in progress. With a projected finish date of 2009, it is Wiseman’s ambition to work with all the historians, re-enactors, families and leaders in Unity to complete this documentary film, which will give a good over all perception of the entire Abenaki Nation. All councils in Unity are working toward a better cultural awareness with schools to help the diversity to include the Abenaki children in all of the territory. Peter Newell, has been working with the schools in his area of New Hampshire and has put into place a program for the Abenaki students. Jeff Benay and other members of the Vermont NA Commission in years pass were able to produce a Teachers Guide to help the teachers and schools in VT. Many others citizens of the Abenaki have been making head way in the educational fields with in their area. Missisquoi in Swanton has a museum at their nation headquarters that is open to the public.

 

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Copyright © 2011 Koasek Traditional Band of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation

Last update: 16/01/2012