Activity Photos

The first four photos are from our Snow Snake Games in Randolph, Vermont on 16 Feb. 2008 at Chief Nancy Millette's home. This was the first Abenaki Snow Snake held in several hundred years. My Grandchildren, Rebecca, Tim, Amanda and Hannah were in the games and are in the group photo with the Snow Snakes they made with their grandfather, me. Next is poster and our vendor tent at the pow wow in 2007; my personal Native American Logo; My grandkids at the MCNAA (Massachusetts Center For Native American Awareness) Pow-wow in 2005 in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Native American Arts Award

My cousin Don Standing Bear of Alaska just received the Judges Choice Award for his Wampum Belt. We are very proud of him and below is his bio. Congratulations Don. Above is a photo of him and his award with his Wampum Belt.

St. Regis Wampum Belt

My name is Don Standing Bear Forest,

amamember of the Sou’West Nova Metis of the

Confederacy of Nova Scotia Metis. My heritage also includes Mi’kmaq, Huron, and Abenaki, from the Northeast of Turtle Island.

Wampum, such as I used in this belt, was

used

by my peoples in documenting historical events, adornments, and trade. This St Regis belt is 5 inches wide by 38 inches long, and is an exact replica of the original belt from the 1600’s. The beads are deep purple, and white glass beads woven together with deer hide.

I selected the St.Regis belt to recreate, because of it’s powerful message, the importance of walking the straight path. This is a “record belt”, meaning that it recorded some event. This belt is also called the Seven Nations Belt.

This belt represents the union of the Seven Nations: Mohawk Band at Lake of Two Mountains, Algonquin Band at Lake of Two Mountains, Nipissing Band at Lake of Two Mountains, part of Caughnawaga Band, Oswegatchie Band, Hurons of Lorett, and Abenakis of St. Francis. The crooked line at the bottom represents that they were crooked (Roman Catholic). Their path is not straight. They have forsaken the Great Law and gone to the land of the cross, Canada.

This belt embodies the pledge of the seven Canadian Chrisitianized nations to abandon their crooked ways and to keep an honest peace. It was given to the Five Nations to mark their submission to the power of the Iroquois Confederacy, with a promise of peace.

I have been weaving wampum for 12 years under the guidance of Mohawk wampum artist, Lynn Estes, of Massachusetts. It is my passion. My vision is to recreate the original belts which are currently held in museum archives, so that they can be displayed for public education on this old art form.