Saratoga Native American Festival

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Saratoga Native American Festival

September 22nd, 2019. FREE ADMISSION! Northeastern Native American Culture through art, storytelling Tom will also do a Closing Address at the end of the day.
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THE SARATOGA NATIVE AMERICAN FESTIVAL:

The Saratoga Native American Festival, which has become one of the major highlights of the start of fall in the Saratoga Springs area will once again return to the beautiful grounds of the Saratoga State Park, Saratoga Springs, New York. The festival will begin with a traditional Opening Address delivered in Mohawk and English by Tom Sakokwenionkwas Porter,

who positions with the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs and is the spokesman and spiritual leader of the Mohawk community of Kanatsiohareke. The featured storytellers for the event will perform twice throughout day between dance programs. Dozens of Native American artists and craftspeople (carefully selected by Jeanne Brink (Abenaki), the coordinator of our arts and crafts area), nearly all of them from the American Indian nations of the northeast, will be displaying and selling their own work at the festival. Last year, the Vendor Tent featured the following demonstrations of such crafts as basketry, jewelry making, and carving at various booths each day of the festival:

Connie Carter (Mohawk) - finger weaving Richard Chrisjohn of Chrisjohn Arts (Oneida) wood-carving and elm bark rattles/
trays
Al Cleveland of Turtle Island Flutes (Mohawk/Cree) - process of making flutes
Andree' Dennis Newton of Andree' Dennis Newton Art (Abenaki) - totem pole carving
(viewers will be invited to try their hand in the demo)
Earl Dionnne (Mohawk) - wood burning
Russ George (Onondaga) - lacrosse stick carving
Peter Jones (Onondaga) handbuilt Iroquois pottery
Karenlyne Hill (Onondaga) - beading velvet bags
Julia Marden of Traditional Arts (Aquinnah Wampanoag) - 17th century twined
basketry
Towanna Miller (Mohawk) - kustowa creation with ash wood and turkey feathers. Jennifer Lee (Algonkian)New England Culture Tent

Among others also present in the education area will be a wide range of non-profit organizations that advocate for and educate about the environment and Native American issues including The Howes Cave Iroquois Museum, Saratoga Plan, the Ndakinna Education Center, and Kanatsiohareke. Our Children's Area (sponsored in the past by Stewart's Shop) has been one of the favorite areas in past festivals. It will again provide Native activities for children (who must be accompanied by a responsible adult), including a wide range of traditional crafts. Admission is FREE!!! Past Sponsors include: The NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Hric Preservation; the Bay and Paul Foundation; the Nordlys Foundation; the Adirondack Trust Company; and Stewart's Shops. The Ndakinna Education Center, an affiliate of the Greenfield Review Literary Center, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and charitable organization, based at the Marion F. Bowman Bruchac Memorial Nature Preserve in Greenfield Center, New York. The Center offers programs, performances, camps, field trips, and special events focusing on regional Native American understandings, Adirondack culture, martial arts, wilderness skills and awareness of the natural world. For more information:

For further information, call:
Joe Bruchac (518) 584-1728
or (518) 583-1440

10/31/2024

I'm thrilled to announce that tomorrow on November 1st, admissions open for the Summer 2025 School of Abenaki, June 27 - July 11! This will mark our sixth summer of living and learning together under the Middlebury Language Pledge, a commitment that has brought our community of speakers to remarkable levels of fluency and expanded our ranks. Unlike other language schools, ours is dedicated to language reclamation, presenting unique challenges but showcasing the power of true immersion—even within a smaller speech community. Over the past five years, all who have joined our two-week session have left with newfound confidence and at least a basic conversational grasp, many without prior study of Abenaki.

As always, our school is free for all Abenaki people, regardless of nationality. To emphasize this commitment, we have allocated half of our scholarship funds specifically for Canadian Abenaki since last summer, ensuring all Abenaki (regardless of card or community) across the border can participate fully as well as all Abenaki living in the USA. Additionally, we have an open Bilingual French/Abenaki faculty position to further support this inclusion. Please help us spread the word in Canada and among our French-speaking relations about both the scholarships and this paid faculty opportunity.

We look forward to gathering again at Middlebury, June 27 - July 11, renewing our language and relationships as we take the Pledge together to speak only Abenaki. Please enroll now, regardless of experience, and share this post widely so everyone knows about the opportunities and the incredible language reclamation happening at Middlebury. Thanks to our shared efforts, Abenaki is being spoken again in Ndakinna (Our Homeland).

Discover the Abenaki language at Middlebury Language Schools and embrace a new cultural journey with our immersive learning program.

10/27/2024

Join us for Abenaki Online Mzatanos (November)! All are welcome, and as always classes are free to ALL Abenaki people! We will be focused on the basics, making this "Freezing Current Moon" the perfect moon for all those just starting with the language. Our growing community of language keepers will also be offering online classes throughout the moon with fun activities, including many games and songs perfect for the entire family! Join us no in the vital and transformative language reclamation! Alnôbaôdwada!! Be sure to register now (NEW links for both zoom and canvas will be shared to join classes). Liwlaldamana wijokamina! Please help us share this message and grow our speech community!

Ndakinna Education Center Abenaki Language Remote Learning Classes: Beginner Guide to Abenaki Classes are designed specifically for those with little to no experience in the language. We will intr…

10/11/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/G4LeMyVSebLcquFM/

It’s and our night is on the horizon! This 26th annual evening of traditional indigenous tales of terror is for all ages, and will be October 26th. Link: https://www.ndakinnacenter.org/event/twenty-sixth-annual-scary-story-night/

09/07/2024

08/22/2024

Liwlaldamana nawa!! Mziwi awani wlipaia!!

Join us at the Ndakinna Education Center for our 2024 in person language gathering! While this weekend is open to all, it will be taught by Jesse Bruchac completely in Abenaki, with limited to no o…

06/18/2024

https://avi-writer.com/?p=16674&preview=1&_ppp=c0af0f20f5

There are a number of things about my new, middle grade novel, Rez Dogs that make it different from any book I’ve done before. In fact, before I go any further, I should point out that, even though I am listed as the author, I did not write it.

06/15/2024

🌿 Join us for an inspiring poetry workshop with Saratoga Springs’ first poet laureate, Joseph Bruchac, at Pitney Meadows!

🌱 Register here: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/a1X3Kmd0M7t4Ij8SdfXyDQ

📝 This 16-year-old+ workshop is tailored to accommodate varying levels of literary experience!

🌻 Immerse yourself in the inspiring natural environment of Pitney Meadows and explore various poetic forms, including free verse, haiku, and more. Draw inspiration from the ever-changing seasons and the farm’s breathtaking landscape, and leave with a work of poetry inspired by our land.

💚 This workshop, Explore to Learn: Writing the Land, is supported with funding from the New York State Conservation Partnership Program (NYSCPP) and New York’s Environmental Protection Fund. The NYSCPP is administered by the Land Trust Alliance, in coordination with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

04/22/2024

Kezalma kigawes!
Love your mother!

04/10/2024

Father, daughter, day campers. With daughter Ava Rae and some of this week’s younger wilderness campers. Ava has been in our camps since she could walk, now she is an assistant instructor. Hard to believe she is turning fourteen in July.

01/29/2024

Wizaka! (Hurry!) ... With only two spots left now is the time to apply for a summer of living in the Abenaki language at Middlebury School of Abenaki!

We have not determined our Abenaki community member scholarships yet either (all communities in the US and Canada are eligible for a full scholarship - your only cost is travel and any taxes that may apply to the award), so they are still available and financial aid is available to all.

For those above 30-person capacity, we will add you to our waitlist and accept you if any spots open up.

Each year, we grow stronger due to our incredible growing community of language keepers, and the pledge that your success in language is more attainable than ever.

Apply now using this link and please feel free to add my name as your recommender.

K'namiolbaji nibega! (See you all this summer!)

Find application information and instructions for admission to our immersion programs.

01/27/2024

OSAGE SPIRIT: Thoughts on Killers of the Flower Moon

01/01/2024

Wlipiligaden! Happy New Year!

The January moon is known as "Alamikos" among the Abenaki people of the Northeast. This name is often translated to mean "Greeting Maker." According to my son, Jesse, a fluent speaker and teacher of the western Abenaki l...

12/30/2023

https://joebruchac.com/f/names-for-saratoga-and-the-springs

Article by Margaret M. Bruchac

12/26/2023

Please only click on links shared by us! We are not selling hoodies in the comments. Scammers appear as fast as we can block them.

12/21/2023

Wlinôwipebon ta sigwanwôpka!

Tonight, just past midnight, I walked outside to stand on the front porch. A clear, cold night, the half moon hidden below the trees. The stars, bright beads scattered across the firmament’s dark blanket. And there, in t...

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The Saratoga Native American Festival Returns for 2019

The Saratoga Native American Festival Returns For 2019

in Historic Congress Park

For Immediate Release:

The Ndakinna Education Center—in Cooperation with Saratoga Arts and The Saratoga Peace Fair-- is proud to announce that the Saratoga Native American Festival, which has become one of the major highlights of the start of fall in Saratoga Springs, will take place this year in Historic Congress Park in Saratoga Springs, NY on September 22nd, 2019, from 10 am - 5 pm. Admission to the festival is free, though donations are accepted.

The festival will begin with a traditional Opening Address delivered in Mohawk and English by Tom Sakokwenionkwas Porter, a member of the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs and the spokesman and spiritual leader of the Mohawk community of Kanatsiohareke near Fonda, NY. Porter will also give a Closing Address at the end of the day.

Featured storytellers and musicians, including the Bruchac family, Kay Olan, Perry Ground, Grammy award winning singer Joanne Shenandoah, Brian Blasnchett and others will perform throughout the day between dance programs. Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation will be honored at the event

The dance program for the events includes performances by the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers as well as several Championship pow-dancers. One of the highlights of the day will be the Smoke Dance Competition. Drum groups featured will be Black River Drum, Nulhegan Drum and Old Soul Drum. Our MC and smoke dance singer will once again be Sheldon Sundown.

Over 30 Native American artists and craftspeople, nearly all from the Native American nations of the northeast, will display and sell their own work at the festival. Moccasins, flutes, silver jewelry, wood, bone, stone and antler carving, beadwork, sweetgrass, elm bark and ash splint baskets, herbs, deerskin clothing, drums, pottery, print, white birch furniture and other items will be for sale

Our popular Children’s area—with a wide range of hands-on activities for young people-- will be located downstairs in the Saratoga Arts building.

A wide range of Native American foods will be available for purchase, offered by Iroquois Eatery and Me-Me’s Snack Shack.

We are especially pleased to be able to offer our event in Congress Park. For decades, Congress Park was the site of an annual Native American summer encampment where Iroquois and Abenaki craftspeople sold their handmade wares. The fact that a Native American presence is returning after more than 100 years is truly worthy of note. We are grateful to the Saratoga Springs Department of Public Works for their wonderful support.

Saratoga Arts helped made this program possible with a Community Arts Grant funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature as well as support from Stewarts Shops, The Adirondack Trust Company and others. We would especially like to thank our Gold Sponsor-- Druthers Brewing.

The Ndakinna Education Center, an affiliate of the Greenfield Review Literary Center, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and charitable organization, based at the Marion F. Bowman Bruchac Memorial Nature Preserve in Greenfield Center, New York. The Center offers programs, performances, camps, field trips, and special events focusing on regional Native American understandings, Adirondack culture, martial arts, wilderness skills and awareness of the natural world. For more information: www.saratoganativefestival.com

For further information, call:

Joe Bruchac (518) 584-1728

or (518) 934-1169