The Mohegan Tribe will host its Wigwam Festival on Saturday as a celebration open to the public for the first time since the pandemic. The celebration represents the completion of the corn harvest.
The term “Wigwam" comes from the Mohegan word “Wigwomun,” meaning "welcome.” The celebration represents a welcoming and homecoming to their tribal lands. Also known as the Green Corn Festival, it's been celebrated at the end of summer for centuries.
The Wigwam Festival will take place on Saturday, Aug. 19 and Sunday, Aug. 20 at Fort Shantok in Montville, Connecticut.
WSHU's Jeniece Roman spoke with U.S. Treasurer and Mohegan Chief Lynn Malerba about what guests can expect in the upcoming celebration.
WSHU: What exactly is the Wigwam Festival and the significance of the festival for the tribe?
LM: The Wigwam Festival is very important to us. It's a way for us to celebrate our culture. It's a way for us to honor our ancestors who continue to follow in those very traditional ways. And it is also a way for us to invite our community and to learn more about our native culture. And to celebrate with us.
It typically was a harvest festival and it was a way for us to give thanks to the creator for all of the good things that we had experienced. Additionally, we always invited our neighbors in to come and share our culture with us and to enjoy some of our native crafts and our native foods. And to understand a little bit more about what it meant to be Indigenous in Connecticut and to be living in a community that has both Natives and non-Natives in it.
WSHU: Will this be the the first festival since the pandemic, or at least the first one open to the public since then?
LM: It is. We had two smaller Wigwam Festivals. One last year, we opened it to our Indigenous neighbors only and not the public. And the year prior, it was really just open to our Mohegan people. And so we call it a gathering of the wolf people. And so this is the first year that we are back full on, inviting all of the public in to come, share and celebrate with us. So we're very excited about that.
WSHU: What are some things that non-Native attendees of the festival should know in terms of how they should behave and what to expect?
LM: Well, of course, we always expect everyone to be respectful when they're on our traditional homelands. And having it held at Fort Shantok is especially important to us because it is our very traditional lands that have never been disturbed. It also is right next to our burial grounds. So number one, we don't allow anyone to go into our burial grounds during the festival. Number two, we always remind people that what we're wearing is considered traditional regalia. It's not a costume. And so typically, we would ask people not to touch it unless they asked for permission. And to call it regalia rather than a costume because it's not a costume to us. It is really traditional wear.
But other than that we really think that, just kind of view the proceedings with respect and understand that as people are dancing, as people are singing as people are drumming, that's really a form of spirituality. And so we ask people to be very respectful of that. As we do grand entry, we ask everyone to stand, we ask everyone to stand when we offer a blessing to all of the people that are in attendance, and then just to enjoy the rest of the day.
So there will be a lot of drumming, there'll be a lot of dancing. There'll be dance competitions. Which is a lot of fun, because people really are very talented at dancing and drumming. But there will also be traditional Native food vendors there as well as other vendors who are traditional indigenous craftsmen. So you'll see basketmakers and bead beaders and wampum makers, and you'll see folks with deerskin and furs on site as well. And you know, we encourage everyone to go visit the vendors, because they travel from typically from wigwam to wigwam or powwow to powwow. And that is a source of income for them. But it really is very highly skilled artisans that are there to sell their wares.
WSHU: Why do you believe it is important to also bring in members of the general public?
LM: Well, because it's a very long-standing tradition for Mohegan. As you know, we have a museum in Mohegan that is the oldest Indian-owned and run Museum in the United States. And the goal of that museum was not just to educate our own tribal people on our history, but it was to educate our community as well. Gladys Tantequigen, her brother and her father founded that museum. And one of the famous quotes that is attributed to that is, 'You can't hate someone you know a lot about.' And so as we share our culture, when we share our history is the shared history of Connecticut at this point in time.
We want to make sure that everyone understands what our place in history is, and how Mohegan and other indigenous nations within the state have existed long before it was formally a state of Connecticut. It was, you know, when the colony of Connecticut was forming, and long before that. So it's a way for people to just kind of understand the roots and the Indigenous roots of our Connecticut that we share now.
WSHU: What is something that you personally are looking forward to?
LM: Well, I think the festival is a very joyous event. It's a time when not only our own Mohegan people maybe who live far away will come back and celebrate and reconnect with their family. But it's a way for us to also reconnect with other tribal nations throughout New England and also throughout the rest of the United States who will come and travel and visit with us.
So it is very joyous. It's a way to greet old friends. It's a way to make new friends and it's just a true celebration of who we are. I love every minute of it. And I'm very excited because both my daughters will be home and they're bringing their husbands and their children and they'll be all dancing in the circle with me. So it really is a family moment, and it's one that we look forward to each year.
