Members of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation are using traditional methods to make a canoe through wood burning. It’s a centuries-old tradition that visitors are invited to see for themselves.
For the past month, tribe members at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum have participated in the traditional practice of canoe-making. In the morning workers tend to a burning tree log and put out the burn in the afternoon. The vessel is called a Mishooy.
Nakai Clearwater Northup is the head of education at the museum. Northup has led the work on burning the canoe. Located on the farmstead outside the museum, a large tree log is laid horizontally down with coals in the center.
“If you look at the Mishooy there are some edges that are thinner, that were burned more, some that are thicker. We’re really trying to focus the burn in the thicker areas now and make sure everything's uniform,” Northup said.
Northup and his team tended to the fire burning in the canoe.
They prepare hot coals in two separate fire pits located on either side of the log. When the coals are hot, Northup shovels them to place in the center of the log. The small embers slowly burn away at the wood producing large plums of smoke. Northup said this technique is better than creating a fire inside of the boat.
“The fire also heats and boils down the sap which adds an extra layer, like a sealant to keep it waterproofed as well,” Northup said.
At the end of each day, once the fire is cooled, the coals are scooped out. When the burning process is complete, the workers use traditional tools, like Adze or quahog shells, to scrape the inside of the canoe to make sure it's smooth.
"An Adze is kind of like a curved X, like a hoe, a garden hoe that’s curved and sharpened. So it’s meant for carving out wood. It’s commonly used. And the other is just a clamshell that we’re using to scrape out the inside,” Northup said.
The process is a tradition that the tribe has been doing for thousands of years. A resurgence of the tradition came about around eight years ago when Northup took over the event.
“Our people, we have a really close relationship with the water. We believe the water has a spirit. Before we travel on the water, we harvest from the water, we say a prayer for safe passage and a good harvest,” Northup said.
Northup wants to pass on the tradition to the next generation by inviting tribal youth to participate and witness the practice.
“It's awesome to maintain the practice and show our young ones. And just share with the public that we’re still here, we’re still able to do a lot of these awesome things that our ancestors were doing," Northup said. "And passing it onto future generations is what it's all about”
Northup said sharing the tradition is an important part of maintaining the tribe's history. Anyone who visits the museum will also have the opportunity to witness the Mishooy-making process in person.
“Even though we’re doing things from the past and this museum highlights history, we’re still a present and contemporary people. We’re still maintaining these practices and traditions today,” Northup said.
After the canoe is completed, Northup plans to bring it to Long Pond Lake to test it out on the water. Once he knows the canoe is working and safe, members of the tribal community and the public will have the chance to photograph and ride in the boat.
