Munsee

In 2019, my adult child, River, and I visited our Lenape tribal homeland together for the first time. We are enrolled citizens of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and descendants of the Delaware Nation of Oklahoma, one of three Lenape bands in the United States. Our Lenape ancestors and people were forced from our Eastern Woodlands homelands over two centuries ago and pushed halfway across the continent to Oklahoma, where my father was born. Like many Lenape’ok (Lenape people), we’d never had the opportunity to lay eyes on the homeland that holds the spirits of our ancestors, and the plant and animal nations that nourished our Lenape family for countless millennia.

Our Indigenous homelands are a central part of our identities and cultures. Epigenetic research shows that our relationships with our homeland ecologies are literally part of our DNA, as is the trauma of our separation from them. Living disconnected from our homelands feels like someone carved an empty space where an integral part of my existence used to be. This has affected every aspect of my life, including my artistic and storytelling practice.

The following words and images are memories from four trips to visit Lënapehòkink, our homeland. Having finally reconnected that dangling thread to its source, I feel as if I can start weaving back together some of what has unraveled within my family. I was finally able to begin to understand what it means to be remembered by the land as a Lenape person. My memories of the land are now part of the land, like the memories of my ancestors before me.

Nem kitahikàn ènta ika a…

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Editor’s note: The below “State We’re In” dispatch from Alison Mitchell, co-executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, relates to several recurring themes in the pages of U.S. 1.

One is the notion of ancient rituals, which Dan Aubrey explores as part of his foray into Morris dancing in this issue’s story. The other is the Delaware River, whose environs and many bridge crossings have been the subject of many stories, including several in the August 3 issue.

The mighty Delaware River flows for 330 miles, from its source in the Catskill Mountains of New York to its mouth in the Delaware Bay between New Jersey and Delaware. It provides drinking water for 13 million people, abundant scenic beauty, a corridor for trade and commerce, and habitat for diverse wildlife.

Many people love the Delaware, but perhaps none more than the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, the descendants of the original people who lived along the river for thousands of years before European settlement.

“The river is very sacred to us; we say it’s our lifeblood,” said Barbara Bluejay, secretary of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, which draws members from all four states along the river and beyond.

Every four years, the Lenape Nation celebrates its ancestral lands and seeks peace and healing through a unique tradition: a month-long canoe paddle down the Delaware, with stops along the way for public signings of a ceremonial friendship treaty.

This year’s “Rising Nation River Journey” began on July 20 in Hancock, N.Y., on the upper Delaware, and will wrap up on August 20 in Cape May. Treaty signings are scheduled in 10 locations, including Milford, Frenchtown, Lambertville and West Cape May in New Jersey.

Alison Mitchell is co-executive director of the NJ Conservation Foundation.

The river paddle emphasizes…

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Turkey A National Men’s Volleyball Team, 2023 CEV European Volleyball Championship Qualification in his last game, at home AzerbaijanHe made his mark in the European Championship finals by beating . Nationals will compete in the European Championship for the 9th time in a row.

NOTES FROM THE MATCH:

LIVING ROOM: Burhan Felek Vestel
REFEREES: Sinisa Ovuka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Vladimir Simonovic (Switzerland)
TURKEY: Mirza, Bedirhan, TextBurak, Faik SamedLion, Berkay (L) Volcano (L) (Arda, kaanAhmet)
AZERBAIJAN: Gurskii, Aghazade, Baranov, Melnikov, Bayramov, Mammadov, Abdullayev (L), Allahverdiyev (L) (Hasanli, Suleymanov, Bunyatov, Vasilenko)
SETS: 25-15, 25-16, 25-19
DURATION: 63 minutes (20′ 20′ 23′)

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