Article Title: Storytelling, Rest for the Abenaki

Edition: December 2000
Category: Dining Out
Author: Edie Zfass
Article:

The Abenaki place great importance on the four seasons and their appropriate activities. But winter is the favored time for storytelling. Shorter and colder days drew families around to listen to an elder, and every story had a lesson to teach.

An itinerant storyteller visiting a village was cause for celebration. As historian, the storyteller related news from other villages, tribal history and folklore, important events, myths and legends passed down orally from generation to generation. The Abenaki learned at an early age to listen, because listening was essential to their survival.

Storytelling rules dictated that stories could be told only after the first frost in the fall up until the last frost in the spring. To do otherwise would lure the birds and animals away from building their nests, raising their young over the summer, and getting them ready for winter. Storytelling during summer might make the animals stop and listen, because they, too, would want to hear the stories, neglecting their important work.

The early Abenaki regarded winter as rest time, a time to enjoy the family's company, tell stories and make things in preparation for spring. This was the time that Mother Earth rested, curled up under a blanket of white, deep, cleansing snow and ice for a winter's sleep. They had learned to follow Mother Earth's example, to live in balance with All-Of-Nature and All-That-Is.

Years and their identifying numbers were not important to the Abenaki. No word existed for time. Time was neither measured nor categorized. Ageless oral histories, legends, and stories are difficult to pinpoint in the modern context of history. The cycle-of-seasons were measured by activities and the gifts offered by Mother Earth. Months were simply moons. Abenaki followed the movements of Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Sun, and the Sky Nation's star stories. Distance was measured by "looks" -- the sun/moon's travel. Cycles of time were measured by sunrises and sunsets -- moon phases -- and relationship to the "now".

December is the "Moon of Making Baskets". Alongside other winter crafts important to the Abenaki heritage, such as embroidery, beading and quillwork, sweetgrass gathered in the fall was used to make baskets during this "inside time".

Nakimo is the midwinter give-away feast. A blanket is laid down, upon which people place their give-aways. Someone in the village might need moccasins; an elder might not have anyone to hunt for meat; or a family might not have enough corn to carry through winter. Sometimes a tool, mittens, a decorated tunic, a special stone or feather might be laid down. Whoever needs or wants is welcome to a gift from the blanket. Some

Abenaki communities continue to honor these traditions and celebrate Nikimo or Christmas in this way. Sharing and helping one another reflects the Abenaki belief that true giving is only when you give away something that is part of you.

The Abenaki have inhabited northern New England for at least 10,000 years.

Jeanne A. Brink is the Cultural Awareness Director of the Dawnland Center in Montpelier and served as Project Director for the exhibit, "The Spirit of the Abenaki." A granddaughter of the Obomsawin family of Thompson's Point, Vermont, and Odanak Reserve in Quebec, Canada, she continues the Obomsawin tradition of Abenaki ash splint and sweetgrass basketry. Her work has been exhibited throughout New England and New York. "My grandfather made snowshoes for the mountain troops at Fort Ethan Allan and also made 16 to 18 foot birch bark canoes that sold for $15.00 that took four days to make. But that was in the early 1900s and that was good pay then".

Jeanne was born in Montpelier and lived with her family in Berlin until she married and moved to Barre. "No one in my family has married within the Abenaki tribe. I grew up knowing that I was Abenaki because it was no secret. My grandmother didn't teach her children the Abenaki language, because she wanted them to be assimilated, nor did she teach them basket making. It wasn't until I took courses in college in my forties that I studied Native American basketry and decided that this was part of our heritage and I should keep this going. This is one of the things we do this time of year."

Jeanne's baskets are in the Vermont Historical Society, Boston Children's Museum, and numerous other places.

On the reserve in Canada, in her great grandfather's and grandmothers day, the men in October went hunting and trapping up in the wilderness and didn't return until spring. The women and children remained behind and busied themselves making baskets and doing beadwork. When the men returned from the woods with their furs, the whole family packed up and moved for the summer to an area where they could sell their baskets. Some went to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, some to Lake George and Thousand Islands. Jeanne's family traveled to Thompson's Point, Vermont. Each family had their own territory and, at summer's end, they returned to the reservation.

Abenakis celebrate the Winter Solstice about December 21st and much of the observance revolves around storytelling.

Winter socials gather together the Abenaki people, who are now widely scattered. Pow wows all over New England in spring and summer draw many native people for story telling; to dance, to sing, and to drum.

Everyone brings a dish and there's much sharing of news. Indian corn soup and Indian fried bread are for special occasions. "My basket making teacher, who is now 89, makes the best Indian corn soup and I'm glad to share that recipe".

INDIAN CORN SOUP

2 cups dried corn
1 large soup bone
1 cup dried beans

Wash corn and beans, cover with cold water and soak overnight. Pour off the water in the morning, add soup bone and, if desired, cut small pieces of meat into kettle. Cover mixture with water and bring to a boil. Boil very slowly for 3 to 4 hours, or until corn and beans are soft. Add salt, if desired. Serve with good batch of fried bread.

GHOST BREAD (FRIED BREAD)

Ingredients courtesy of Mrs. William Bennett - Cattaraugus, Seneca
Directions are Jeanne Brink's

2 cups flour
1 heaping teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and make a well in center. Add milk slowly, mixing to a biscuit consistency. Knead a few times on a flour board until mixture sticks together. Pull off pieces of dough, roll in a little flour and flatten slightly. Fry in oil until brown on one side. Turn and brown the other side. Drain on paper towel and eat soon after frying.

I want to express my appreciation to Bea Nelson, of Derby Line, a Native American of Abenaki descent, whose helpfulness in providing information for this article is greatly appreciated.

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