Native Americans aver ‘We are still here’

Honoring the indigenous people of the Catskills and the nation

By Rebecca Gashinsky | Manor Ink

Because November is National American Heritage Month, Manor Ink interviewed Sullivan County Historian John Conway and Tyrone “Dancing Wolf” Ellis, a Wolf Clan member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, to learn more about the original caretakers of the beautiful land in Sullivan County. The Mohican, Haudenosaunee and Munsee Lenape people all have Native roots here, but for this article, the Ink focused primarily on the culture of the Lenape people.

The Lenape, a Native American tribe whose name loosely translates as “The People,” are the first known inhabitants of the Delaware River Valley. The Lenape are a prime example of living alongside nature in balance. It is integral to their beliefs that the tribe never take more than is needed to survive from the land, an ethos that set the stage for the preservation of the Delaware Valley forests that Sullivan County residents enjoy today, according to John Conway.

Later this month, most of us will celebrate Thanksgiving. Native Americans, however, take a different view, commemorating the holiday as a Day of Mourning. Tyrone “Dancing Wolf” Ellis, a member of various tribal committees, explained that the Day of Mourning consists of a feast where tribe members bring items that were important to their ancestors and honor them. They have a sacred circle composed of cedar trees where the tribe holds their traditional ceremonies, during the Feast of the Dead.

“They’re planted in honor of somebody who has passed on,” Ellis said of the cedars.“So that’s when we bring these items together, and we speak of these people that have passed on, and we plant a tree in their honor. Those trees make up the barriers of that circle. And that cedar is what we use most times for the ceremonies that happen within that circle when it comes to mourning.” Honoring their dead by planting cedar trees further shows the Lenape peoples’ strong connection to their land.

“I think we can pay homage to these exceptional people by emulating their regard for nature and the environment,” said Conway. “That is something that isn’t at all impractical, or beyond our capabilities, and would have a huge impact on the world in which we live.” By respecting their virtues and holding nature in a similar regard as they do, we can honor them and their culture in yet another way.

“They did have a reverence for nature and looked to avoid exploiting it beyond what was required for their own survival,” Conway said. “It was all about balance with them, and I think that is an incredible lesson for those of us living today.”

For Ellis, though he appreciates the conversation inspired by National American Heritage Month, he wishes that awareness of Native people could be raised all year round. One way we can respect them, he said, is by acknowledging their presence today.

“Speak of us in the present tense, because we are still here. We never left,” Ellis said.