News
Siquon - Spring is here! We have updated our website, while gardening and are eagerly awaiting the fall harvest. Have a happy summer & fall!
Lansdowne Tree Day April 25, 2009
Our news is in our web pages & in our free newsletter, so please sign up!
"The
glory of white shadbush blossoms on the cover should be used as an
excuse to pull it out in the spring and share it!"
When the Shadbush Blooms
Season -
Pooxit
(Fall ) Is Coming
Lenape children’s book teaches about the seasons
Carla Messinger, who has spent her adult life
sharing her interest in the Lenni Lenape culture, is happy that her
first book, When the Shadbush Blooms, has been
published—just in time for Pooxit, the time of the falling leaves. The
fully-illustrated, full-color 32-page children’s book
was released to bookstores on Sept. 1, 2007 by publisher Tricycle
Press.
The Lenni Lenape sometimes called the Delaware or
Woodland Indians, were the native people that lived in the region of the
Delaware River Watershed at the time the first Europeans explored and
settled in America.
They lived in villages throughout Eastern
Pennsylvania and farmed, fished and hunted. The Lenape made friends with
the Europeans and sold land to William Penn to help open Pennsylvania to
settlement. Local communities still bear names given by the Lenape:
Catasauqua, Mahoning, Towamensing—to name but a few.
When the Shadbush Blooms,
conceived by Messinger, written in a poetic format by Susan Katz, and
illustrated by David Kanietakeron Fadden, tells a story about two Lenape
girls. One who lived 400 years ago when the Lenape people led a
traditional life barely touched by Europeans. The other lives in
contemporary America. It is a parable of how the Lenape continue to
adapt to a changing world while remaining close to the land and their
culture.
“Lenape life has not really changed in thousands of
years,” explained Messinger. “People today still follow the cycle of the
seasons. The seasons dictate what clothing we wear and the foods we eat.
We are completing the season of corn and entering that of pumpkins.”
The book’s title, When the Shadbush
Blooms, refers to a bush that is widespread in
northeastern Pennsylvania and is more commonly called the serviceberry.
The Lenape gave the name to the bush because it blooms on the shores of
the Delaware River when the shad return to spawn.
In the summer, the shadbush produce up to a quart
of sweet berries that are eaten fresh, assuming the birds don’t get to
them first. In the fall, the shadbush berries are dried. In the winter,
when the snow is on the shadbush, its dried berries are used in cooking.
In the spring, they bear large white flowers. To the Lenape, the
shadbush is symbol of the yearly cycle.
“I am so glad the book is out,” said Messinger. “It
was a very long birthing process.”
But with the book published, her teachings can go
into the library, the classroom, the home, or wherever children are
reading about multicultural heritage—places that she could never get to
in person. “Teachers and parents can use this to supplement a textbook,
which usually have meager information on the Lenape culture or nothing
at all,” she noted.
The book is aimed at the pre-school through
elementary grade schoolers. The type is large enough for a teacher to
read the book upside down while showing the pictures to the children.
The text is brief, colorful and at a five to seven year old child’s
reading level. In the back of the book is a section that provides
supplemental information for teachers and parents.
Creation of the multicultural book was faced with a
multicultural challenge. Messinger is of Lenape heritage. Their
illustrator recommended by the publisher, David Kanietakeron Fadden, is
of Mohawk/Iroquois heritage.
This presented two challenges. First, the Lenape
lost their land to the Iroquois and Proprietors in the Walking Purchase
Treaty of 1837. Since then, there have been ill feelings between the
tribes. Fortunately that didn’t become a problem.
But secondly, as a member of the Mohawk/Iroquois, Fadden was familiar with a different language, set of customs, clothing and type of design. It took many discussions and sketching and re-sketching before they could agree upon final illustrations.
Unlike American children, there was no centralized
school for Lenape children. They learned within their community. They
learned to pick berries from a sister, to make arrows from a
grandfather, and gardening from a neighbor. As far as Lenape education
was concerned,” said Messinger. “It takes a village.”
For more information about the book or Lenape
programs, see www.lenapeprograms.info, email: palenape@enter.net, or
call: 610-434-6819. Copies of the book are available at select local
bookshops and
Oyate.
Sign Up for our free newsletter.
- Our mailing list is not sold or shared.
- You will receive a seasonal newsletter with updates,
activities for children, links, etc.
- By filling out the Sign Up Form your input will help shape the direction of the newsletter!
- Overseas members are welcome!
- You can "Opt-Out" by sending
us an email requesting to be removed from the mailing list.