First Parish Brewster To Host Wampanoag Day

 BREWSTER – On Oct. 4, Lower Cape residents will have a chance to learn firsthand about the culture and history of the Wampanoag indigenous people.

 On that Sunday, the First Parish Brewster Unitarian Universalist Church will devote part of its 10 a.m. service and then four more hours at 1969 Main St. to presentations by Wampanoag leaders, singers and dancers, historians, crafters and nonprofits that support tribal causes. 

 Those nonprofits will include the Native Land Conservancy, the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, and a group representing missing and murdered indigenous women. 

 The event is one in a series of Wampanoag Days at First Parish, whose members have established themselves as active supporters of the roughly 3,000 Wampanoag Tribe members who live on Cape Cod, many in Mashpee. 

 According to Anita Peters, Clan Mother of the Wampanoag Bear Clan and a docent at the Mashpee Wampanoag Museum, First Parish Brewster has gained the Wampanoags’ trust.

 “They’ve always been a group of our true allies, I feel,” said Peters, known as Mother Bear to her clan members.

 On Oct. 4, Wampanoag historian David Weeden will speak and Wampanoag musician Asa Peters will play during the 10 a.m. service. Weeden is expected to be available for questions afterward, organizers said.

 A 30-minute coffee time will follow the service. After that, the schedule calls for a number of Wampanoag to contribute: singers and dancers will perform; artist and activist Robert Peters will display his work; Kitty Hendricks will teach children and adults how to make cornhusk dolls; Ladyslipper Catering will serve Wampanoag food; and Anita Peters will display her detailed handmade model of a pre-colonial Wampanoag village and answer questions about tribal culture and history.

 Organizers also hope Wampanoag crafters will display and market their wares. Tables will be set up outside if weather allows or inside the church’s parish hall if it rains. Some will set up inside regardless, according to organizers, and all will stay until around 3 p.m.

 There is a history of First Parish Brewster supporting the Wampanoag Nation.

 The co-chairs of the parish’s Racial and Indigenous Justice Allies Task Force, David Sutherland and Sue Trask, talked about that background and the Oct. 4 event.

 Trask said it took work for First Parish Brewster to gain the trust of the Wampanoag when the church reached out decades ago. 

 “When we first made contact through our minister at the time, Jim Robinson, the congregation [had] decided how to become allies to the Wampanoag,” Trask said. “Their response when Jim contacted them was, ‘Go back and study your history and come back in a year, and maybe we’ll talk.’ And that was fair. So that’s what happened…I think that’s really the groundwork for what’s happened since.”

 Trask said more than half the First Parish Brewster congregation studied, and the church cleared the hurdle to become an ally. Since then, Trask said, “We supported them in different ways.” 

 For example, parish members have shown up with the Wampanoag at Statehouse action, and in Plymouth on Thanksgiving, where many indigenous people from New England gather for the National Day of Mourning. That is, according to awarenessdays.com, “a time for reflection, solidarity, and truth-telling — a day when Indigenous people and allies honor Native ancestors and acknowledge the ongoing struggles that have shaped their communities since 1620.”

 The parish also supports the Native Land Conservancy and a school that immerses Wampanoag youth in the people’s language and culture. 

 Sutherland said another committee, one devoted to reparations, came up with the idea for large community-wide events for the Wampanoag cause, and in 2022, First Parish Brewster hosted its first.

 “We decided to learn more and brought in speakers and learned more,” Trask said. The Wampanoag Days remain just part of the parish’s efforts.

 “We see this day, while it’s important, it’s just one of what has to be many initiatives to build on the relationships,” Trask said.

 Sutherland sees the Wampanoag Days as a chance to educate both a wider audience and the First Parish Brewster congregation.. 

 “First of all, it’s to expand our own knowledge, and secondly we hope it appeals to the broader community, which in the past it has,” Sutherland said. “We hope it expands the broader community’s knowledge and understanding of the various aspects of the Wampanoag community.”

 Even a brief conversation with Anita Peters provides education about her culture.

 How did she become Mother Bear, a role she has fulfilled for the Bear Clan, one of eight in the Wampanoag society?

 Peters said family background helped her assume the role: Her father was the Bear Clan’s Supreme Medicine Man, and her mother was “adamant about keeping our culture alive.”

 Then clan culture keepers asked her in 1976 to fulfill the role as Clan Mother due to her respect for and knowledge of Wampanoag tradition. Peters described her role: “In every family there is one particular woman they go to with their issues, also their good news. And that usually turns out to be their Clan Mother.” 

 Peters also confirmed the Wampanoag historically are a matriarchal society, as many Native American peoples were, according to NorthAmericanTribes.info.

 But matriarchal does not mean ruled solely by women, as Peters explained — it is more akin to equality.

 “A lot of people interpret that to mean that women were in charge,” she said. “But it was more of a balance. People used to ask my dad about sovereignty. And he goes, our definition of sovereignty is every person is sovereign. It’s not a sovereign nation. Everyone has their own sovereignty.

 “Traditionally it was the Clan Mothers who would choose the male leaders. And the male leaders would deal with people outside the tribe. And the main requirement was the people who gave away the most, took care of the most people…That would be the most important thing. You wouldn’t want any greedy, selfish leaders.”

 Peters was asked how events like those at First Parish Brewster benefit the Wampanoag. Learning is foremost, she said.

 “Because of the education system, I think people have a completely different interpretation of us,” Peters said. “So [it’s] the understanding and willingness to find out. I’m very proud of our culture, and I’m happy to share.”

 What does First Parish Brewster’s support for the Wampanoag mean to Peters?

 “It makes me hopeful that there are good people still,” she said.