UU minister Rev. Danielle Di Bona shares her experience of learning about her indigenous heritage.

When I was young, maybe your age, I learned a family secret. I learned that I was one-half Indian….Wampanoag Indian. Wow! What a surprise. I had thought I was Italian. My father had been born in Italy and we didn’t live on a reservation! But on that day I learned that I was bi-racial.

I wonder if you know what “Wampanoag” means. We are the people of the sun, or the people of the east. In these tribal names we become grounded to our place, and that is very important to native people.

Would you like to know how to pronounce Wampanoag? The first syllable is “Wamp.” The second is “ah” and the next is “no.” The last one is the hardest. It is “ohg.”

As I got older I learned a lot about my mother’s people, their history as well as their culture today. For example, I learned that the Wampanoag had greeted the Pilgrims and taught them how to fish and to plant corn.

As an adult I became more active in Indigenous life, participating in pow-wows and learning how to cook native food. Many people think that all the Indigenous people are no longer on the land.

Many people think that we lived in the past. But…here we are. As you can see by the picture, we are just regular people doing regular things in regular clothing. We only wear our regalia for pow wow and other important events.

A long time ago many indigenous people were forced off their land. Many of my people died from war and disease. But we are a vital people now, and one thing that we want you to know is about Thanksgiving. Yes, there was a great feast, but it wasn’t called Thanksgiving. The first real Thanksgiving was called for by the colonial governor of the settlement after the Indigenous people were no longer on the land. It was a time to thank God that there were no more Wampanoags around.

Columbus Day is another holiday that feels strange to Indigenous people. Many native people are urging their state governments to change the name to Indigenous Peoples Day, to honor the people who were lost so many years ago and to celebrate our strength. What do you think of that?

Discussion Questions

• Who were Indigenous people who used here? Where are their descendants?
• What place names near us have a Native American origin?

Additional Activities

Download the Winter 2019 UUWorld Families Pages (pdf) for more activities.

Originally published in the "Families Weave a Tapestry of Faith" insert in the Winter 2019 Issue of The UUWorld.