#sipayik — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #sipayik, aggregated by home.social.
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In #Maine prisons, #NativeAmerican #SweatLodges are part of the program
A #Passamaquoddy elder has led over 100 sweats for inmates since 2007.Reuben M. Schafir, Posted November 6, 2025
WINDHAM — "When the tarps of the sweat lodge are pulled back, a swirling cloud of steam wafts up toward the bear pelt draped overhead.
"It dissipates before reaching the razor wire that caps the fences around the recreation yard at the #MaineCorrectionalCenter.
"Between rounds in the ceremony, voices from inside command the retrieval of rocks warming in a fire pit a few feet away. Women carefully lift the rocks with shovels over an altar bearing a cedar bough and a turtle shell, and into the lodge.
"As Savannah Smith, 28, crawls out of the roughly 12-foot-wide structure, she grins.
'It’s a lot right now,' she said, her calves dotted with goosebumps as her body readjusts to the cool fall air after two hours inside the lodge.
"Her halting voice and still-glistening eyes give her away: 'I cried at every session we had.'"It’s been nearly 20 years since #IndigenousPeople in Maine’s prisons won the right to practice their religion while incarcerated. Inmates say sweat ceremonies help them stay sober and connect them to their communities. And the state’s corrections commissioner heralds them as a sign of Maine’s #inclusivity and says they are part of a progressive approach to ensuring safety inside prisons and reducing the likelihood of future offenses.
"Since inmates won the right to hold sweat ceremonies, #BrianAltvater has traveled from his Down East home on the #PassamaquoddyReservation at #Sipayik (#PleasantPoint) to facilitate them. He is a #PipeCarrier and a #SweatLodgeKeeper — designations, he explained, that are chosen by the ancestors.
" 'I don’t deserve to be a pipe carrier and do this sort of work,' he told his teacher, David Gehue of #Sipeknekatik, Nova Scotia, when Gehue noticed his potential.
'Deserve’s got nothing to do with it,' Gehue, himself a respected spiritual leader, said. 'Once the ancestors pick you, you don’t have a choice.'" 'Let me think about it,' Altvater said.
"That was several decades ago."
Archived version:
https://archive.md/ImwsD#WabanakiNews #PassamaquoddyNation #IndigenousNews #RightToPracticeReligion
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#Wabanaki Nations, allies celebrate progress in continued fight for #sovereignty
Emma Davis
Fri, July 12, 2024"[The alliance] honored the contributions of #RenaNewell, former #Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative to the state Legislature and former chief of the reservation at #Sipayik, and #BethAhearn, who this year retired as director of government affairs for Maine Conservation Voters, a nonprofit focused on protecting the environment and one of the earliest members of the #WabanakiAlliance.
"Newell, who currently serves as interim associate director of the Wabanaki Alliance, said it is not the work of one individual that brings success but the relationships people have with one another that allow for collective learning and movement forward together.
"During her time in the State House, Newell led efforts to expand Tribal-State coordination, including paving the way for greater sovereignty for the Passamaquoddy two years ago. Newell sponsored legislation that provided tribal members at Sipayik, also known as #PleasantPoint, more power to regulate local #DrinkingWater by, among other means, removing barriers in the #SettlementAct that had prevented the tribe from fully accessing federal funds and remediation resources that were available to other federally recognized tribes."
Read more:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/wabanaki-nations-allies-celebrate-progress-113944863.html#WabanakiConfederacy #WaterIsLife #Maine #NativeAmericans #PassamaquoddyNation
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How to observe #IndigenousPeoplesDay in #Maine
Dan Neumann October 6, 2023
"Tribal members and supporters will rally outside the Maine State House in Augusta on Indigenous People’s Day for #Wabanaki self-determination and transparency around Maine’s #treaty obligations toward tribal nations.
"The rally, organized by the #WabanakiAlliance, a coalition that includes representatives from hundreds of organizations and businesses that support #Wabanaki inherent sovereignty, will start at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 outside the capitol and conclude at 11:30 a.m.
"Participants will be able to make signs and learn more about the 'Yes on 6' campaign ahead of the rally.
"#Question6 on the November ballot asks whether voters support requiring 'that all of the provisions of the Maine Constitution be included in the official printed copies' distributed by the state.
"The tribes are supporting the ballot measure because, since 1876, printed copies of Maine’s Constitution have omitted three sections of the original document, including one pertaining to Maine’s treaty obligations toward the tribes.
"Monday’s Indigenous People’s Day marks a crossroads for the tribes and their allies, after legislation recognizing Wabanaki sovereignty was vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills last summer.
"The law would have amended the jurisdictional arrangement between the tribes and the state that Indigenous leaders have long criticized for leaving the #WabanakiNations with less authority over natural resources, gaming, taxation, criminal justice and economic development on their lands than 570 other federally recognized tribes.
"Celebration at Redbank in South Portland
"Also on Monday, the #SouthPortlandMaine #HumanRights Commission will be hosting an Indigenous People’s Day celebration from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Redbank Community Center, located at 95 MacArthur Circle West in South Portland.
"The celebration will feature speaker Corey Hinton, a citizen of the #Passamaquoddy Tribe at #Sipayik and a lead lawyer on tribal issues in Maine.
"The Cape Elizabeth Rotary will also be serving pancakes and maple syrup sourced from #PassamaquoddyMaple, a company that is '100% tribally owned, with a mission to provide a high-end, small batch, product that will not only sustain our tribal land, but also create jobs for our people.'
"South Portland’s Indigenous People’s Day event is free, family friendly, and open to the public.
"Other events
"The #AbbeMuseum in #BarHarbor is holding a week long series of events through Oct. 9 called “#Indigenous2023 – Celebrating Our Sovereignty“, including #storytelling, a #concert and free museum admission.
"University of Maine, #Farmington [#UMF] is holding events from Oct. 16-19 including a food tasting, storytelling, a film showing and a panel discussion on how to be an ally."
Source:
https://mainebeacon.com/wabanaki-to-rally-on-indigenous-peoples-day-for-self-determination/#IndigenousAlly #GovernmentTransparency #RespectTheTreaties #PenobscotNation #PassamaquoddyNation #Maliseet