Indigenous Immersion
Experience Akwesasne With Those Who Know it Best
You don’t need to go far to experience the thriving indigenous culture of the land you’re living on. If you’re willing to give pronouncing Akwesasne a try (Agua-SAUCE-nay), you’re a wanted guest at the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, part of which lies in Akwesasne, New York.
Akwesasne’s official destination marketing and management organization, Akwesasne Travel, offers seasonal tours that engage visitors with the community’s artists, businesses and nature.
“Do — that’s the idea of it,” said Randi Barreiro, marketing specialist for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Office of Economic Development. “You’re not sitting in a classroom doing a lecture. You’re getting to know the people you’re doing it with.”
The name Akwesasne translates to “Land Where the Partridge Drums,” and the best time to take in the area’s natural beauty at the intersection of the St. Lawrence, Raquette and St. Regis rivers is in the warmer months.
HISTORY BEYOND TEXTBOOKS
A tour of the Akwesasne Cultural Center Museum usually lasts a bit over an hour. However, the collection holds so much history that guides can spend that much time in just one room, Cultural Manager Justin Cree said. There is also the option of a self-guided tour.
The museum was founded at about the same time as the library on its other side, in 1971, and was remodeled in 2019. With illustrations by local artists and artifacts both sourced from the community and repatriated, the museum tells the history of the Kanien’keha:ka — a Mohawk term for self-identification that means “people of the flint.”
History begins with the Kanien’keha:ka story of creation, moves through times before contact with European settlers and arrives at contemporary times. The museum features Kanien’keha:ka pottery, basketry, lacrosse sticks, clothing, accessories and beadwork — arts that are still alive today. Many artifacts are displayed in mobile cases with casters, inspired by traditional Kanien’keha:ka baskets — a perfect fit for the museum, Cree said.
The museum’s other cultural manager, Marla Jacobs, is working on the most efficient way to organize its collection, as many issues that the artifacts represent, such as suppression of Kanien’keha:ka culture, are still relevant to the community today. For Cree, the work he does at the museum represents a personal decades-long journey of relearning Kanien’keha:ka culture and language for himself as someone who didn’t grow up on the reservation.
The museum’s most prized artifact is the Akwesasne Wolf Belt symbolizing a treaty between the Seven Nations of Canada and George I of England. Mohawk historian, author and artist Darren Bonaparte wrote on his website Wampum Chronicles that the belt dates back to between the 1760s and the 1780s, but the relic of the community didn’t return to Akwesasne until 2010.
“Our little museum has really come very far,” Cree said.
The museum is located on 321 State Route 37. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
NATURAL MEDICINE
Sateiokwen Bucktooth, traditional ecological knowledge consultant for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Environment Division, learned the art of herbal remedies during a four-year apprenticeship with the Akwesasne Cultural Restoration Program. At first, she made remedies based on community members’ requests, but she started her own small business, Snipe Clan Botanicals, in 2018.
Bucktooth’s products range from salves and balms to teas and tonics. Bucktooth’s biggest hit is her “Immuni-tea” blend with red clover, elderberry, echinacea, yarrow, mullein leaf and nettle that supports the immune and respiratory systems.
Another is her “Fire Cider” tonic made with apple cider vinegar, garlic, jalapeno, ginger, turmeric, horseradish and lemon — a spicy concoction that serves as a remedy for colds, congestion and digestion. Bucktooth grows or forages most of the ingredients. Her favorite part about her business is being in her garden and continuing to learn about how plants grow.
The Snipe Clan Botanicals shop on 480 State Route 37 is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday or by appointment. Snipe Clan Botanicals products can also be found in other local stores, such as Lotus + Sage Holistics, Niio Perkins Design and Smoker’s Hideaway. Akwesasne’s businesses frequently uplift and display each other’s goods.
Bucktooth is also offering tours around her medicine garden complete with a tea tasting, allowing visitors to connect with local nature and vegetation. To engage children, Bucktooth offers a plant scavenger hunt. The purpose is for visitors to understand what plants look like in their natural, unprocessed state: They observe how Bucktooth identifies, harvests and processes plants to extract their medicinal qualities.
Tours with Bucktooth start at $99 per person in groups from three to 10 people. Book on Akwesasne Travel’s website: akwesasne.travel/plant-medicines-gifts-from-the-land/.
FIRE LOOM CREATIONS
Kelly Back, founder of Fire Loom Creations, shares her knowledge of weaving belts with beads by hosting workshops. Back’s belts are similar in style to wampums, but usually hold a personal significance to the wearer, such as their tribe symbol, birth month flowers or meaningful colors.
“It’s a really emotional connection that [customers] get when they receive [the belt], and I get more out of that than payment,” Back said. “Knowing that you made something really good for that person, something of value, memory, cultural [value] — that’s really big for me. That, to me, is medicine. I love doing this work. I do this every day.”
The two-and-a-half-hour workshops are based at her home, and participants get to leave with a bead bracelet of their own design. Workshops start at $99 per person and are available for groups from two to 10 people. Book on Akwesasne Travel’s website: akwesasne.travel/fire-loom/.
Back is self-taught with a long-lasting relationship with art. Back engaged in a variety of crafts growing up, always preferring to learn hands-on rather than from instruction. During her studies at Trent University in Canada, she participated in crafts workshops aimed at helping students de-stress. Back introduced activities such as bracelet weaving and loomwork, never suspecting they would become her business.
Back made her first beaded belt for her and her husband’s wedding ceremony in 2014 — traditionally, the bride handcrafts a garment for the groom to wear. Since then, she has created more than 160 belts. She also engages her family in the craft. Her husband makes the leather bases and ties for the belts and her children like to help her bead lines.
Back doesn’t have any belts in inventory — all are custom-made to order. Museums and businesses in neighboring communities, such as Cornwall, Ontario, commission belts from Back to symbolize their friendship with Akwesasne.
For every 50 belts that Back makes, she hosts a raffle on her social media. The winner gets a free custom-made bead belt and half of the proceeds from raffle tickets go to a charity in Akwesasne.
Back’s dream is to someday weave a belt for a celebrity with a Native background like Jason Momoa, who is of Native Hawaiian and Pawnee ancestry.
Follow Beck on Instagram and Facebook at @fireloomcreations or email her at kellyjeanback@gmail.com.
THE BEAR’S DEN
To enjoy Mohawk cuisine, stop by the Bear’s Den, family-owned since 1953. Bear’s Den’s menu offers a selection of diner food as well as Mohawk dishes such as white corn soup and fried bread. The restaurant welcomes visitors from New York, Ontario and Québec.
The Bear’s Den is located at 425 State Route 37. The restaurant is based at a tax-free gas station and next door to Tim Hortons and the Native Gift Shop.
OTHER THINGS TO DO
Schedule these and other tours with Akwesasne Travel through their website at akwesasne.travel/contact, by email at info@akwesasne.travel or by phone at 518-358-4238.
Akwesasne also hosts events such as its annual art show in July, annual ironworker festival, lacrosse games and powwows.
Akwesasne Travel suggests that visitors bring cash, which ensures money stays in the reservation and goes entirely to the vendor while guaranteeing customers the lowest price.
