Encoded within Wabanaki traditional languages are our cosmologies. Niweskok, in the Penobscot language, translates to “dried seeds for planting,” as well as “essence of life” and “spirit.” Wabanaki cosmologies embed us in broad kinship networks that illuminate our interconnections, extending from the stars to the seeds. Collectively, we dreamt Niweskokinto existence, and with this emergence has come clarity on pαkatəkkʷéwehla—our echo, our impact into the future—which we have a responsibility to nurture.

 

As Wabanaki food providers, herbalists, and birth workers, we enact our responsibilities to our traditional matriarchies and to the generations ahead, while remaining grounded in the wisdom of our ancestors. We contribute to restoring matriarchies by centering nurturing in all our decision-making. Niweskok embodies the transformative power that comes from moving away from extractive practices that exert power over the land and our relatives (the animals, plants, water, and people), toward the balance that arises when we once again acknowledge the Earth as our first teacher.