Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music & Dance is held in what is now called Maine, the homeland of the people from four tribes—Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot—collectively known as the Wabanaki or “People of the Dawnland.”

As we collaborate and celebrate through music and dance, we are grateful to be here, and acknowledge that we are doing so on the ancestral and unceded territory of the sovereign Wabanaki people that call this land home. We reaffirm our commitment and responsibility to improving relationships between nations and to improving our own understanding of local Indigenous peoples and their cultures.

Some actions we can take as we commit to uplifting and supporting First Nations peoples are:

1) work to listen and bring Native voices to the forefront of land and sovereignty conversations.

2) donate to Indigenous-led advocacy organizations. Here are two Maine/Wabanaki groups we have been learning from: Wabanaki REACH | Nibezun.

3) commit to continual learning about the history of and present-day issues faced by Indigenous communities and individuals.

Please take a moment to join us in reflecting and acknowledging the harms and mistakes of the past, and to consider how we are and can each, in our own way, try to move forward in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.  As you prepare to join us at Acadia Trad, you might enjoy reading this article about the importance of considering whose land we are traveling on.