Land Acknowledgement

Written by Belinda Eriacho, Native American Engagement Coordinator

The SoundMind Center acknowledges that the land this Center has stood upon since 2019 is on Lenapehoking[1], the Lenni-Lenape ancestral lands.  Lenape (pronounced Le-NAH-pay) translates to “men of men” or “the common People”.  The Lenape are the original people of Delaware, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Southern New York. 

The Lenape are made up of three groups.  In the north were the Munsee, “the people of the Stoney country.” In the central Philadelphia were the Unami, or the “people down river.”  South of Unami were the Unalactgio (also known as the Nanticokes), or the “people near the ocean.  Besides the three territorial groups there were three dialects that comprised the Lenni Lenapes, there were three maternal clans, including the Turtle, Wolf, and Turkey. The Turtle clan was the most important and usually the sachem, or chief was from this clan.  Tammanend, the head sachem instrumental in the peace treaty with William Penn in 1682.[2]

Lenape Creation Story

Once upon a time, there was no earth, only a vast realm of water below and sky above. The first people lived above the sky, for they could not live on water. One day, the sky opened up and through the hole fell a beautiful young woman and a tree. Two swans swam over to her, gently lifted her onto their backs, and took her to the Great Turtle. Turtle called all animals to a council, and when they gathered in a circle, he told them of the Woman Fallen from the Sky, and the tree with earth on its roots. He commanded them to bring up the tree from the water, and plant it on his great back, so that the woman could live there. After two unsuccessful attempts by Otter and Beaver to retrieve the tree, Muskrat dove down and stayed down for a very long time. When he surfaced, he came up with the tree and a mouthful of earth, which he spit out onto Turtle’s back. There the tree grew, bending down one of its branches to root in the earth, and from this branch sprang the first man who together with the woman would bring forth future generations of people on Turtle Island.

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For more information:

Nanticoke and Lenape Confederation:  https://nanticokelenapemuseum.org

[1] McCully, Betsy. The Lenapes: The First New Yorkers:  Land of the Lenapes, August, 2021.  Website:  https://www.newyorknature.us/lenapes/

[2] Penn Treaty Museum.  Introduction to the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Indians.  Website:  http://www.penntreatymuseum.org/history-2/