Three hundred and ninety-four years after the city’s incorporation, Salem officials have designated the second Monday in October each year as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
In honor of the inaugural holiday, visitors to the Witch City this weekend are encouraged to participate in a number of educational programs being held throughout Salem that recognize the contributions of Indigenous peoples to the community.
“Here in Salem, we are taking the first steps in better recognizing the too-long obscured history of the Indigenous peoples who lived on this land for centuries before Europeans first arrived,” said Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll.
To help educate residents and visitors about the city’s lesser-known history, Elizabeth Peterson, Director of Salem Witch House and Pioneer Village, put together an event with the partnership of Elizabeth Solomon of the Massachusetts Tribe at Ponkapoag.
On Monday, Solomon will share a land acknowledgement reading and greetings from the Tribe, and Annawon Weeden of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Nation will speak about the history of the Mashpee Wampanoag and the cultural influences, contributions, and legacy of the Northeast Woodlands nations.
“It’s been a very long process of connecting, and hopefully developing, a relationship that will be very long lived,” Peterson said. “We’re always looking for more and more ways to raise awareness, as well as more ways to make this community familiar with (its) history and share that information.”
Pioneer Village is also inviting members of the community to participate in the Naumkeag Circle community art project throughout the month of October as a way to celebrate the legacy and history of the Indigenous peoples of Salem.
Visitors are encouraged to bring a stone to the village and add it to the circle near the Naumkeag exhibit site, Peterson said. Stones should be palm-sized and can be plain, decorated, or written on with messages for members of the Indigenous community.
Once completed, the Naumkeag Circle will be used to share stories and performances from the local Indigenous community and from cultures around the world.
“We were trying to think of a way that this community, particularly our younger generations, could be mindful of this history and start a dialogue,” Solomon said. “I thought a stone was simple, but very powerful. The process of selecting it, bringing it down, and placing it, allowed for almost a meditative space to think these things through.”
Other Indigenous Peoples’ Day events this weekend include Honor the Land city cleanups on Saturday, hosted by Keep Salem Beautiful at 8:30 a.m., and the Salem Beautification Committee at noon.
The Peabody Essex Museum is also hosting its own series of virtual events Monday, including a Virtual Harvest Season Makers Workshop at 11 a.m., and a conversation on Instagram Live at 4 p.m. between Heather Fleming, Executive Director of Change Labs, and Jennifer Himmelreich, PEM’s Native American Fellowship Program Manager, during which the two will discuss the vision of Change Labs and how it’s helping the Navajo and Hopi Nations by providing Indigenous-based resources and solutions.
In addition, Salem’s Public Art Commission is developing plans for installations commemorating the Indigenous peoples of Naumkeag, and the city’s new Race Equity Task Force is helping officials identify actions the community can take to more equitably approach city services, education, health, and public safety when it comes to Salem’s Black and Indigenous residents.
“As we prepare for Salem 400 — our city’s quadricentennial in 2026 — a key theme will be a focus on the years preceding the European arrival on these shores,” Driscoll said. “This is all part of a long overdue process of recognizing, acknowledging, and celebrating the contributions and culture of the people who lived and passed through Naumkeag for millennia before 1626.”
Solomon and Weeden’s presentations will be broadcast on Salem Access TV and will be available online at www.thewitchhouse.org and www.pioneervillagesalem.org. Pioneer Village is open to the public between noon and 5 p.m. seven days a week throughout October. Visitors are asked to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing of at least six feet.
