LYNN — If you drove by Harrington Elementary Thursday, you might’ve heard what sounded like stomping, singing and bright laughter erupting from inside the building. That’s because students received a presentation from Darius Coombs of the Wampanoag Nation.
The third graders at Harrington got the final presentation of the afternoon, and boy, was it a great way to end the school day.
“I’m Wampanoag. My people have been around this area for more than 12,000 years and we’re still here today,” Coombs said. “This is our homeland, all around Massachusetts. We’ve been here for thousands of thousands of years.”
He told the students that this wouldn’t just be a presentation with him speaking, but that the kids would get to dance, learn a Wampanoag song and check out some of the things he had brought with him. However, they first started with learning about history.
“What we call our 13 Moons history for our people. 13 Moons is one year… All around the world people celebrate New Year’s… My people, we celebrate New Year’s when everything comes to life. I want you to think about that, guys. When does everything come to life?” Coombs asked the students.
The answer was spring, and Coombs told the students that last weekend was their celebration where they thanked Mother Earth, told stories, joked around with each other and ate a lot of food.
The speaking portion of the presentation followed a similar path, with Coombs educating the kids on the Wampanoags and how he and his family live. Students eagerly asked questions and jumped to respond to Coombs.
He explained that during the spring and summer months the Wampanoag men go fishing and when asked if anybody had gone fishing in the class hands shot up into the air. So he said, “Tell me some fish you go for.”
One student answered, “I try to catch a big fish.” When he was asked what kind of fish he said, “The biggest fish.” Another student said, “I’m going to catch a whale!”
Another activity that had the students focused and ready to participate was when Coombs taught them how to count in Wampanoag. Coombs would start by saying the number and the students would repeat after him.
He then asked the students what they liked to do, and they quickly agreed that they liked to play. Coombs asked the students if they liked to wrestle and called up a student to come wrestle with him.
Third grader Christian Perez jumped up to join Coombs and showed him how the Wampanoag wrestle.
“First thing he has to do is stretch out… Take your right foot and put it next to my right foot… stretch your legs out and bend your knees. You’re going to hold my hand. What Christian has to do is move me back and forth, and if he moves me back and forth and I lift one of my feet off the ground, I lose,” he said.
The kids were asked to count to three, in Wampanoag, of course, and then the battle began. After a short back-and-forth “tussle,” Coombs stumbled, and Christian was deemed the winner of the match, and his fellow classmates cheered and chanted his name.
The students got another chance to participate when it was time to learn a Wampanoag song. Once again they repeated after Coombs and once the song was learned, it was time to do a traditional stomp dance.
Students joined Coombs as he danced around the classroom in a circle. They followed his every move singing, spinning and laughing out of pure joy and excitement.
Coombs continued his presentation and showed off one of his bows and his quiver, which was made from an otter.
“Do you guys have a good imagination?” Coombs asked. He then pointed to an object in the back of the room, stating that that object was now a deer. “I want you guys to put yourself out in the woods and today we’re going for deer. You have to be very quiet when you’re hunting you don’t want to scare the deer.”
He hushed the students and prepared his bow. “Pull it back. You want to aim for the deer. You don’t want to miss because you’ll scare it. Pull and let it fly,” he said.
Using his hand he pushed the arrow forward leading some students to gasp and Coombs to laugh as he put the arrow down.
In the final portion of the presentation Coombs showed the students bear skin, fox skin, and other animals. He also showed some Wampanoag toys and tools that they use. The class got to touch and feel all of the objects and also take a picture with a wolf skin draped over their shoulders.
At the end students thanked Coombs for coming to their class and got to ask him some final questions before he left.
