Maliseets unveil special ceremonial land
HOULTON, Maine — When Amy Joseph, a member of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, first held a ceremonial fast on a small piece of tribal land back in 2012, she “fell in love” with the area.
Motivated by the spiritual connection to the land, she gathered her nephew to help her clean up the site on the Bell Road in Littleton. He helped her keep it mowed and maintained, and in 2013 more tribal women joined her in another spiritual fast. That started a movement that led to other ceremonies that have included members from tribes in Fredericton and Tobique First Nation, Canada, which led to the spot officially being designated as sacred land that will be set aside for special ceremonies for tribal members.
The grounds were officially designated and unveiled during an event on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015.
“It will be great to have this land set aside for fastings, pipe ceremonies, weddings and more,” said Joseph, who works as a fitness room attendant at the Maliseet Gymnasium. “There is a lot of support for this.”
The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, which became a federally recognized tribe in 1980, now has more than 869 members, with approximately 462 members living on or near tribal land in Houlton. There are currently approximately 854 acres held in trust by the United States on behalf of the Maliseets, according to figures provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Joseph said Tuesday that when Maliseets do ceremonial fasts, they fast and pray with a purpose in mind, offering tobacco to the spirits before they do so. Joseph said that her past fasts have been for the Maliseet community as a whole, or in hopes of bringing a sweat lodge to tribal land.
Joseph said that one of her personal goals is to build a sweat lodge on the patch of ceremonial ground on the Bell Road.
“It would be wonderful to have a sweat lodge there,” she said. “A sweat lodge is something that we don’t have, and now that we have our ceremonial land, that will be our next goal.”
Joseph said that the land on the Bell Road is not a barren space but a place to contemplate. She has created a bench out of a donated slab of cedar wood and placed it on the plot for that purpose.
“It is there so that people can sit and reflect and listen to the sound of the nearby water,” she said. “It is a really peaceful place, a special place to reflect. It is a nice addition to our tribal land.”
