Stories from the Animals @ Institute for American Indian Studies with White Memorial Conservation Center

 Everyone loves a good story. Listening to stories especially those passed down through generations is one of the best ways to connect with each other and the world around us. The Institute for American Indian Studies located on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut in partnership with Litchfield’s White Memorial Conservation Center is presenting a powerful program called “Stories from Animals,” beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 19^th.

Colleen Harrak, White Memorial’s Environmental Educator will join award-winning storyteller, Darlene Kascak, of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and IAIS Educational Outreach Ambassador for an entertaining program that includes stories and live, local woodland animals. The goal of this program is to show participants how to experience Etuaptmumk - a Mi’kmaw saying that translates to “two-eyed seeing.” This idea encourages people to look at the same concept from both Western and Indigenous knowledge.

Oral tradition is an important cultural component in Native American culture because it is the very stories told that keep the knowledge and the traditions alive. “As a storyteller in Native communities, I bear a profound responsibility,” said Darlene Kascak. “I am entrusted with the task of preserving, protecting, and passing down oral stories that are hundreds if not thousands of years old. This role is not a duty it is also a deep-rooted passion that I hold dear. I am driven by the urgency to keep this tradition alive so that future generations can experience the beauty of learning through storytelling,” Kascak added.

The highlight of this program is the combination of several live animal ambassadors brought by the White Memorial Conservation Center and the Native American stories about each of these animals that offer timeless life lessons. The price of participation is $15 for non-members and $5 for members of the Institute. Pre-registration is advised by visiting iaismusueum.org.

 

About the Institute for American Indian Studies

Located on 15 acres of woodland, the IAIS offers educational programs, both permanent and changing exhibits and a replicated 16th-century Algonkian village. Its research department maintains extensive archeological and ethnographic collections and conducts archeological digs and other research. Its “Wigwam Escape” escape room offers an opportunity to solve a puzzle while learning about Indigenous life before European settlement. With a focus on “two-eyed seeing”, visitors can learn about the history of the American continent that incorporates more than12,000-year history of human habitation. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located at 38 Curtis Road, Washington, Connecticut.

Medicinal Monday - Moss Campion

There are more than 12,000 different types of moss that can be found throughout the world.  The oldest moss called Takakia grows high on the Tibetan Plateau and is thought to be over 350 million years old! The moss we are writing about today, Silene acaulis or Moss Campion has been estimated to reach up to 100 years in age, with the oldest known campion moss being 350 years old. Native Americans in the area have found traditional medicinal uses for this helpful plant.

About Silene Acaulis

This round ground-hugging mound of moss is known as a cushion plant. Its leaves are exposed to the elements and the flower buds are hidden between the leaves until they blossom and cover the little mound that resembles a cushion with flowers. It grows in rocky, cold windswept areas above the tree line. It can grow up to 18 " in diameter and two feet high. Under all the leaves is a sturdy taproot and a woody branched base. When this moss flowers pink flowers bloom on little stalks for several weeks in the summer. It is a very slow-growing moss that takes ten years before it blooms for the first side. The flowers are either male or female with more female flowers appearing at higher altitudes.

Photo: Matt Lavin

Medicinal and Culinary Uses

The Eskimos ate the raw root skins as a vegetable. In the Tundra and Arctic regions, Native Americans and First Peoples consumed the roots as a vegetable. The most common medicinal use was to use the plant to treat children with colic.

Photo: Matt Lavin

Did You Know...

This plant is common throughout the northern Arctic and can be found in the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and in the high-mountain areas of North America, Europe, and Russia. 

The U.S. Forest Service has reported studies that have shown that the temperature within a plant cushion can be up to ten degrees centigrade higher than the ambient temperature. 

Other names for this plant are cushion plant, cushion pink, or the compass plant because its flowers first appear on the southside of the plant.

Moss Campion is related to carnations.

The raw roots of this plant were consumed as a vegetable in Iceland and in the Arctic Regions.