Lenape Culture Workshop to be held in Easton on July 12

There will be a Lenape Culture Workshop in Easton next Sunday, July 12, at 3 pm. The Heritage Day program is presented by the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society. Shelley DePaul of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania uses traditional objects to convey Lenape history and lifeways.

(Thanks to the Lehigh Valley Arts Council Calendar, July/August issue, pages 5-6, for the information. The calendar is published six times a year by the Lehigh Valley Arts Council.)

The Lenape workshop will be held on the lawn behind Mixsell Museum, 101-107 S. Fourth Street, Easton. (Rain location: St. John's Lutheran Church Social Hall, 330 Ferry Street, Easton.) Easton is in Northampton County, across the Delaware River from Phillipsburg, New Jersey.)

Donations accepted. Registration required - call 610-253-1222.

Note from Pat:
The Lenni Lenape are a sub-group of Algonquins who lived in this area (Lehigh Valley) before the Europeans arrived. From what I understand, their tribal headquarters is now in Oklahoma. I think that the language is no longer being spoken - I heard that the last native speaker recently died, but I'm not sure of this.

Many place-names in the Lehigh Valley are derived from those given by the Lenape, such as the word "Lehigh". Many of these names describe the physical characteristics of a place (as opposed to naming a place after a person). I read a beautiful poem about Lenape river names, but I don't know who the author is. The last line goes something like this: "Their names are on your waters and ye cannot wash them out."

I do not know anything about this group - Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania. Below are a couple of links to information about them:


http://www.lenapenation.org/main.html

http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/exhibits/FAP/sections.shtml