The Wabanaki are a confederation of five Algonkian-speaking Northeastern Native nations comprising the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik), Penobscot (Penawapskewi, or 'Eastern Abenaki'), Passamaquoddy (Pestomuhkati), and
Western Abenaki. Their confederacy name, which translates roughly as 'People of the First Light' or 'Dawnland People', alludes to their traditional territory known in historical times as Acadia, embracing parts of eastern Quebec, the Canadian Maritime provinces, and parts of modem-day Maine State, east of the Kennebec River and into Vermont.
One of the greatest challenges was training the actors playing Native Americans to speak
western Abenaki, a dialect of the eastern Algonquin language spoken in the Plymouth region in the 17th century.
In addition to compiling the only
Western Abenaki online dictionary (www.westernabenaki.com), he consults on various projects.
Trigger (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1978), 137-47; Gordon Day, "
Western Abenaki," in Trigger, Northeast, 148-59.
The Wabanaki are a confederation of five Algonkian-speaking Northeastern Native nations comprising the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik), Penobscot (Penawapskewi, or 'Eastern Abenaki'), Passamaquoddy (Pestomuhkati), and
Western Abenaki. Their confederacy name, translating roughly as 'People of the First Light' or 'Dawnland People', alludes to their traditional territory known in historical times as Acadia, embracing parts of eastern Quebec, the Canadian Maritime provinces, and parts of modem-day state of Maine, east of the Kennebec River.
While the Eastern Abenakis of Maine and the
Western Abenaki of Canada are recognized by the state, provincial and national governments, the Abenaki populations residing in New Hampshire and Vermont face a continued struggle for recognition from their respective states and the federal government.
Gordon Day has shown in Tbe Identityoftbe S,9j'nt Fran s ndians, that the principal component of the Saint Francis village during the 1700s was
Western Abenaki Indians, particularly Sokokis, from New Hampshire and Vermont and that no major influx of Eastern Abenaki residents from Maine occurred until the middle 1700s.(6)
The University of Wyoming assistant professor of history has written several books on the topic, including The
Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600--1800: War, Migration, and the Survival of an Indian People.
This edition, as explained by the author, grew out of one of his earlier studies, The
Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800: War, Migration, and the Survival of an Indian People (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990).