The Spirit of LENAPEHOKING in Nay Aug
Reconnecting to Lenape Culture & Horticulture
in the Ancestral Homeland
Nay Aug Park, where The Greenhouse Project sits above The Roaring Brook gorge, was once part of a much larger territory called LENAPEHOKING – which was simply the homeland of the Lenape People.
We have had the great pleasure of working in partnership with the University of Scranton and The Lenape Center to reflect upon this area’s heritage and its living history – exploring it through the Culture and the Horticulture of Lenape ancestors.
The information that follows was shared by Curtis Zunigha, Co-Director of The Lenape Center – for educational purposes. It is publicly available not only on this page, but also on interpretive signage at The Greenhouse Project, and in print to share as you see fit.
Thank you to Julie Schumacher Cohen of the University of Scranton for her invaluable contributions. Thank you, also, to The Lackawanna Heritage Valley for their support – without which we could not have taken this next step in reconnecting with Lenape people and Lenape ancestral knowledge here in the heart of Lenapehoking.
The Seeds Have A Memory
The Seeds Have a Spirit
When the seeds of the ancestors are rematriated back into Mother Earth, they have a memory that connects deep beneath the soil. They have an ancestral knowledge – about caring for one another.
The Lenape have a viewpoint – we don’t own anything. We build familial relationships with all of creation, from the mountains to the water to the animals to the plants…all the way down to seeds. By offering our spirit and connecting with the spirit of the soil, the water, the air, we receive their lessons on how to take care of one another. When we put our fingers into the soil and connect with the spirit of the land, we open up our spirit to give the best that we can to these foods – so that they might come up to be healthy, nutritious, living, spiritual blessings.
Nature and Mother Earth are our teachers. From their ancient knowledge and wisdom, the Lenape learned how to take plants and seeds from the wild to create gardens for sustenance. In Lenape culture, it is the women who tend the garden because they possess a nurturing trait. The women became keepers of the seeds. This cultural connection is the heart of seed rematriation. Seeds are so much more than just commodities. The seeds have a living spirit and represent our ancestral pathways uniting them with the hands and lands that hold them.
Likewise the soil, the waters, and the air are spiritual relations. Lenape ancestors learned to achieve a harmonious balance of these relations – conducting ceremonies, offering medicines, prayers, and songs. Like them, we dance in honor of the plants, the rains, the sun, and the phases of the moon. And when the gift of an abundant harvest brings sustenance to our lives, we still hold the tradition of giving great thanksgiving ceremonies, sharing the spirit for continuous existence.
Curtis Zunigha is an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma. With thirty-five years of experience in tribal government & administration, community development, telecommunications, and cultural preservation, he is a specialist in Delaware/Lenape culture, language, and traditional practices. Curtis Zunigha is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
Mr. Zunigha is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Lenape Center based in Manhattan NY, which has a mission of continuing Lenapehoking, the original homeland in NY, NJ, and PA, through community, culture, and the arts. As Director of Agriculture for Lenape Center, he has initiated a Lenape Seed Garden Project in his home community of Delaware Tribe in Oklahoma. The project will grow ancestral varieties of corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, gourds, and tobacco.
Above: Curtis Zunigha of Lenape Center leads a public program about Lenape Culture & Horticulture at The Greenhouse Project in Scranton PA on June 9, 2024.
Below: Zunigha rematriating ancestral seeds at The Lenape Seed Garden at The Hudson Valley Farm Hub in NY.
LENAPEHOKING:
LENAPE HOMELAND
Long before Europeans traveled to this land, the Indigenous people known as Lenape lived here. This centuries-old homeland was called Lenapehoking. Stretching from the Catskill Mountains of New York south through Pennsylvania to the Delaware Bay, it included what is now New York City, Philadelphia, Scranton and the Lackawanna River watershed.
The Lenape are a deeply spiritual people with a belief in a Creator (Kishelemukong) and a firm conviction that everything in creation has a spirit. Nature should always be given thanks, gifted with ceremonial blessings, and asked permission before taking from it. Lenape live to care for Mother Earth and all spiritual relations in return for life’s abundance that takes care of them. Lenape lifeways always acknowledge the relationship with all spirits and a common respect for all of creation.
When Lenape people give songs of Thanksgiving for these gifts, it brings healing from deep historic and generational trauma. Songs of thanks are given for the knowledge and sacrifices of the ancestors, and Lenape feel a spiritual obligation to teach their children and grandchildren how to continue to nurture healthy relationships with all of creation.
During the forced removal of the Lenape people from Lehapehoking, the women smuggled seeds by sewing them into the folds of their clothes. In that way, both the seeds and the ancestral knowledge they contain survived – and are now slowly being returned to Lenapehoking, the homeland, the origin.
The foods of the ancestors carry many lessons about how to overcome some of the food-related health issues of our generation. Today, Indigenous people, who represent this ancestral knowledge, ought to be present at the tables where vital conversations regarding environmental and civic issues are taking place across the world.
Lenape Plants
For The Garden
Corn (Xaskwim)
The principal variety is Sehsapsink, a blue flint corn grown by the Lenape in the ancestral homeland for centuries. Another ancestral variety available is called Puhwem, a white flower corn.
Beans (Malaxkwsita)
Three varieties have origins going back 250 years in the Delaware River Valley of PA: Blue Shakamaxon, Purple Kingsessing, and Hannah Freeman.
Squash (Eskunthak)
The common word for squash and pumpkins. There are many varieties harvested for fall & winter foods.
Tobacco (Kwshatay)
One of the original plant medicines used in cultural exchange and ceremony.
Sunflowers (Oxeataeyok)
There are many varieties that produce edible seeds and attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
Gourds (Xkanakhako)
There are many varieties that can be made into vessels, dippers, rattles, and even birdhouses.
Lenape Plants
For the Meadow
Milkweed (Mahkhalahpis)
A non-edible variety that attracts pollinators.
Goldenrod (Wisaotaek)
A medicine plant that acts as an herbal remedy for sinus allergies and to ease discomfort from stomach ailments. It can also be used as a culinary herb.
Sumac (Kelekenikanakw)
A medicine plant for a variety of skin ailments. It can also be a refreshing tonic, or mixed with tobacco for a smoking blend, or used as a dye of various colors.
Sassafras (Winakw)
A springtime cleansing tonic. The root is used as a blood thinner to reduce blood pressure. Powdering the leaves helps to thicken sauces, soups, and stews.
Wild Grape (Wisahkim)
Bitter when fresh because of high tartaric acid. Juice the grapes and let sit for a few days.The potassium will react with the acid and produce cream of tartar. Strained juice is rich in Vitamin C and E, iron and niacin. A favorite Lenape dish is grape dumplings.
Cattail (Ahpawiak)
Fresh pollen applied to wounds stops bleeding. Roots can be smashed into a poultice to treat blisters, boils, and other infections. Roots can be boiled or steamed and sliced for salads. Flower heads can be used as tinder for fires or soaked in oil or fat to use as torches.
RESOURCES for ADDITIONAL LEARNING – ONLINE & PRINT
Curtis Zunigha
Keynote Lecture at
University of Scranton
“Forced Removal of Lenape People – History and Homecoming”
Printable Brochure:
The Spirit of Lenapehoking
in Nay Aug Park
THANK YOU AGAIN to the Lackawanna Heritage Valley for the support and funding to make these materials accessible to the public!
Online Resources
Lenape Center – www.lenape.center
Delaware Tribe of Indians – www.delawaretribe.org
Lenape Talking Dictionary – www.talk-lenape.org
Source Materials
Lenapehoking: An Anthology
editors Joe Baker, Hadrien Coumans, Joel Whitney.
Published 2022 by Brooklyn Public Library, N.Y.
The Delaware Indians, a History
by C. A. Weslager, published 1972
The Delaware Indian Westward Migration
by C.A. Weslager, published 1978
Blackcoats Among the Delaware: David Zeisberger on the Ohio Frontier
by Earl Olmstead, published 1991
David Zeisberger: A Life Among the Indians
by Earl Olmstead, published 1997
Wampum Belts & Peace Trees: George Morgan, Native Americans, and Revolutionary Diplomacy
by Gregory Schaaf, published 1990
Lenape Country, Delaware Valley Society Before William Penn
by Jean R. Soderlund, published 2015
Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery
by Steven T. Newcomb, published 2008