HOPKINS, Mich. — Dozens of members of the Potawatomi tribe gathered at the Jijak Camp in Hopkins Thursday evening to plant thousands of "mndaamin" or Flint corn seeds. Hosted by the Gun Lake Tribe in collaboration with the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, it was a chance for tribal members to pass on food sovereignty traditions to the younger generation as a community.
"We have a gathering coming up this summer, and we've got NHBP here. They're actually the ones that planted these with us down at their greenhouse, and then they just brought them back today, so we're putting them in the ground," said Wyatt Szpliet, the food sovereignty coordinator for Gun Lake Tribe.
Szpliet is a member of the Gaaching Ziibi Daawaa Anishinaabe or the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. He said the corn seeds they're planting were passed down from generation to generation.
"We put our intent, we put our heart into what we're doing and just sharing knowledge together and being together as, not just a band, but a confederacy of Potawatomi people," said Szpliet. "I think that's the most important part for me, is just getting them together, getting the youth here. As you see, we've got both NHBP youth and GLT youth here."
It's why Szpliet led a "semaa" or tobacco ceremony before planting commenced.
"That is the medicine that can carry your thoughts and your words up to the Spirit. So, that is what gives you that, I don't want to say power, but it gives you that, that moment, to have that time with the Creator," said Gladys Martin.
A seasonal worker with the Gun Lake Tribe, Martin has Native American roots in the United States and Canada.
"My father's tribe is from over here, and this is where I predominantly, half grew up. But also, I have my state's Bkejwanong on First Nation side," said Martin.
She led community members in a water ceremony following the tobacco ceremony.
"It honestly, truly means more than I can even put in words right now, just because... There's just been so long that we've been persecuted and forgotten about in history, and there's so much culture right now that's forgotten right now," Martin said.
It's why she's trying to immerse herself in her culture as much as she can.
"I'm not as gifted with that knowledge or that power to hold the language yet, but that's what I'm all striving for, and that's what a lot of our indigenous youth today are striving for," said Martin.
"That's the most important part, is just preserving for the future, you know, and they're the ones that are going to inherit this," Szpliet said.
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