For over 10,000 years, members of the Wampanoag tribe have lived in Aquinnah and throughout the island known as Noepe, also known as Martha’s Vineyard.
Traditionally a fishing and agriculture community, tribe members also harvest acres of wild cranberry bogs each year that grow on their land. Cranberry Day — the annual harvesting of the fruit — has been a centuries-long celebration passed down by the elders as part of the Aquinnah Wampanoag’s rich history.
"I would say it's probably my favorite holiday, and so I was shaped by that," Jannette Vanderhoop, member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, told GBH's Under the Radar. "If someone came by and there wasn't enough food, everyone just got a little less. And I thought that was really beautiful and indicative of our community and how we take care of each other."
The treasured tradition serves as a way to commemorate Indigenous People’s Day, says Jordan Clark, assistant director of Harvard University’s Native American Program.
"When you think about Massachusetts, when you think about the areas around Boston and the Cape and the Islands, Native people have been living on it for tens of thousands of years," Clark said. "Oftentimes a lot of the founding ideology, a lot of the founding philosophy that we think of as 'American,' is often directly taken from Native communities. But again, that's not part of our national narrative. And so, Indigenous People's Day plays a role in taking a pause and asking, kind of, the larger community to maybe refocus and recenter and reimagine kind of how they see the world and their relationship to it."
GUESTS
Jannette Vanderhoop, member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, board member of the Aquinnah Cultural Center and author of "Cranberry Day: A Wampanoag Harvest Celebration"
Jordan Clark, assistant director of Harvard University’s Native American Program, and a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah
