Penobscot beaded moccasins, American Museum of Natural History.
The Penobscot (Panawahpskek) are a Northeastern American Indian tribe in Maine and First Nations band in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. The Penobscot Nation, formerly known as the Penobscot Tribe of Maine, is the federally recognized tribe of Penobscot people in the United States. They are part of the Wabanaki Confederacy, along with the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq nations, all of whom historically spoke Algonquian languages. Their main settlement is now Penobscot Indian Island Reservation located within the state of Maine along the Penobscot River.
The word "Penobscot" originates from a mispronunciation of their name Penawapskewi. The word means "rocky part" or "descending ledges" and originally referred to the portion of the Penobscot River between Old Town and Bangor. Little is known about the Penobscot people pre-contact. Native peoples are thought to have inhabited Maine and surrounding areas for at least 11,000 years. They subsisted on beavers, otters, moose, bears, caribou, fish, seafood (clams, mussels, fish), birds, bird eggs, berries, nuts, and possibly marine mammals such as seals, all of which were found throughout their native lands. The people practiced some agriculture but not to the same extent as that of indigenous peoples in southern New England, where the climate was more temperate. Food was potentially scarce only toward the end of the winter, in February and March. For the rest of the year, the Penobscot as well as other Wabanaki likely had little difficulty feeding themselves because the land offered much, and the number of people was sustainable. The bands moved seasonally depending on where the most bountiful game and fish would be.
Contact with Europeans was not uncommon during the 16th century because the fur trade was lucrative and the Penobscot were willing to trade pelts for European goods such as metal axes, guns, and copper or iron cookware. Hunting for fur pelts reduced the game, however, and the European trade introduced alcohol to Penobscot communities for the first time. It has been argued that the people are genetically vulnerable to alcoholism, which Europeans frequently tried to exploit in dealings and trade. Penobscot people and other nations made pine beer, which in addition to being an alcoholic beverage had the additional benefit of allaying the onset of scurvy. When Europeans arrived they brought alcohol in quantity. It is possible that Europeans had slowly developed enzymes, metabolic processes, and social mechanisms for dealing with a normalized high intake of alcohol, where Penobscot people though familiar with alcohol had never had access to the gross quantity of alcohol that Europeans offered. The Europeans also brought new endemic diseases of Eurasia, to which the Penobscot had no acquired immunity. Their fatality rates from measles, smallpox and other diseases was high. The population also declined due to fighting between the Wabanaki Federation and the powerful Mohawk people of the Iroquois League, which struggled to control the fur trade. At the beginning of the 17th century, Europeans began to live year-round in Wabanaki territory. At this time, there were probably about 10,000 Penobscot (a number which fell to below 500 in the early 19th century)
CIB
Kin 76: Yellow Spectral Warrior
I dissolve in order to question
Releasing fearlessness
I seal the output of intelligence
With the spectral tone of liberation
I am guided by my own power doubled.
We are pure consciousness within the evolving order to the universe.*
*Star Traveler's 13 Moon Almanac of Synchronicity, Galactic Research Institute, Law of Time Press, Ashland, Oregon, 2015-2016.
The Sacred Tzolk'in
Manipura Chakra (Limi Plasma)
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