'13 Moons' is first Wampanoag homesite exhibit to open at a Mashpee public school

MASHPEE — As rain poured down Wednesday evening, Wampanoag Tribal Culture Keeper Darryl Wixon sang a welcome song to celebrate "13 Moons," a traditional homesite exhibit that includes a life-sized wetu, which now sits in the Quashnet Elementary School courtyard.

"This (exhibit) is a real testament of our partnership and connection with community," said Chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Brian Weeden. "We are learning — we are all students no matter how old we are. I want to say thank you on behalf of our tribe and our people."

About 50 people gathered around 5 p.m. to attend the exhibit's open house.

Mashpee Wampanoag Cultural & Outreach Coordinator Darius Coombs said "13 Moons," which includes informational stations and a garden, isn't just for tribal children to enjoy.

"It's to teach all kids. We are all from this community and we want to share our Wampanoag culture," said Coombs. "We want everyone to feel comfortable where they are at."

Kenneth C. Coombs School Principal MaryKate O'Brien was the principal at Quashnet when the concept for the exhibit came together in 2022. Coombs credits O'Brien with the idea to build "13 Moons" at the school.

"We are on Mashpee Wampanoag land and we need our kids to know that they belong in our school," said O'Brien. "We celebrate you, we value you. You are Mashpee."

What is a wetu?

The wetu, the Wampanoag word for "house" or "home," is a 10-by-10-foot structure, said Coombs, and was built using bark from poplar trees and swamp cedar poles.

Inside the wetu, handmade benches are lined with white-tailed deer furs, and the structure is lined with traditional bulrush mats. Over a roughly two-year period, about 40 tribal children in grades three to six built the structure with his help, he said.

"I played a part but I was just there as a teacher. It was all these little ones who helped out and did it," said Coombs, who worked alongside children and Mashpee Wampanoag tribal member Eleanor "Toodie" Coombs to complete the project. "It was an honor working with these kids."

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal member Isaiah Peters, 17, helped gather bark and cedar poles for the wetu and said the experience helped him relax.

"It as amazing to do good work for our culture and for our people and build something that will be seen for generations," said Peters, who is also a Mashpee Wampanoag Native environmental youth ambassador.

The exhibit also includes educational stations that will teach students about Wampanoag games, cooking, fishing, and working with hides. Signs surrounding the wetu also give information about winter and summer wetus; how outdoor cooking stations work; what a hide drying rack is; and concepts surrounding Indigenous ways of life.

Photos accompany the different stations featuring Wampanoag people in traditional regalia, as well as modern-day dress.

To the left of the wetu is a small mound garden, where tribal students will plant King Philip's Corn — a type of deep copper-red and a copper-yellow-colored flint corn that was originally grown by Wampanoag people.

"Through this exhibit, we want to make sure that people understand what we did (in the past) and what we still do today," said Coombs.

Will the exhibit affect Native and non-Native children?

Because the exhibit is located in the school's courtyard, said O'Brien, children can see the wetu and garden from the third-grade classrooms, and the school's hallway. During future learning ventures at the exhibit, O'Brien hopes to witness Native children teaching non-native children Wampanoag culture.

"A project like this has the power to break down barriers," said O'Brien, principal at Quashnet for eight years. "The children who built it have such pride and we should see that all the time."

The exhibit, she said, allows "tribal children to have a voice."

Mashpee Wampanoag Clan Mother Marlene Lopez attended the open house and said the exhibit is an example of ongoing tribal educational efforts.

"We (tribal members) were here when this school was built and we've been active in this school for many years," said Lopez, daughter of former Mashpee Wampanoag Chief Vernon "Silent Drum" Lopez, who died in 2023. "It's nice to see something like this that can carry forth our heritage and shows the heart of community."

13 Moons an example of what's to come

The funding for the exhibit came through the $20 million American Rescue Plan's American Indian Resilience in Education grant. Fifteen tribal nations were awarded funds in 2021, according to the grant's website. The purpose of the grant, said Mashpee Wampanoag Education Department Communications Coordinator Talia Landry, is to support tribal education agencies that serve Native American children and youth.

The grant, in addition to other sources of funding, helps support the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Education Department, said Coombs, which serves seven school districts throughout the region.

The Quashnet exhibit, said Coombs, is a smaller version of a living history museum, which is slated to eventually be built on land adjacent to Mashpee Wakeby Pond. Plans for a village site, said Landry, will include a host of living history activities for Cape students to experience.

"There will be different summer and winter homesteads on a larger scale," said Landry, who petitioned in October for about 13.5 acres of town-owned land to be granted from the town to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

While a vote to grant the land to the tribe was passed during fall town meeting, the Select Board have gone into closed-door executive sessions regarding the land transfer. Select Board Chair John Cotton didn't return emails or calls to the Times for comment.

The exhibit and future village site, said Landry, decolonizes societal frameworks and gives a sense of healing for Wampanoag people.

We are still here, says Coombs

As Coombs looked out at the crowd that gathered before the wetu, he told tribal youth that it's their responsibility to take ownership of the exhibit.

"This is your place. Take care of it," he said. "This is part of who you are."

Coombs said it's up to all the children at the school to absorb the exhibit and "take it all in."

"Wampanoag people have gone through a lot of trauma. But our kids should be proud of what they did," said Coombs. "And that's a big part of what this exhibit is all about."

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod children built Wampanoag wetu in their school's courtyard