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Nisenal Land Gratitude
Fat and the Moon lives on Nisenan land.
The history of how this land has come to be occupied by the likes of myself, my employees, who its original peoples are, it’s true story of atrocity is part of what we reflect on during this month of honoring Nisenan Heritage. Giving thanks is also about looking at the truth.
The local organization CHIRP, who works to protect, preserve and perpetuate Nisenan culture is now exhibiting in their downtown space ‘ERASES’. ‘ERASED’ is an art exhibit bringing to light anti-Indian legislation, negation of Tribal sovereignty and lasting impacts of forced assimilation that continue to affect the Nisenan.
For more on the important work of CHIRP, as well as some of their suggestions to reframe this holiday season to include the true history of these lands, please check out the link in our profile to our blog post with more information and resources.
Our round up at checkout this month goes to CHIRP.
Many of us are awakening to the fact that we live on stolen, Native land. And that the Thanksgiving story of joyful communion between “Indians” and pilgrims was grossly misrepresented and glosses over the centuries of genocide to follow. We at Fat and the Moon are committed to learning the true history of the land we occupy and allowing that learning to change us. In that spirit, we offer some potentially-new ways of celebrating the holidays while honoring the Native People of the land where you live:
Follow and learn about the Native People where you live, and amplify what they share. Check out https://native-land.ca/ if you don’t already know whose land you live on. Fat and the Moon operates in the unceded ancestral homelands of the Nisenan Tribe of the Nevada City Rancheria @nevadacityrancherianisenan
Offer a land acknowledgement at your dinner table (see link above for guidance or find the preferred acknowledgement of the Tribe where you live). The Nisenan offer this: We acknowledge that the Nisenan people are still here among us today though nearly invisible after generations of erasure and exclusion from California's history. We understand this is Nisenan land that was never ceded, and the original Tribal families have yet to recover from the genocide of their people. As a resident or visitor in Nisenan land, we support the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe in efforts to stabilize their people as well as the campaign to restore Tribal Sovereignty through Federal Recognition.
Celebrate Native American Heritage Day! For those who live in the region now known as Nevada County and surrounding areas, check out Nisenan Heritage Day, virtually broadcast from the Grass Valley Center for the Arts on Friday, November 26. Learn more and get involved!
Go for a nature walk, giving thanks to the earth, animals, and elements, and to the original caretakers of the land. Without their stewardship, care, and dedication to reciprocity, we would live in a much different place.
Offer reciprocity: We are proud members of the Ancestral Homelands Reciprocity Program, a community-driven initiative that invites everyone who lives on or visits Nisenan land to “pay rent” in acknowledgement of the land we occupy, the benefit we receive form this special place and the cost of our occupation for the Original People.
