The Wabanaki, the People of the Dawn Land, have lived in what is now Maine and Maritime Canada for more than 11,000 years. It was not until the early 1600s that Europeans came to live in the territory inhabited by an estimated 32,000 Wabanaki. This contact was disastrous. From 1616 to 1619, ninety percent of the Wabanaki died. During the thousands of years prior to contact, the Wabanaki died. During the thousands of years prior to contact, the Wabanaki lived according to their spiritual connection to Mother Earth.
They have preserved this connection, passing on their values orally from one generation to the next. Wabanaki: A New Dawn, show the quest for cultural survival by today’s Wabanaki…the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot People. The voices in the video offer hope that the Wabanaki will use their cultural and spiritual inheritance to survive and thrive in the third millennium.
Producers
- Dennis Kostyk
- David Westphal
- Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission
- Acadia Film Video
