Statement: The First Nations Garden Wigwam
The Chi-Nations Youth Council has issued a statement regarding the First Nations Garden Wigwam.
FIRST NATIONS GARDEN WIGWAM
In April 2019, the Chi-Nations Youth Council and First Nations Garden (FNG) partnered with the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi youth to build the First Nations Garden Wigwam. A wigwam is the traditional dwelling for the Indigenous peoples of the Chicago region.
Unfortunately, we could not work with Native community organizations due to the values and ethics needed to care for the lodge with intention.
A group of elders, women, and youth traveled to the sovereign land of the Pokagon to harvest the saplings that would become our lodge. Sean Youngbear (Prairie Band Potawatomi/Meswaki) led the teachings for our Chicago Native community, and after two days, the community built the bones.
The wigwam that lives in the garden was built for the community to live and care for it, to continue Indigenous ways of being on our ancestral land. Previously, the community built wigwams for demonstration purposes that would not live for their entire life span. A well-taken-care-of wigwam can live up to 7 years.
The community covered the wigwam with water-resistant canvas and insulated with reflective insulation. At the same time, solar lights, a wood stove, and a wood floor were installed to extend the time we could stay there. The canvas was painted with a mural of ancestors and current community members.
The wigwam is used mainly in the winter for storytelling and community gatherings. In the summer, it is used for storage and a refuge from rain. Children enjoy the wigwam to climb on and use in other ways of play.
The wigwam will be taken down in Summer 2024 and rebuilt in 2025 after the garden renovation; the current wigwam will be burned down traditionally.
VIDEO
https://youtu.be/3bPlyzFqJIA?si=5NTpTD4o0tUWca44
FIRST NATIONS GARDEN
The First Nations Garden (Wiinso, Wiikonge Otishinikaaso) was established in the Spring of 2019 due to community organizing led by the Chi-Nations Youth Council with support from Alderman Carlos Rosa of the 35th Ward. Chi-Nations is working closely with Neighborspace to ensure a more sustainable future for the garden.
First Nations Garden was chosen as the English name of the space. The term First Nations is a collective noun that emphasizes the importance of direct and ancestral relationships to the land, both human and non-human. As First Nations peoples, we’ve chosen names that carry the garden site’s history and ancestral ecological knowledge and assist in providing navigational information and teachings to the greater public.
