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Westtown School  /  Middle School  /  Lenape Voices Project

Lenape Voices Project

“Lenape Voices” is a Middle School arts and service project that seeks to honor over 10,000 years of Lenape stewardship of this land. As you walk around campus, you will see 21 different rocks (ahsëna) painted with relevant Lenape words and their English translations. We invite you to reflect on both the absence and presence of the Lenape people in this place. Please connect to The Lenape Talking Dictionary to hear mother tongue Lenape speakers bring these words to life in their ancestral homelands. 

Land Acknowledgement

We are on the ancestral lands of the Lenape people, which they inhabited for thousands upon thousands of years. The Lenape people were pushed off the land by settler-colonialists, and experienced a series of forced relocations. Today, descendents of the original Lenape people belong to five federally recognized nations: the Delaware Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, Delaware Nation of Oklahoma, Stockbridge-Munsee Community of Wisconsin, and in Ontario, Delaware Nation of Moraviantown and Munsee Delaware Nation. As Westtown School engages in the work of discerning a path towards right relationship with the modern-day Lenape, we honor the Lenape who lived on this land in the past and the Lenape today who yearn for connection with this land.

Key

The Lenape Talking Dictionary
  1. naxa witkuxkuwàk – three sisters  – Lower School Garden
  2. thùpèkw – spring (of water) – Modern Pump House
  3. chulëns –  bird – By the Fire Circle
  4. xanikw – squirrel – South Entrance, bottom of the hill by the Granolithic
  5. tayaxkun – bridge – Bridge to Tennis Courts
  6. ansikëmès – maple tree – Tree in front of Admission
  7. ahas – crow – In front of the Middle School
  8. ònàxkwimënshi – oak tree – In front of Guerster House
  9. chahkoli mënëpèkwtët – frog pond – Upstream side past retaining wall on Head of School’s house side
  10. sipu – stream/river – By bench/bridge to Outdoor Education shelters
  11. òkwës – fox – By the Fire Circle
  12. samhuwei mënatay – caterpillar island – Middle of island
  13. kishux – sun – Beach on edge of lake
  14. tëmakweikaonink – beaver house – On pathside of the lodge
  15. xinkhòkihakàn – field – By bench overlooking field
  16. shkakw – skunk – By path break-off to Elephant Rock
  17. ahtu – deer – At split in path
  18. chëmamës – rabbit – At uphill entrance to Upper School x-country trail
  19. òpalaniei òhshixay – eagles’ nest – At base of tree
  20. tahkox – turtle – With “lake”
  21. mënëpèkw – lake – At the triangle where road splits

 

Community challenge: We invite you to send us pictures of you at any of the rocks. If you visit all 21, your efforts will be celebrated with your own rock in our Rock Hall of Fame! You can email your images to T. Megan Rose at [email protected]

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