Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 28 : Spring 2016 | Page 31

A Center of
Culture and
Community
by Melissa Lizotte

When visitors walk into the Micmac Cultural Community
Education Center, they get a rare glimpse into early
Micmac life. In the far right corner, a birch bark canoe
hangs over a glass display case of baskets. As you look
around, you’ll see more displays of porcupine quill baskets,
harpoons and hunting spears. A large model of a tobacco
pipe used in sacred ceremonies sits below a poster that lists
the names of Micmac war veterans.

activities such as crafts, music, dancing, storytelling and
men’s and women’s drum groups. Peter-Paul encourages
tribal members, including those in the drum groups, to
educate non-tribal members who attend Mawiomi.

“When they do these songs, I’ve asked them if they could
please explain to the audience what these songs are, why
we sing them and the significance of each of them,” PeterPaul says. “So if you ever go to a function of ours, you
With one glance, the Micmac museum looks like any may get to experience some of that.”
other historical museum, but for Edward Peter-Paul, the
Aroostook Band of Micmacs tribal chief, and Cultural Peter-Paul wants non-tribal members to know that the
Director Simon Nevin, the cultural center is more than Micmacs have a culture that is unique and different from
other cultures. The Micmac community is a close-knit
just artifacts.
community that is like “having a town, a church and a
“Everything in there reminds me of something from my huge family all in one.”
life,” Peter-Paul says.
“If I was to do something bad, then the people in the
The Micmacs opened the cultural center in August 2000, community would look at my family in a different way,
nine years after they gained federal recognition as a tribe. not just me,” Peter-Paul says. “So we all have to act a
Aside from the museum, the cultural center provides certain way because we represent our family.”
Micmac social services such as housing, education,
finance, healthcare, Indian child welfare and education. But modern culture has brought many changes to
The museum may be located in the Micmac community, traditional Micmac values. “The Micmacs,” Nevin says,
but any members of the general public are welcome to “used to be a self-sufficient tribe. They relied on hunting
and fishing for food sources. These practices helped
tour the museum and attend Micmac cultural events.
continue the Micmac’s spiritual connection to the land
One such event is the Mawiomi of Tribes, the annual and the natu