NEWSLETTER
New Paltz, NY (July 14, 2020) – Historic Huguenot Street is pleased to present a five-week virtual Lunaape language workshop hosted by Lunaape language teacher Karen Mosko. The general public still has the opportunity to participate in three of the five opportunities, which began on July 1 and are scheduled to occur every Wednesday evening from 7:00 – 8:30 PM throughout the month of July.
Karen Mosko is from Nalahii (Munsee-Delaware Nation), Ontario, Canada. She has been learning Lunaape since 2004 and teaching predominantly unfunded Lunaape language classes in various locations since 2005. Her goal is to revitalize what the government considers a dead language.
The Lunaape language was spoken by the indigenous people of the same name of the Northeastern Woodlands, who lived/live in Canada and the United States. Their historical territory included present-day New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania along the Delaware watershed, New York City, western Long Island, and the Hudson Valley, including New Paltz.
It is with gratitude and humility that Historic Huguenot Street acknowledge that we learn, speak, and gather on the ancestral homelands of the Munsee Lenape people, who are the indigenous peoples of this region. Despite tremendous hardship in being forced from here, today their communities reside in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and in Ontario, Canada. Through this program, and many others, we pay honor and respect to their ancestors past and present as we commit to building a more inclusive and equitable space for all.
“The chance to learn from Karen and be part of revitalizing the language indigenous to this area of the Hudson Valley is an extremely precious gift. The language is at home here among the ancestors in the Hudson Valley. For those who are motivated to be part of fighting racism through examining its historical roots, a great way is to take Historic Huguenot’s class and gain an appreciation for the indigenous language that was once—and should still be—spoken here,” said Bonney Hartley, a member of Stockbridge-Munsee Community and the Historic Huguenot Street Board of Trustees.
This workshop is introductory and is geared towards beginners. Over the course of 5 weeks, Lunaape Language students will learn a Lunaape prayer, the alphabet system (vowels), a personal introduction, how to carry conversations, “today's date is…”, numbers 1-31, medicine wheel teachings, and all about the Honey Bee Moon (July).
To register, visit https://www.huguenotstreet.org/calendar-of-events/2020/7/1/virtual-lunaape-language-workshop-series.
About Historic Huguenot Street
A National Historic Landmark District, Historic Huguenot Street is a 501(c)3 non-profit that encompasses 30 buildings across 10 acres comprising the heart of the original 1678 New Paltz settlement, including seven stone houses dating to the early eighteenth century. Historic Huguenot Street was founded in 1894 as the Huguenot Patriotic, Historical, and Monumental Society to preserve the nationally acclaimed collection of stone houses. Since then, Historic Huguenot Street has grown into an innovative museum, chartered as an educational corporation by the University of the State of New York Department of Education that is dedicated to protecting our historic buildings, preserving an important collection of artifacts and manuscripts, and promoting the stories of the Huguenot Street families from the seventeenth century to today.
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Contact:
Frances Vigna
Marketing & Communications Coordinator
(845) 255-1660 Ext. 102