Welcome the Wigwam Festival
The Mohegan Tribe holds its Wigwam Festival this weekend, and the public is invited.
People can learn more about Mohegan culture traditions during the event, which features Native American crafts, foods, dancing and drumming on Saturday and Sunday. (Note that the Grand Entry is at noon each day.)
According to The Wigwam Festival website, this is a modern version of the ancient Mohegan Thanksgiving for the Corn Harvest, or Green Corn Festival. “Corn was celebrated because it is the sustainer of life and spirit,” the site states. “… At the time of the breakup of the Mohegan reservation in the mid-nineteenth century, Medicine Woman Emma Baker revitalized the Corn Festival, which then became known as the ‘Wigwam.’ Emma incorporated the Wigwam’s restoration into the goals of the Mohegan Church Ladies’ Sewing Society in 1860. By physically linking this festival to Mohegan Church in the year before the Mohegan Reservation began to break up, Emma focused tribal solidarity around the only post-reservation tribally owned land parcels.”
A note to everyone attending the Wigwam Festival: there is no on-site parking. People should park at Mohegan Sun’s Thames Garage; shuttles will run between there and the festival throughout Saturday and Sunday. —
Mohegan Wigwam Festival, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Grand Entry at noon each day), Fort Shantok, Uncasville; free admission; no on-site parking; parking is at Mohegan Sun’s Thames Garage, and shuttles will run through the days; www. mohegan.nsn.us/explore/heritage/2019wigwamfestival