Lecture, Learn, Lunch

Please join us on Sunday, April 27 for a presentation by Chief Barbara Bluejay, Keeper of Culture, Vice President for the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, and one of the Storytellers of the Nation. Chief Bluejay will briefly discuss the past and present of the Lenape people and explain how the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania is revitalizing Lenape culture and continuing their role as caretakers of their homelands.

Lenape People and Quakers share important pillars of identity: : Community, Peace, and Stewardship of the environment especially are deeply valued by both. Chief Bluejay will discuss the ways that Lenape People live these values. Chief Bluejay’s visit will include Lenape stories, children’s activities, and an outdoor campfire.

There will be a covered dish lunch from 12:15- 1:30. Please bring a dish themed to our Lenape Day: something made from the “3 Sisters” – corn, squash, beans – and/or a dish including locally sourced foods. Ideas: corn pudding, chili, baked beans, zucchini, venison stew, berries, nuts. Be creative! Also, we will follow the Lenape tradition of “Elders eat first.”

Here is a schedule for the event:
10 – 11 a.m. Meeting for Worship (to which all are welcome)
11:15 – 12:15 Presentation by Barbara Bluejay, outdoor campfire with storytelling and sharing
12:15 – 1:30 Covered dish lunch. Please bring a dish that features one of the “3 Sisters” – corn, beans, squash – and/or a traditional local food like berries, nuts, venison, wild
rice. Following Lenape tradition, Elders will eat first.

Chief Barbara Bluejay Michalski, was given the name Bluejay by her grandfather, Bill Thompson, late Chief Whippoorwill of the Unalachtigo (people near the ocean) Tribe of the Turkey Clan.  She is a member of Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania (LNPA), and she has immersed herself in the activities of the Nation.  In October 2022 was appointed Chief Keeper of Culture.  Bluejay serves on the Tribal Council,  was the Tribal Secretary until May 2024, at that time she was just recently elected Vice President and one of the Storytellers of the Nation.  She has been participating in educating the public by attending events or festivals in the Lenapehokink (Homeland of the Lenape). But most of all, Bluejay loves to teach children the history of the Lenape Nation through crafts, storytelling, and artifacts as she visits numerous schools in the Lenapehokink as well as children’s groups, such as the Boy and Girl Scouts and children camps.  Bluejay has also been involved in environmental issues, particularly working for clean water and protecting our Earth Mother.  Due to the high interest in medicinal plants, Bluejay took an active interest in learning more about plant nation and did her first zoom presentation in November 2022 and continues to have a deeper understanding of the plant nation. She attends Lenape Language class in Unami Dialect through LNPA to help keep the endangered language alive