The Menominee Nation will celebrate the return of the sturgeon with a feast and celebration pow-wow April 18 at Menominee Indian High School.
The day of cultural activities will begin with a ceremony and sacred water walk at 10 a.m. at Keshena Falls on the Menominee Indian Reservation. Grand entries are scheduled at 1 and 7 p.m. at MIHS, N500 Highway 47/55, Keshena. A sturgeon feast will begin at 5 p.m.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has agreed to provide the Menominee Nation with the 15 lake sturgeon for the annual feast and cultural event. The revival of the sturgeon feast and celebration began in 1973 when tribal leaders initiated talks with the DNR for sturgeon to be brought to the reservation for the celebration.
Although many of the original tribal members and leaders who were the first to revive this ceremony have passed into the Spirit World, they will be remembered on this day for their unselfish effort, and their legacy will live on for future generations of the tribe.
The centuries-old spring migration of the Lake Winnebago sturgeon to Keshena Falls was halted when dams were built on the Wolf River near Shawano in the late 1800s. Prior to the dams, the sturgeon migrated from the Lake Winnebago water system to their traditional spawning grounds at Keshena Falls. The Menominee people would wait for the sturgeon to return after the long winter months to replenish their food supplies. Ceremonies and dancing would follow the first catch of sturgeon, and the significance of the sturgeon would be celebrated.
The sturgeon was also used in preparation of traditional medicine and other ceremonial uses of the tribe. The Menominee Sturgeon Clan is a sub-group under the ancestral Bear Clan.
The traditional celebration pow-wow will feature singing, honor ceremony, sturgeon ceremonial offering and Menominee ceremonial dances. Ron Corn Jr. (Moshaquit) will provide the invocation. A welcoming address will be provided by Menominee Tribal Chairman Gary Besaw.
During the afternoon session, tribal members who marched to Madison in frigid weather to urge Gov. Scott Walker to support the proposed Kenosha casino will be honored, along with those who spoke at the state Capitol.
The evening session will include the sixth annual BradLee Jr. Wilber, Teka’Hu Wa’ke, Two Canoes Memorial Men’s Traditional Dance Contest.
The host drum for this year’s sturgeon feast and celebration will be the Wolf River Singers from the Menominee Nation.
Mike Fish Jr. will be the head male dancer; Brianna Ninham will be the head female dancer. The head veteran dancer will be John Teller Jr.
The feast will consist of smoked sturgeon, corn soup, wild rice, maple sugar and other traditional Menominee food. Before the feast, the Menominee ceremonial dancers will perform the Menominee fish dance in honor of the sturgeon’s return to the reservation.
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