Richmond Marks Indigenous Peoples' Day With Celebration Honoring Virginia's Tribes

Richmond residents gathered at Powhatan Hill Park on Sunday for the city's Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration, an event honoring the 11 Indian tribes recognized by Virginia. The tribes are described as some of the oldest communities in the nation's history.

The celebration is hosted by the Pocahontas Project and is organized around a different tribe each year. For this edition, organizers chose to put the Monacan Indian Nation in the spotlight.

The program included the Virginia Tribal Celebration, a gathering similar to a pow-wow. Attendees also watched tribal dance performances and took part in an interfaith service held in honor of the state's tribes.

For Tatanka Gibson, a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina, the park's setting carried special meaning. Gibson noted that Richmond was built on the old town of Powhatan. "To be here is pretty cool," Gibson said. Gibson added that the Haliwa-Saponi people were once based above the Fall Line, in the area around Charlottesville, before settling in North Carolina.

Gibson, 31, now lives in nearby Varina and believes that understanding history is essential to building a better future. "To save our future, we need to look to our past, because our ways, our traditions can save our lives," Gibson said. In Gibson's view, those traditions can help people in many ways and keep them out of trouble, bringing healing not only to individuals but to their wider communities.

Gibson also urged people of every background to explore where they come from. "Everybody has a past. Everybody comes from somewhere. You're indigenous to somewhere," Gibson said. Gibson pointed out that people are not defined by a single label such as White or Black, and said every race, nationality, ethnicity, tribe, band, clan and community has something special to offer.

The celebration is held every year and is free to attend. Its purpose is to build awareness of the Commonwealth's tribes, so that their sacred traditions and legacies are never forgotten.