Meet Anita “Mother Bear” Peters, born in Mashpee to the Mashpee Wampanoag supreme medicine man, John “Slow Turtle” Peters, and Barbara “Morning Star” Avant Peters.
Mother Bear is known for her giving. Her generosity shows up in many ways. She comes by her nature to serve honestly as her entire family’s legacy has been one of spiritual, cultural, and civic duty both within the Mashpee Wampanoag tribal community and politically with the Town of Mashpee as well.
She speaks often of her great grandmother, Mabel Pocknett Avant, who influenced her traditional ways and occasionally will share thoughts like “The most important lessons she taught me were it is better to give than receive and as long as you do the right thing and give thanks for what you have, the Creator and Ancestors will take care of you.
For years, she has been a cultural guide and culture educator at the Tribe’s Indian Museum in Mashpee, and in 2004, led the art of making Wampanoag regalia as her educational part of a six-day festival celebrating the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian, the newest Smithsonian Institution presence on the mall. In 2005, Mother Bear served as a master artist in a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program after which she began on a full-time basis creating traditional eastern woodlands regalia for hundreds of tribal members, both from Mashpee and from other tribes as well.
Learn more below:
https://www.tomaquagmuseum.org/honorees-1
[Video]: Mashpee Mother Bear “It’s Time To Decolonize Your Mind” on YouTube
