READT FOR GRADING
The Lenape language used to be an exclusively spoken language. However in 2002, the Lenape Nation received grant money to fund the The Lenape Talking Dictionary, preserving and digitizing the Southern Unami Dialect. This language is currently recognized by both the Oklahoma Lenape and the Delaware Valley Lenape.
The nation is researching and revamping the Lenape language for future generations to easily learn led by Professor Shelly DePaul at Swarthmore College. Depaul collaborated with elders and transcribed decades worth of documents to teach a Lenape class at Swathmore College starting in 2009. Research shows that voluntary, locally based language practice and learning is key to restoring and maintaining a fading language. There is some disagreement within the Lenape Nation on how the language should be taught, adapted to the times or taught as historically accurate. DePaul's approach is focused on a "living language" philosophy.
The Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania is not recognized by the federal or state authorities, but it currently applying for recognition at the state level.
Although the Walking Purchase forced the Lenape people to Oklahoma, not every Lenape lives in Oklahoma. Many Lenape continue to live in the Northeast. This community of people are the Munsee Lenape, and are currently in the process of applying for State Recognition.
The Lenape have a long history with the native fauna in the Northeastern area of the United States. Lenape "herb doctors" were known to use their extensive knowledge of plant life to help heal their community's ailments, sometimes through plant magic. The Lenape found uses in trees like Black Walnut which were used to cure ringworm and with Persimmons which were used to cure ear problems. This herb magic was also used in the Sweating Lodge ceremonies where Lenape members would sit in limestone lodges as plants and herbs filled the steam around them. These plant practices continue today, in some traditional ceremonies.
Every four years, the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania conducts the Rising Nation River Journey, during which the Nation paddles down the Delaware River from Hancock, New York, to Cape May, New Jersey. Along the Journey, the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania invites the public to sign the Treaty of Renewed Friendship, whose signees agree to recognize the Lenape as the indigenous inhabitants of the Lenapehoking and act as good stewards of the environment.
The Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania Cultural Center in Easton, Pennsylvania, currently exhibits the University of Pennsylvania-hosted exhibit "The Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania" along with other exhibit items, educational materials, and Nation-made crafts.
The Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania is not recognized by the federal or state authorities, but is currently applying for recognition at the state level.
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