The Pokanoket Tribe gathered at Potumtuk (“The Lookout”) at the Seat of Metacom on Mount Hope in Bristol for their annual Renewal of the Covenant Ceremony on March 17, 2024. The event is held every year at the Vernal Equinox to acknowledge the return of the title “Massasoit” to the Creator. Click here for a two-minute video before and after the ceremony. Click here for photos at a similar event in 2019 and a four-minute video of that event.

Herbert “Shining Star” Tilson (above, left), the religious leader of the Tribe, calls everyone to the ceremony which is not allowed to be photographed out of respect. Following the ceremony, he and others gather for group photos.

(Above, left) Young Hiawatha is embraced by Mourning Dove before Harry “Hawk” Edmonds relates how Chief Anawan cried out “Ayootash, Stand Firm” at the end of King Philip’s War in August, 1676 as Sagamore Winds of Thunder responds behind him.

People in attendance take photos following the ceremony as Sagamore Winds of Thunder assists Hiawatha with his bow and arrow, which he had shot earlier into the sky during the ceremony, and greets some of the family members at the end of the ceremony.