The Pokanoket Tribe

Phone (508) 446-7045

Fax: Call for Fax Number

Office E-mail: Info@pokanoket.org

Webmaster E-mail: Pineese@pokanoket.org

Who are the Pokanoket (pronounced Poe’-ka-no-kit)?

Pokanoket is a tribe of American Indians who trace their lineage back thousands of years beyond the colonial days of the United States. We trace our ancestry through bloodlines and oral history. We are the people of the Massasoit. We are Philip’s people, the people of Metacom. We are the people who celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims. We are the people who have endured.

Pokanoket is also a Nation. The Nation of Tribes you may have heard of referred to as Wampanoag was known to our ancestors as the Pokanoket Nation. The Pokanoket Nation was comprised of Tribes. Each Tribe was comprised of Bands and Villages. The Pokanoket Tribe was the headship Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation.

Pokanoket is also our home. Prior to the time of the pilgrim’s arrival in Plymouth, the realm of the Pokanoket included portions of Rhode Island, and much of southeast Massachusetts to include the surrounding islands. Pokanoket social organization developed in a manner that differed from neighboring groups, since Pokanoket was more socially striated and politically complex. Archaeological excavations of Pokanoket burial sites indicate that wealth such as wampum was concentrated amongst a few individuals. Unique to The Pokanoket Tribe were the spiritual and military elite known as the Pniese (Pineese Warrior) who protected and served the Massasoit (great leader). They are the spiritual guardians of Pokanoket and Wampanoag.

The Pokanoket have seven beliefs that are the core of our being:

The Creator is the Principle Source of all Good

The Creator is a Mind of Divine Supreme Intelligence

The Creator is the Constant Capacity of Understanding

The Creator is Spiritual Goodness

The Creator is Life, the Eternal Action of Goodness

The Creator is Truth itself

The Creator is Love, the Infinite Perfection

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