Join us for the WVU Peace Tree Ceremony Monday, October 13, 2025 at 11:30 am. View the details
Monday, October 13, 2025, 11:30 am
at the WVU Peace Tree outside of Martin Hall
With guest of honor, Chebon Kernell (Muscogee Creek, Seminole) — public lecture to follow at 6:30 pm in the Gluck Theater, WVU Mountainlair Student Union
WVU Peace Tree, in the Gluck Theater, downtown WVU Campus*
Join us to commemorate Indigenous Peoples Day with the annual WVU Peace Tree Ceremony. This year's guest of honor is Chebon Kernell (Seminole and Muscogee Creek Nations), a tireless advocate for the rights of Indigenous people, a cultural educator, and member of the Global Indigenous Language Caucus.
Kernell is a traditional practitioner and cultural educator. For more than 10 years, he has served on the Global Indigenous Language Caucus of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. He has given dozens of presentations throughout the country on topics such as American Indian boarding schools, Indigenous cosmology and the natural world, Indigenous identity and culture (including the stomp dance), and stories of the Mvskoke (Muscogee) elders.
The annual Peace Tree Ceremony is a highlight of the academic year. The university community welcomes Morgantown-area residents and members of the local Native American communities to campus to join in this important tradition.
West Virginia women's hand drum singers will join the ceremony and the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia will present a raptor to symbolize the eagle that the Peacemaker placed as a sentry at the top of the original tree circa 1000 A.D. Guests will also be invited to tie a prayer ribbon to the Peace Tree, symbolizing any good intention they choose.
In the event of rain, the ceremony will move indoors to the Mountainlair, Gluck Theatre.
Gluck Theater, WVU Mountainlair Student Union
Chebon Kernell (Muscogee Creek, Seminole)
Mr. Kernell will bring his inspiring message to WVU, discussing traditional perspectives on how we can collectively shape our world, acknowledging that we each play a role, aside from government, the media, and other influences, in keeping hope and creating a better future for coming generations.
Explore this archive of past peace tree ceremonies:
The 32nd Peace Tree Ceremony was presided over by Kody Grant, Isleta Pueblo/Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Grant's public lecture, “Trading Jackets: Historical Perspectives to Modern Connections,” followed the ceremony.
View the 2024 CeremonyThe 2023 ceremony was presided over by Tadodaho Sidney Hill, Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The 2023 ceremony was held before the Fall Forum "THIS LAND WAS ALREADY LOVED: Native Leaders discuss their Nations’ Connection to Place".
View 2023 CeremonyCelebrating the 30th Anniversary Peace Tree Ceremony with Guest of Honor artist Marie Watt
Learn more: 2022 Peace Tree CeremonyThe 2021 Peace Tree Ceremony returned with a hybrid celebration with guest of honor Mervyn L. Tano, an attorney who for the past 25 years has served as president of the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management.
Learn more: 2021 Peace Tree CeremonyDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Native American Studies peace tree ceremony was a small, private event involving just six people.
Learn more: 2020 Peace Tree CeremonyPresided over by Jamie Jacobs, Turtle Clan, Tonawanda Seneca, a descendant of historic Seneca leaders. Mr. Jacobs’s public lecture, ”The Seneca and the Great Law of Peace" followed the ceremony.
Learn more: 2019 Peace Tree CeremonyThe 26th ceremony welcomed guest of honor Sarah Kastelic, executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, an organization that seeks to protect Native American children and preserve families.
Learn more: 2018 Peace Tree CeremonyWith guest of honor Chief Oren R. Lyons (Onondaga Nation), Faithkeeper, Turtle Clan, Haudenosaunee Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy & Chairman Emeritus of the Honoring Nations Board of Governors, Harvard University Project on American Indian.
Learn more: 2017 Peace Tree CeremonyBy Anna M. Schein, Emerita WVU Librarian and Native American Studies Committee Member, Author of White Pine Spirit of Peace: The WVU Peace Tree
The WVU Peace Tree was planted on September 12, 1992, to commemorate the University's commitment to the rediscovery of America's Indian heritage. Chief Leon Shenandoah, Tadodaho (Presiding Moderator) of the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, and Chippewa Chief Robert TallTree, also a musician, artisan and storyteller, were invited to plant and bless the tree. On August 8, 1996, vandals cut down the Peace Tree. A second Peace Tree, which still stands today, was planted by Mohawk Chief Jake Swamp on October 19, 1996.
Image courtesy of WVRHC (023696) memorializes the first planting of the 'Peace Tree' in Woodburn Circle in 1992. Chief Shenandoah is pictured in the background to the right, Talltree is beside him, but is cut off in picture.
According to Haudenosaunee oral tradition, the Creator sent a Peacemaker to unite the warring Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Onondaga Nations by planting the original Tree of Peace at Onondaga ca. 1000 A.D. The Tree marked the formation of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. As told by Chief Jake Swamp, when the Tree was planted, the Peacemaker told the first leaders:
This will be the symbol that we will use.
The white pine
will be the symbol of peace.
Now the greenery of this tree
will represent the peace you have agreed to.
Every time you look at this tree
and its greenery,
you will be reminded of this peace you agreed to
because this tree
never changes color the year round,
it’s always green,
so shall be your peace.
To learn more about the meaning and history of the Peace Tree, read Paul Wallace’s White Roots of Peace (Clear Light Publishing, April 1994) and for more on the WVU Peace Tree, see: Schein, Anna M., ed. 2005. White Pine Spirit of Peace: The WVU Peace Tree. Morgantown, W. Va.: Office of the Provost, West Virginia University. 82 pp.
