INDIAN TOWNSHIP – It began with a single word: woliwon.

In the Passamaquoddy language, it means “thank you.”

The word had been sewn onto a piece of cloth decorated with U.S. flags and draped over the basketball hoop in the Indian Township Elementary School gymnasium.

Pupils and staff members said woliwon Wednesday to all those men and women who serve and have served as firefighters, police officers, health care providers and teachers.

And although the magnitude of what was going on in the world Wednesday was lost on the very young, many of the pupils paid tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

They began by sitting in a circle where, the Passamaquoddy believe, there is no beginning or end. Tradition requires that the young sit inside the circle, the adults stand outside. They are there to protect the inner circle.

“This is a symbol of why we are together and why we are one. It is this kind of unity, this kind of community, that we seek to preserve,” said Wayne Newell, director of bilingual and bicultural education programs at Indian Township.

Newell said it was a time to remember the victims of Sept. 11 and the “senseless violence” the United States struggled through last year. He said it also was a time to pay tribute to the tribe’s police officers and others, “those people who on a daily basis offer services to us. They care for us.”

Tribal elder Joan Dana then offered a prayer of peace in her native language.

Newell and Blanch Sockabasin followed with the Honor Song. “It symbolizes the need to walk together,” Newell said.

Next came a smudging ceremony. Fanning an eagle feather over some smoke, Dana walked from person to person in the circle and waved the smoke over each. It was part of the purification ceremony that is so important to the Passamaquoddy.

There also was a surprise tribute to tribal member Franklin Grant, who recently graduated from Lee Academy. Grant was honored for his determination in the face of sorrow.

Grant, who lost his father and another family member, continued with his education and helped lead his baseball team to an Eastern Maine championship. In November, Grant plans to join the U.S. Marine Corps.

After the ceremony, the children were presented with a pencil that bore the American flag.