Category Archives: cv-BLOG

A blog of my thoughts.

Months in Woodland Cree

I learned these terms during my schooling in the band schools of the LLRIB. They are a bit different from the southern dialects because the seasons move along differently down south. This is how it was explained to us by our Cree teacher, I believe it may have been Mary Cook (In Memorium, opens new window).

 

January – opāwāhcikanasīs

February – kisīpīsim

March – mikisiwipīsim

April – niskipīsim

May – athīkipīsim

June – opiniyāwīwipīsim

July – opaskowipīsim

August – ohpahowipīsim

September – nimitahamowipīsim

October – pimahamowipīsim

November – kaskatinowipīsim

December – thithikopīwipīsim

 

The meanings of the months, can be found in the sources below:

Cree Literacy Network – https://creeliteracy.org/2019/09/05/2020-calendar-solomon-ratt-y-and-th-dialects/

LLRIB LearnCree – http://learncree.ca/yearly-calendar   

Making a Cabin in the Trapline – My early memories

As a very young boy, I remember when nimosōm – my grandfather, started getting his cabin built across the lake from the Pisew Lake landing. Before that, we had been staying in canvas tents up until freeze-up. That next spring, nimosōm and okosisa – his sons, started preparing the area where the new cabin would be built.

I pretty much stayed out of the way because I was too small to help with anything. I wanted to get in on the action that was happening, but I just listened and observed from time to time. I remember the bark being peeled off the logs and the ground getting leveled. nipāpā – my father, is a carpenter so he was very busy with everything that needed to be done. nohkomisak – my uncles, Simon and Abel, were also helping with the cabin and I saw much hauling of logs, boards and sand.

The sand was a curious thing for me at the time because I wondered what the heck they would be using that for. I noticed later that they were putting it on the roof to absorb rainfall. Right away, I thought that maybe the sand would be too heavy and fall through, but the logs they used for the roof were strong enough. It was all very fascinating to me at the time. To see this kind of cooperation was great. They had their little conflicts, but they seemed to resolve them adequately, I did cower a bit when their voices were raised but it was all good.

When it was all done, it looked beautiful. It was bigger than the other old cabins that were nearby. In the winter, it had a canvas tent porch, so that the cabin would have a type of insulation from the bitter cold.

I remember one winter, nohkomis – my uncle Abel, told nisikos – my aunt Elsie, to make a pair of boxing gloves out of cloth and foam material. nohkomis Abel, challenged me to a friendly boxing match. I put up mu dukes and we battled it out and had fun. Unfortunately, my uncle got a bit too zealous and started punching me a little too much. His last punch knocked me on my butt and I banged the side of my head on a small stove. There was no fire at the time, but I was bawling my head off. nohkomis and nisikos, quickly got me some snacks they had stashed away, they needed to keep me quiet and not to tell on them. Great times.

My sisters and nitawīmāw, my cousin, Flora, would still walk back and forth from the cabin to the tent site to visit family. nohkomisak stayed in the tents during the fall and we had to walk along the shore to get there. kotak nisikos, my other aunt, Alice, may have noticed we were getting bored because after a while, she told us that we were going to learn how to set traps for a sākwīsiw – a mink.

I had watched traps being set by my uncles and grandfather and I had set rabbit snares, but I had never set a trap before. I remember feeling unsure about myself because I did not want to get my hand trapped on a leg-hold trap. I reluctantly went along as my sister and cousin seemed more enthusiastic, although they might have been faking it because Alice was a disciplinarian, and we did not want to set her off. Of course, now I realize that she has a kind heart and to this day, always does well at the fish derbies we have in our community. By the way, we never did catch the mink because we soon had to go back to La Ronge. I never asked my aunt Alice if she caught the mink.

I asked nipāpā about the cabin last night, and he said it had burned down. There was another cabin built but it had rotted away somehow. A third cabin was built with the help of my old pal Adam Joe and my cousin Richard. My grandfather loved staying at the trapline, and he went until he couldn’t go there anymore.

nimosōm – my grandfather

okosisa – his/her sons

nipāpā – my father

nisikos – my aunt

nohkomis – my uncle

kotak – other, as in “my other” or “the other”

nitawīmāw – my female cousin (father’s brother’s daughter)

sākwīsiw – a mink

 

Time Off From First Nation Stories Website

I have decided to take some time off from this wonderful website until February break from February 17-21, 2020.  At which time, I can hopefully post stories and Cree blogs for my followers.

I need to spend more time with my teaching career, which has brought me much stress but has also brought me a sense of accomplishment.  I made a career change pretty late in my life and I have felt the painful transition all too well.

I want to do the best for my students and want them to know that I will do the best I can for them through my actions (if I tell them point blank, they would ask me for something, lol). I need to be a better role model and show them that dreams can come true and that they can accomplish anything they put their minds and efforts to. To many of my followers, this is a gimme, but to me, it is still new. I have forgotten how tough it is, to be a kid at that age.

I have spent too much time on this website. I always have it on the back of my mind. I think of stories or blogs I could write and ways of complimenting them with Cree audio and text. It is a good concept and I am glad it has garnered much followers and visitors. When I see a post by Simon Bird or Solomon Ratt, I get inspired to do something similar, to encourage our Cree language. It may still happen, but I don’t always have to act on it. Props to them and many others, for promoting our great language.

I need to give my teaching career my all. I need to stop worrying about going back to my quiet office at the band office and give this great opportunity the best I can. There are many supports at the school to take advantage of and for that, I am grateful. The support I have received is often overlooked by my wandering mind. I want to give my students the best I can offer. I have until June to do so. If I cannot accomplish what I want to do, then I can look elsewhere for employment. The students deserve better than that.

 

cv

 

 

Year End 2019

The year started off with the choice of staying a Web Developer with LLRIB or apply for a teaching job in Hall Lake, my old home reserve. At that point in my life, I had worked as a web developer for nearly 14 years. I decided to give teaching a try after discussing it with my family.

It was nice to be back home in Hall Lake. I knew most of the people from 14 years before, but I did not know who the children were. I worked for Recreation in the 1990s and many of the kids I worked with, had their own kids. I could see many similarities in the children and could sometimes easily guess who their parents or grandparents were.

The familiar faces were all adults now, and I now had to learn new names, something I was never good at. I am glad to say, that I am getting close to fully reacquainting with all the people from my hometown.

This website would continue to be updated because it is my personal website and I finance and maintain it on my dime and time. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and displaying my tech skills. It has been a big year for the website in terms of visitor and viewer growth. Financially, not so much. The last time I received any remuneration, was June 2019: One-hundred dollars. I stand to make another $100 this month. It is all from the ads you see on the website. So, the website, while it brings pleasure and expression of my knowledge and abilities, it is not making me rich.

While the website would continue, the stability of my employment at the time, was about to be very disrupted. I would go from sitting quietly in my office, pressing buttons and collaborating with leaders and directors, to managing a classroom full of 10- and 11-year-old’s, who ask me: “When is it lunch?”

It has been very challenging. Much of my time is spent trying to manage my classroom, but it has gotten easier. The students have warmed up to me and seem to enjoy my short lectures. It is such a joy when a student has a “EUREKA!” moment. I will be explaining and explaining and suddenly, their eyes will light up when they understand. They go quickly go back to their desk all eager to complete their work. It can be awesome. Not once, has a computer or website given me such a feeling of accomplishment.

I will continue teaching until the end of June 2020, at Sally Ross School, and then, who knows. I will see how it goes.

It is winter – īpipohk

I did this video for my Facebook page last year. It came with no translation, but I decided to include it this year. The original comments show varying interpretations and they sound better than mine.

aski māna mithonākwan kā pipohk
kōna māna mithonākoso
īthikohk māna īwāpiskāk aski
āskō māna macikīsikāw
kā tōsāmi mispok, īyati āthimahk pimohtīhowin
nanisīhkāc kāpahkisihk kōna, kwayask mithonākoso
ikwānoma kwayask kitāti māmispok
nākatāpimisok nitōtīmak

The earth looks nice when it is winter
The snow looks beautiful
The earth is so white
Sometimes, the weather is bad
When it snows too much, travel is difficult
When the snow falls gently, it is very beautiful
Now it is going to start snowing more

Take care of yourselves, my friends

 

New Years Day in Woodland Cree

I overheard this term when I was a little from both my maternal and paternal grandparents (literally ‘kissing day’).

Happy New Years from First Nation Stories! I appreciate all the support from the fine people that visit this website, and Facebook Page ⇒ 

Boxing Day – mītawīwikīsikāw

Boxing Day – mītawīwikīsikāw

I got this from the Gift of Language and Culture website – http://giftoflanguageandculture.ca/glcp/calenderfla.htm

“A day for fun and games”

For many of us up North, we usually go sliding on Christmas Day, but Boxing Day is just as good as any.

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

mitho-makosīkīsikanisik – Have a Good Christmas


 

To two or more people

mitho-makosīkīsikanisik

To one person

mitho-makosīkīsikanisi


 

This post was inspired by Solomon Ratt

Plains Cree – Y dialect  by Simon Bird on the #CreeSimonSays YouTube channel

 

First Christmas in our New House – Hall Lake 1982

When my parents got the house in Hall Lake, we got our first family Christmas tree ourselves. We made our own decorations. My mother looked stressed out at the time because it was the first house that our family ever had. Until then, we had been living at my maternal grandparent’s house until I was about 8 years old. We lived in a cabin at Pesiw Lake but this was the first time we had a real house.

My mom – nimāmā, wanted to get to get a tree for Christmas like we did at my grandmother and grandfathers house. My dad – nipāpā, had been out line-cutting and would not be back until after Christmas. It was up to my mom to get the tree.

We got our tree but, we did not have many decorations. My mom received some leftover décor from my grandparents, so she cut up some of them and taped the golden strips onto our angel, which was just a cardboard cutout. She made the angel look beautiful. She was happy to see our delighted expressions as she held it up.

My siblings and I joined in to make a chain out of coloured construction paper and made ornaments out of paper cutouts. We did have tinsel and that added a sparkling look to our dismally bald tree.

nimāmā always did the best she could for us. She knew we were used to the big Christmas feasts we had at 101 Reserve and she tried her best to bring cheer to us. We were seemingly isolated from all the family we knew, and she had to do what she could.

The Christmas presents were already purchased while we were in La Ronge at kōmpanihk – The Bay. They were wrapped and not too well hidden. I tried peeking at what was inside them, but I couldn’t do it without ripping the paper. I tried telling by the weight of the present and by the feel of it. I couldn’t even guess what it was.

On a side note, I posted a question on what “kōmpanihk” means on La Ronge Cree Language Group and my friend James Eninew gave me the answer. It means “At the company” in Creenglish (Cree and English mixed together). Thank you James. 

 

nikāwiy – my mother

nimāmā – my mother (the way most of us say it in La Ronge)

nohtāwiy – my father

nipāpā – my father (the way most of us say it in La Ronge)

mistik – tree

mistikwak – trees

 

La Ronge Cree Language Group – Facebook Group

 

Inanimate Colours in Woodland Cree

Inanimate, describing the colour of a non-living thing. For example: The book is blue – masinahikan sīpihkwāw or sīpihkwāw masinahikan

For Animate Colours go here ⇒


black – kaskitīwāw


blue – sīpihkwāw


brown – wīskwastīwinākwan


green – askihtakwāw


grey – wāpitīwinākwan/kaskāpahtīwinākwan


orange – atōspīwinākwan


pink – wāpikwanīwinākwan


purple – sīpihkomiskwāw


red – mithkwāw / miskwāw


white – wāpiskāw


yellow – osāwāw