Category Archives: cv-BLOG

A blog of my thoughts.

Rubber Boot at the Window – kinokātīwaskisin wāsīnamānihk

Whenever there was a big thunderstorm, my late grandmother would put a rubber boot at the window. Thunderbirds do not like rubber boots and it drives them away, it worked every time.

awīyak kāstāt kinokātīwaskisin wāsīnamānihk, pithīsowak kita-pōni kitowak

When someone puts a rubber boot at the window, the Thunderbirds will stop calling

Thunderbird
Not an actual Thunderbird.

 

Fellow LLRIB Member – Russell Mirasty, is the new lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan.

Russell Mirasty will be sworn-in at a ceremony at Government House in Regina on Thursday morning. (Troy Fleece/The Canadian Press)

If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you have heard that a fellow Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) member of mine, has become the new lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan, Russel Mirasty. He was appointed by Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. “‘I was humbled to receive the phone call from the Prime Minister and I was very pleased to accept his request to serve as Her Majesty’s representative in Saskatchewan,’ Mirasty said in a statement”. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/russell-mirasty-new-lieutenant-governor-1.5214813)

I have personally met the lieutenant governor a handful of times and every time, he was the perfect gentlemen. He was very articulate, a well spoken man. He assisted our band with community safety meetings and advised us on ideas that can be utilized by the communities. While I was not involved with the meeting, I was the one who shot the video and took the pictures. The following YouTube video is one that I posted for our LLRIB channel:

He was recently interviewed by our local radio station, MBC Radio, and his fluent Cree was excellent. As I have said, I have met him before but he only spoke English. In the interview, his Cree was very familiar because he spoke as one of us, a La Rongian Cree that is distinct from the other outlaying communities. You would have to be a local to understand but I am sure there are similarities in your communities as well.

While I do not necessarily pay attention to politics, I think this is a good thing for our province. From the comments on the CBC article, many people are in full agreement to this appointment, of the NEW lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan.

Congratulations Russell Mirasty!

CBC Saskatchewan – ‘This is historic’: Indigenous leaders applaud choice of Russell Mirasty as new Sask. Lt.-Gov.

Sask. has a new Lieutenant Governor

It’s been a long time since Sasquatch was photographed, I wonder if he is still alive?

This meme was inspired from several Facebook memes I’ve seen this past week.

tāpwī kayās aspin kā-masinipīsimīt mistāpīw, matwānicī kīyāpic pimātisiw?

Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay

Woodland Cree Names – nīhithow wihthowina

The following names are ones I have heard locally as real names or nicknames. I did not use or suggest any derogatory names from insults or body parts.

There are audio clips included, however, the names are sometimes pronounced differently. This blog post is just for fun and not a proper list to go by. Any suggestions are welcome, thank you.

Phonetic or suggested spelling Standard Roman Orthography (SRO) Meaning
Iskwesis or Skwesis iskwīsis girl
Nitanis or Tanis nitānis my daughter
Iskwew or Skwew iskwīw woman
Napew nāpīw man
Achahkos acāhkos star
Sekwun sīkwan spring (season)
Kona kōna snow
Pesim pīsim sun, also means month and moon
Wapun wāpan dawn
Sakastew sākāstīw sunrise
muskwa maskwa bear
mahigun or mahikan mahihkan wolf
Makeses mahkīsīs fox
Wapos wāpos rabbit
Sekos sihkos weasel
Mikisew mikisiw bald – eagle
Niska niska goose
Wapisew wāpisiw swan
Tipiskaw tipiskāw night

 

The Money I Make – sōniyāw kōsihak

A total of $110 was transferred to my bank account, when I only had $2 to my name.

My website has had ads on since 2012 and from then to October 2018, I made a total of about $10.61, that is it.

From November 2018 until June 21, 2019, I made $104.44 in ads because I started creating and developing more content in stories, Cree translations and memes.

I use the lowest ads setting because I do not want too many intrusive ads on my website. It takes longer to make money and a developer must wait until there is a threshold of $100 before money is transferred to a bank account.

So, this is the first I have ever made a dime on this great website, and it only took seven years, ha ha. I put so much work into my website, but it does not feel like work. It is a privilege for me to be able to provide a bit of entertainment and to share my stories with the fine visitors to my website and followers of my Facebook page.

My work is almost completely independent, no grants or funding of any kind. It is a labour of love and I will continue to keep the website online, as long as I am capable.

ninanāskimon kā ayimihtāyin nitācathohkīwina. Thank you for reading my stories.

Money – sōniyāw

The Money I Make – sōniyāw kōsihak

My money – nisōniyām

Your money – kisōniyām

 

 

 

I had a dream – ikī pawātamān

Betsy's Dreamcatchers website image
http://betsysdreamcatchers.com/?page_id=44

Like most people, I had a dream last night. I had the power of flight and I flew over my home community of Hall Lake in the middle of the night. Flying just over the treetops with wind going over me. It was an amazing feeling but as I flew and started giving my power more thought, I started to lose control of my flight and even started to descend. Terrible, but it was nice while it lasted.

I had read stories about how a wihtikō can fly into the south wind and had a dream about later. It was cool to fly into the wind like that because it was like being a human kite.

I remember one time my mom told me she dreamt of herself throwing away, fish. One after another she was throwing them away. She vividly remembered and wondered out loud what it might have meant. She figured it was symbolic of wasting money. I honestly didn’t know myself, but I always enjoy hearing about dreams and how silly they can become. I even try to “interpret”, as it were but I doubt I am ever correct.

Betsy’s Website image
http://betsysdreamcatchers.com/?page_id=126

What do dreams actually mean? According to the Dream Dictionary website:

Symbols are the language of dreams. A symbol can invoke a feeling or an idea and often has a much more profound and deeper meaning than any one word can convey. At the same time, these symbols can leave you confused and wondering what that dream was all about.

According to Psychology Today website: “Dreams are the stories the brain tells during sleep—they’re a collection of clips, images, feelings, and memories that involuntarily occur during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of slumber.” I concur with both explanations

I forget most of my dreams in the morning but when they are vivid, I remember them forever. I’ve had series of nightmares and series of great dreams that made me happy. Some made me sad but when I think of those, I cannot recreate the feeling when I’m awake or grasp the deep sadness. Some feelings in dreams are so different that I never feel them when awake. That is fascinating to me because it is really like dreams are another world or another universe even.

Betsy's Website image
http://betsysdreamcatchers.com/?page_id=44 

While I’m on the subject of dreams, please check out my aunties website that I built for her to showcase her creations:  http://betsysdreamcatchers.com/

pawātamowin – dream

ī-pawātamān – I am dreaming

https://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/dreaming

My friend’s clock that is written in Cree – niwīcīwākan opīsimohkāna ka-nīhithowī-masinahikāsothit

I recently completed a Cree clock for niwīcīwākan (a friend of mine). It shows his ōsi (boat) on Bigstone Lake, SK. Beautiful shot and makes a great Woodland Cree Clock, don’t you think.

My friend’s clock that is written in Cree – niwīcīwākan opīsimohkāna ka-nīhithowī-masinahikāsothit

My friend – niwīcīwākan

masinipīsinowin – picture or photograph

pīsimohkān – Clock

ōsi – boat

More references to “boat,” can be found on the link below:

Sources: http://sapir.artsrn.ualberta.ca/itwewina/eng/crk/?lookup=boat

 

 

Bad Cree Names for Dogs – maci nīhithow wihthowina, atimwak ohci

maci wihthowina, atimwak ohci – Bad Names for Dogs

atim – dog

atimwak – dogs

pahpi – laugh

awas – go away

āstam – come here

kīwī – go home

api – sit down

cīskwa – wait

Body Parts in Woodland Cree

Body parts are in first person possessive using the prefix “n” before each word. For your information, only family terms are used in this post.

niyaw – my body


natay – my stomach


nistikwān – my head

nikwayaw – my neck


niskīsik – my eye

niskīsikwa – my eyes

nikot – my nose


nitōn – my mouth

nīpit – my tooth

nīpita – my teeth

nitīthaniy – my tongue


nihtawakay – my ear

nihtawakaya – my ears


nicihciy – my hand

nicihciya – my hands


nispiton – my arm

nispitona – my arms


nisit – my foot

nisita – my feet

niskāt – my leg

niskāta – my legs


I mainly used the ITWEWINA website below to help with possessive and singular terms. It is a great resource as you can see from the screenshot below featuring “eye.”

Here is the link: http://sapir.artsrn.ualberta.ca/itwewina/detail/crk/eng/misk%C3%AEsik.html?no_compounds=true&lemma_match=true

I hope this has been helpful, if you notice any mistakes or have a question, please do not hesitate to ask.

ī-wāpahtamān niyaw kāpasikowān – I saw my body when I got up

On February 2009, nikī-akosīn – I was sick. My head was killing me, and phlegm escaped from me with a vengeance. I had a dream of being dead and getting up in another dimension of sorts. The dream was confusing at first, but I was able to recall everything. The following is a present-tense narrative of that day/night.

I go to bed and hope the pain is gone in the morning. My flu-like symptoms ravaged me since the day before and I wonder how much longer I will suffer. I lay in bed hoping sleep will come soon as I close my weary eyes and hope the pain goes away.

I open my eyes to know that I am better, I sit up on my bed and see a strange sight before me, I see myself lying on the bed. I am astonished to see myself, am I still sleeping? I get up to look once more. This place I live in 101 Reserve used to be jumping with activity. I get up to walk to the hallway and as I walk I can see that it is daytime, something I did not notice when I got up because my windows were covered with a dark blanket.

I go into the hallway and look ahead. There is activity, I see my late auntie Jill in the kitchen area looking after some children I do not recognize. She talks to them and feeds them. She has the look of happiness as she smiles and comforts those who seem to need her and her caring demeanor. As I look while I am halfway through the hallway, my late grandfather comes out of my then living grandmother’s room. He looks at me: “tīniki kā-pīkīyokīn” (thank you for visiting) he says.

As he walks me through the house, he tells me that Jill is taking care of children who have passed at an earlier time. The children were unfamiliar to me and he said I would not know them, they passed before I was born. Jill is their caretaker who is looking after them at this time. I asked about his late father Daniel and he said that he was out visiting the living to see how they were doing. I asked what he was doing in my grandmother’s room and he said he was visiting her. He said we can’t be seen by the living and we can’t see them unless we allow it to happen. He said he was just checking on her to see how she was doing. My grandmother was doing fine at the time and she loved having me and my daughter in her home.

I didn’t step out of the house but I imagined it looked the same as it did before I passed. My grandfather said I can visit who I want but not to let them see me, it would be too frightening to the living. I look to watch my late auntie Jill taking the children out to play, she did not acknowledge me. She was too busy taking care of the children. My grandfather had his arm on me and hugged me and thanked me again for visiting. Visiting, I thought I am just visiting, maybe I am still alive, I thought of my body on the bed.

I wake up in the same position as I was when I was sleeping.

I told very few people of this dream but it has been on my mind for the longest time. It was a great dream to have.

ī-wāpahtamān niyaw kāpasikowān – I saw my body when I got up

pawātamowin – dream

ī-pawātaman – I am dreaming

nikī-akosīn – I was sick

nipasakwatāmon – I have thick mucus, phlegm.

tīniki kā-pīkīyokīn – thank you for visiting

miyaw – body; corpse, dead body

niyaw – my body

wiyaw – his/her body

Resources:

http://sapir.artsrn.ualberta.ca/itwewina/detail/crk/eng/%C3%A2hkosiw.html?no_compounds=true&lemma_match=true

http://www.creedictionary.com/