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
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!
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
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, describing the colour of a non-living thing. For example: The book is blue – masinahikan sīpihkwāw or sīpihkwāw masinahikan
black – kaskitīwāw
blue – sīpihkwāw
brown – wīskwastīwinākwan
green – askihtakwāw
grey – wāpitīwinākwan/kaskāpahtīwinākwan
orange – atōspīwinākwan
pink – wāpikwanīwinākwan
purple – sīpihkomiskwāw
red – mithkwāw / miskwāw
white – wāpiskāw
yellow – osāwāw
Animate, describing the colour of a living thing. For example: The wolf is white – mahihkan wāpiskisiw or wāpiskisiw mahihkan
For Inanimate Colours go here ⇒
black – kaskitīsiw
blue – sīpihkosiw
brown – wīskwastīwinākosiw
green – askihtakosiw
grey – wāpitīwinākosiw / kaskāpahtīwinākosiw
orange – atōspīwinākosiw
pink – wāpikwanīwinākosīw
purple – sīpihkomiskosiw
red – mithkosiw / miskosiw
white – wāpiskisiw
yellow – osāwisiw
November 2019, is the most most successful month for this website. A total of 3457 views and 2018 visitors altogether.
The year 2019, saw 23, 256 views and 14, 206 visitors. More than tripling 2018, in both views and visitors.
Many countries have visited my website. The list is impressive but I am sure that many hits are by accident, especially from the countries overseas.
My Facebook likes have climbed from 100 in November 2018, to 1800 in November 2019. The First Nation Stories Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/firstnationstories/)
From the words of Cree Teacher, Simon Bird – kinanāskomitin = I thank you/I am thankful for you/I am grateful for you (#CreeSimonSays).
These are nouns I have seen listed in Cree class at Sally Ross School, where I teach grade 5/6.
iskwīw – woman
nāpīw – man
iskwīsis – girl
nāpīsis – boy
pōsīs – cat
pōsīsis – kitten
atim – dog
acimosis – puppy
iswahtīm – door
wāsīnamān – window
mīcisowināhtik – table
tihtapiwin – chair
othākanis – cup
mohkomān – knife
cīstahasīpon – fork
imihkwānis – spoon
othākan – plate
masinahikan – book
masinahikanāhkcikos – pencil
Image source – PIXABAY , just enter into the search box and you can get FREE images.
Sally Ross School – http://llribedu.ca/sally-ross-school/
The term, more or less means, that there is space or room.
The first memory I have of the word was when I was a boy, maybe about 5 or 6. My uncle Tony, yelled out “tawāw,” when somebody was knocking at the door.
nimosōm – my grandfather used to tell me so many stories about people that lived here or near here. He was a great storyteller and may have taken many liberties with the details. I loved to hear those stories and made my imagination very active with thought and wonder. I give credit to those stories to the storytelling I do with this website, passing on a tradition in a modern way. I also used to tell stories to my children off the top of my head, just to entertain them. I have forgotten more stories than I have on this website.
I remember one story about Hall Lake, where he told me that when he arrived on the lake from a portage, he heard a moose splashing around the shore of the lake. He went further and heard another moose going into the lake in another part of the lake. He heard one more near the mouth of one of the rivers, we have two but he didn’t say which one. I could not imagine that happening in this day and age, nor the time he was telling me the story because there were already many houses and people on the reserve. By the way, Hall Lake in Cree, is mōso-sākahikanisīsihk, according to my late grandfather.
Hall Lake – mōso-sākahikanisīsihk
nimosōm – my grandfather
