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Anishinaabe - Part II
Posted Wed, April 8, 2009 - 9:43 PM
nativeamerica, language, minnesota
Following up on my earlier post about Anishinaabe language, history and culture.
With the rise of writing, near 100% literacy in many countries, efficient distribution networks for various forms of writing, and especially, the Internet, the oral tradition that has contributed to human culture for arguably hundreds of thousands of years now seems like it could fade away as a quaint vestige of the past. (And yes... I feel the irony of talking about it this way.)
But still, that's not how people work - even the biggest iPhone and Crackberry fanboyz still like to get together and just talk. Stories about the trivial, the sublime, and everything in between flow over cups of coffee, mugs of beer, or crackling campfires every single day all over the world. And what child isn't happy to hear a bedtime story?
Part II. The power of a story
Part of the character of a such a story comes from the character of the storyteller - their experiences and their cultural background. This is a sample of Anishinaabe storytelling. It was transcribed by John Nichols from taped conversations with Maude Kegg, who was born in central Minnesota near Lake Mille Lacs in 1904. She's reminiscing about her childhood years, when she was out walking one day with onookomis (her grandmother.) You are strongly encouraged to imagine this told over the aforementioned campfire. Or a kitchen table on a summer afternoon. Or the local no-name roadhouse on a winter evening.
... Inzhaashaaginizide gaye, basikawaanagwaa ingiw asiniinsag imaa ani-bimoseyan. Baanimaa go imaa gaa-bimooded mikinaakoons enda-agaashiinyi. Mii imaa izhi-inaabiyaan idigo naa gaa-wanoodewaad mikinaakoonsag. Mii go biijinag gii-paashkaawe'owaad.
"Wewiib," ikido aabanaabamid, "jibwaa-onaagoshig ji-dagoshinaang iwidi endayaang."
"Gaawiin," indinaa, "niwii-naganaasiig ingiw mikinaakoonsag. Dibi ge-izhaawaagwen."
Enda-nishkaadizi. "Wiiwegin imaa gigoodaazhishing! Maamigin! Zaaga'iganiing ga-ani-izhaamin," ikido.
Mii imaa endazhitaayaan maamiginagwaa baabii'id imaa, maamiginagwaa ingoji go nisimidana, niibowa sa go mikinaakoonsag, imaa ingoodaazhenzhishing ezhi-wiiweginagwaa, bimoseyaang.
Gomaapii dash igo azhigwa geget zaaga'igan imaa ayaamagad. "Mii imaa o-bagidin," ikido, "mii ingiw mikinaakoonsag." Mii ini-bimoseyaang gaa-izhi-izhaayaang imaa jiigibig, miish imaa bezhig ezhi-bagidinagwaa imaa nibiikaang.
... I was barefoot and kicked the stones as we walked along. All of a sudden there was a real small turtle crawling along. When I looked, there were a lot of turtles crawling around. They had just hatched.
"Hurry up," she said, turning to look at me, "so we can get home before evening."
"No," I told her, "I won't leave these little turtles. I wonder where they are going?"
She was just mad. "Wrap them in your skirt! Pick them up! We'll go by a lake on our way," she said.
And so I got busy and picked them up while she waited for me, picked up about thirty, a whole bunch of those turtles, and wrapped them in my little skirt as we walked along.
Sure enough, after a while there was a lake. "Go and put those turtles in," she said. As we went by the shore, I released them one by one into the water.
(Kegg, Maude. Portage Lake: Memories of an Ojibwe Childhood. ed. Nichols, John D. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN)