This blog really started as a Cree language blog over two years ago. Back then, all I wanted to do was celebrate and explore nêhiyawêwin. It was a way for me to keep using my language even though I had moved to Montreal and was far from my home territory. I have spoken often of…
Category: Plains Cree
Undermined at every turn: the lie of the failed native farm on the Prairies.
What do you know about farming among the Prairie nations? Here’s what I knew. I knew that after the annihilation of our main economic base, the buffalo, native peoples in the Prairies were encouraged to become farmers. I knew that ‘experts’ were sent by Indian Affairs to teach on-reserve populations how to farm. I knew…
napatêhkasikan, my pumpkin pie adventure.
napatêhkasikan cî ahpô wîhkihkasikan? Pie, or cake? Answering “both” is of course understandable, but I like to think that just as some people are ‘dog’ people while others are ‘cat’ people, some of us will take a pie over a cake any day. The harvest season here in Quebec is different than in Alberta, as…
Cree kinship terms
In the Language and Culture Links section of this blog I used to link to a Cree Family Unit site that I stumbled across years ago. Unfortunately it is no longer available, and the site domain which is saskschools.ca has been taken over by some spam site. (I’m keeping the next paragraph just in case…
ninikamon
ninikamon, I sing. About thirteen years ago, I finally picked up a guitar and started to learn how to play. I can’t say that over a decade of playing has made me a particularly proficient guitarist though. At times I have spent up to five hours a day practising, and then in other periods of…