Tools

The Importance of Speaking Our Language
By Bill LeBlanc

The soul of the tribe and the sovereignty of the Indian nation is in its adherence to culture and its language, while at the same time becoming attuned to the educational and economic values in the predominant social system. In the 1920s, Bay Mills Indian Community as it’s now knows, was subjected to a certain amount of isolation and segregation from communities as close as Brimley. Brimley was only occasionally visited to take advantage of slightly bigger markets available there. Many of the Bay Mills people walked to the store and carried their purchases home in a pack usually made out of a burlap bag.

Despite this isolation, it seemed to the people of that day that they must become adapted to the language of the broader community. The only nearby schools available were taught only in English. The Indian day and boarding schools minimized references to Native cultural values and language.

The elders of the late 1920s were the last tribal members who regularly spoke the Ojibwe language (Anishinaabemowin). Many of them lost their language when they were sent away to federally mandated boarding schools, such as the Mt. Pleasant Indian School my mother and her siblings attended in the early 1900s. Native languages were still banned when I went there and to Haskell a generation later from (DATES). My generation and those that came before me had to know English in order to succeed in the logging camps and mills, and to market their furs and other gathered forest foods. They needed it to read the local newspapers, legal documents, treaties, and many other important documents.

This is why I so value the Bay Mills Community College Anishinaabemowin program. I see these classes as a link to the past and the means by which a firm step may be made into the future.

The language studies are being conducted under a format called “immersion.” Generally, that means surrounding yourself with the sounds and meaning of a mode of communication. Immersion studies are based on a concept of hearing over and over again various subjects and stories with the premise that so many hours of familiarization will bring the student to the state of understanding. Ultimately, it enables the student to speak. Students are encouraged to read other materials and to become familiar with Indian words. Teachers utilize skits to give the student an opportunity to relate the words to actions and to learn the body language important to the communicative process. A general precept of the learning process is to make the study as near like that which a child would encounter in his or her home.

The child goes through several stages that include hearing, exploratory sounds, interaction with a family member, and eventually the use of simple words to initiate the actual communication. It is of course difficult to imitate the child’s learning methods in a classroom, but the fact that you can converse and even read this essay proves how successful it is.

To learn the language today, it is important to stay at it. Try to find someone who speaks and then practice some dialogue like what Kyle offers us here. Take a class, or start one. There are so many websites and books available with easy-to-learn lessons in them. Powwows are a great place to find them, or go online to anishinaabemowinpane.com. We have students who’ve been at it for a number of years who can carry on simple conversations. Some are actually teaching children how to speak.

It is the hope of the founders of the Bay Mills Community College Language Program that many of the students will eventually become teachers of the language. As the program says about its approach: “The teaching and learning process of these programs are developed in a manner that is unique and dynamic, Nishnaabe driven, and attempts to make a difference in the lives of the learners. In past history, the educational experiences of Nishnaabe people have not been pleasant and their rich culture largely unappreciated. This has changed dramatically in the past few years with the ever increasing awareness and enhancement of pride in this rich heritage. “

It should be noted that in addition to the importance of the Native language classes, they are really fun! DO YOU HAVE A STORY??

Each learning experience brings about a great deal of satisfaction. (Find out more at the program website: http://bmcc.edu/ProgramsFaculty/certificateprograms.html#nls)

Language studies have always been a part of the successful college program and the reinstitution of Ojibwe as our first language should give our young people the confidence and pride they need to handle the challenges of higher education. That is so necessary to succeed in the world we are a part of today.

Miigwetch miinwaa baamaapii!

Spectacle Lake yields first wild rice harvest
By Kalvin D. Perron
Staff Reporter, Bay Mills News.

BAY MILLS — A decade after the first wild rice seed was planted in the waters of Spectacle Lake, a group of Bay Mills members with assistance from Ojibwe Charter School students and staff, harvested the first batch of the indigenous species Thursday, Sept. 23.

The wild rice was first planted in 1994, in small amounts, in Spectacle Lake as well as the Back Bay. The following year Terry Carrick, with help from former Bay Mills Biologists Ken and Anne Gephardt, assessed how well the seed was taking in each location. Their assessments concluded that the fluctuating water levels in the Back Bay did not a provide a conducive environment for the seed and decided to concentrate all their efforts on Spectacle Lake. An assessment from a Chippewa Ottawa Treaty Fishery Management Authority (COTFMA) — now the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority (CORA) — representative took water samples from several locations and also concluded that Spectacle Lake provided the best environment for the seed to flourish.

The wild rice seed was obtained from different tribes in Wisconsin and Minnesota using money from the Circle of Flight Program, initially funded in 1991 for waterfowl and wetland enhancement programs. The tribe purchased a special strain of wild rice that was proven to grow well in the waters of Lake Superior. After planting the seed it immediately began to flourish.

This marks the first year that the wild rice was harvested. The two-to-three gallon harvest was collected by Carrick, along with Marie Cameron, Wanda Perron and Agnes Carrick. It had been left unharvested for years so the seed would replant itself.

To harvest the seed they had to paddle into the wild rice crops using canoes, and gently tap the plant with two wooden sticks. After tapping the tops of the plants, the rice fell into a bucket which they used for collection.

Preparing wild rice is a little more complicated. It first must be spread out and dried in the sun. It is then cooked, or parched, over a hardwood fire in a skillet seasoned with burnt green grass. Then, it is put into a pit lined with deer skin and thrashed. Traditionally, thrashing the rice was done by dancing on it gently, which was done to separate the husk. After the husks are separated the rice is then winnowed, or fanned. This is done to blow all the husks away. After the rice is winnowed it is ready to eat.

Although this year marks the first year the rice has been harvested, Carrick hopes to see much more in the future. With the Back Bay pretty much out of the question, Carrick said other areas have to be explored to plant the crop. One area of particular concern is the 460 acre wetland reserve in the heart of the Bay Mills Indian Reservation. Carrick hopes someday to see some wetland enhancement projects on the reserve, which could include wild rice.

With their first wild rice harvest behind them, Carrick wants to remind people that none of this would have been possible without the support of the tribe. He added that the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) was also instrumental in the project, as well as tribal Biologist Paul Ripple.

Bay Mills News, October 7, 2004:
http://www.baymills.org/newspaper/2004/10-07/100704-news-wildrice.shtml

permalink:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060227080227/http://www.baymills.org/newspa...

The Making of a Dewegan (Drum)

"There are many ways to make a dewegan as three are several different kinds of deweganag and different teachings to follow. One way is to first gather the necessary materials: a dewegan ring; waawaashkeshi-weyaan (deer hide), laces and a migizi-miigwan (eagle feather). These items are then smudged with mshkodewashk (sage), wiingashk,(sweet grass) or giizhik(cedar). Any or all of these gchitwaa-mshkiki may be used to purify items before assembly. Also, before assembling the dewegan, participants fast and/or feast the items to honor the spirit of each individual item used.

The dewegan ring is made of wood. Sometimes a tree trunk, usually cedar, is hollowed out and cut to about 20 inches in depth. The migizi-miigwan is put in the dewegan suspended by lace, to ask the spirit of that miigwan for help and strength for the dewegan.

The deer hide is prepared by scraping all the hair and meat off, then soaked in water to soften and make the hide stretchable. The hide, while still wet, is the stretched over both ends and tied with the laces. When the hide drys it will shrink and tighten to form a very taut and resonant face on both sides of the dewegan. The deweganaatigoog (drum sticks) are then made of fiberglass rods wrapped with yarn and covered with leather.

The e-dewegejig (drummers) then learn nagamowinan (songs), choose a dewegan keeper, lead singer, and a name for their group."

Jiingtamok! Anishinaabemowin Manual

I and some of my classmates went to go collect flint. The way we did it was we had to grab a big rock and smash it against the rock face and then it would come loose. Thats how we had gotten it. Later on that day we made a fire with a striker and some dry birch bark. The striker was metal and it fit around our hand. Then we would strike the striker against the flint and set the birch bark on the flint so the sparks could catch to the bark.

As a means for starting fires, flint was a valuable trade item throughout the region, and flint shards have often been found in ancient Native settlement sites, sometimes far from the origin of the flint. Steel is presently used as the striker because it's harder, easier to form, and more convenient, yet before the advent of steel, harder stones sufficed.

The housing primarily used during the colder months of the year, was the wigwam. It was occupied from fall through spring, in their wintering grounds. The rest of the time, they resided in summer housing, which in many cases, was close to the lakes, rivers and streams. The only thing our ancestors would take from each house to move to the next, was the floor mats.

The winter housing, or the wigwam, was constructed in a circular shape. Large saplings were filed down into points at each end and would be placed in the ground, approximately two feet apart, forming a circular shape. From there, the two saplings sitting opposite from each other would be arched to form a roof, where they would be tied together with sinew. This would be repeated a couple of times again to ensure a sturdy roof. From there more saplings were tied horizontally along the vertical roof saplings. This would support the matting on the outside and inside of the wigwam. Once the outside of the wigwam was constructed, the inside would also then have mats to create more insulation on the inside walls. Then for the floor, platforms were constructed that served as bedding and shelving for their supplies.

The summer housing, was a rectangular shape, approximately ten feet in width and up to twenty feet long. The structure consisted of poles of cedar. They would place 4 large posts of cedar in the ground as the main structure for the outer walls. Then longer poles are then bound to the top of the corner posts at the top for the roof line. Then they would fill in the walls with posts that were bound together horizontally approximately three feet apart. They would leave an opening for the smoke to escape, and a doorway, which the rest of the structure was then covered in sheets of bark. Some of these sheets were up to six feet in length. For the rain to be able to wash away from the structure instead of inside, the grain of the bark were placed vertically on the structure.

Often times when a family or tribe needed shelter but only for a short period of time, they would construct a tipi-like house. These were often used for hunting, ricing, and maple sugaring. There were also several other types of housing for special purposes used by the Ojibwe.

The menstrual hut was a small, almost tipi-like structure so a female may remove herself from her tribe and family to stay during her menstrual cycle. Her family would supply her with food, but she wasn't to touch anyone else, for it would bring bad things.

A sweat lodge was similar in construction as to a wigwam where it would be perfectly sealed to allow the steam from the hot rocks to put moisture into the air inside the structure. This was how one's body and spirit would have been purified, especially in ceremonial occasions.

And the medicine lodge was more like their summer housing, but it could range in length up to one hundred feet.

The drum is recognized as a separate entity and represents a liaison with our Creator, containing thunder and lightning, and when struck calls the Creators attention and the spirits of our forefathers. The care and maintenance of the drum is delegated to responsible families at various yearly intervals through a delicate selection process. The first son of the selected family are then entitled to be referred to as "Drum Keeper". The consensus of American Indian people is the blessings derived by the Drum Keeper and his family for the care and maintenance that All Native People will be bountiful.
In Native traditions it is believed that the drum is a living thing & the spirit of the animals & trees of which the drum is made, live in the drum. When a drum finds a partner , it is a life-long relationship. Drumming can provide solace, relief from anger, courage when afraid, unites drummer with all life form - a single heartbeat restoring balance & harmony, which can heal & soothe the mind & reach our very soul.
http://web.archive.org/web/20071223102843/http://www.allnativedrums.com/

Different tribes have different traditions about the drum and how to play it, but the basic construction is very similar in most tribes: a wooden frame or a carved and hollowed-out log, with finely tanned buckskin or elkskin stretched taut across the opening by sinew thongs. Traditionally American Indian drums are large, two to three feet in diameter, and they are played communally by groups of men who stand around them in a circle. However, there were also some tribes in which each drummer had his own instrument, and it is possible to buy a smaller Native American hand drum for either musical or decorative purposes.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080126113800/http://www.native-languages.or...

Arrowheads were made from anything that was sharp. Rocks and bones were more commonly used for this. They took a took a dull rock or a piece of bone and spent time grinding it down into a sharp point. Modern day broadheads are now made of steel and titanium. They are able to penetrate through animal hide with little resistance.

When gathering the clay, walk down the beach, find a stream flowing into a lake, and when you feel the sand starting to sink, it might be clay. It is clay when the water turns a brown-ish red-ish fog. Stream beds just before it enters the lake and after it enters the lake, are a few places where you can find the most purest clay.

You have a few people walking along the shore lines and then you have a canoe beside you so you can get most of the clay. Sometimes you will find a clay hole and sink up past your hips.

When are ancestors are gathered clay they would just go and gather, but now we have to have a gathering permit to get clay. You get the permit from the U.S. Department of agriculture forest service. The permit came from the 1836 treaty but got it was taken away from them, until they asked the people since they have been there for long time gathering clay if they could just have to get a permit every year.

After you get your clay, mead it to remove all the rocks and twigs out. Your objective is to make your clay workable, have some sifted clay if its too wet, some clean sand so its able to maintain its shape without sticking to your hands, and be able to work with. Make the clay into a flattened circle and mark it in half, then in half again, where you can then add sand to 1/4 of it. You can tell when it is just right when you are kneading it with your hands and if it doesn’t stick to your hands.

To shape the clay into a pinch pot (which is a very simple type of a pot), you roll it into a ball and then with your thumb you push in the middle of ball and just push to the sides and shape it, you keep on moving it in a circle until it is the way you want it. If you want your pottery to not knock over in the fire you would make the bottom of the pot rounded.

Native Americans used to use a paddle (which is covered at the tip with a round-braided string) to make the shape of the bowl. The string allows the clay not to attach itself to the paddle. When you are done shaping the clay you need to wait till it is leather hard. From there, you may finish carving into it, or making it smooth and shiny.

Ojibwe people believe that Mother Earth is our one and only person who can provide everything we need. She provides us with plants, vegetables (meedjim) and herbs to heal our illness and provide nutrients and energy, animals (owayseug) for food and clothing, and materials for us to make tools, weapons and shelter.

Just as she creates life on earth, she also removes life from earth. As a plant grows, it stretches out away from Mother Earth's skin, and as it whittles, it heads back towards Mother Earth's womb, for comfort. The same goes for animals. It is not the human that kills the game; it is Mother Earth who honors you with food for your family. As the arrow enters the skin, the animal retreats to Mother Earth, with the wound on her skin, asking for healing powers. If Mother Earth wishes to honor your game, she won't save the animal; she'll allow the arrow to penetrate further.

(Johnston, xviii)
(not done)

Wooden Skimmer Spoon used to skim off top of boiling maple sap.

Brass copper trade kettle used to boil maple sap into maple syrup.