In 1949, I noticed a group of Potawatomi people sitting eating their noon day lunch at one of the Pow Wows in a town called Pittsville, Wisconsin. I approached them and began speaking in Bodewadmimwen with them and to my amazement, only one person of a group of about 20 or so people, was the only one who understood me. All the rest of them, ranging in ages from a few children to adults, did not understand me fully. Only the one older guy who was perhaps in his 50’s answered me.
That amazed me because I thought everyone could speak Bodewadmimwen. I went home later that day and told my grampa and he said that a lot of people were losing their language already and much more of their cultural practices. That was surprising to a little guy like me as I could speak several languages at my young age. It is all I ever heard in our home; either Ojibwe, Bodewadmi, Odawa, Menomni, or Winnebago.
Today our language losses and cultural practices are at a stand still, with some learning a little of both, but nevertheless, still lacking in those areas. Our cultural practices suffer the most with language being learned by a few. It seems those that want to learn language, want only specific parts of it, they haven’t realized that language and culture are inseparable.
Very few know our old songs and those that do sing are on Pow Wow drums, not even realizing those are inter-tribal songs, not spiritual songs of specific ceremonies. Honor songs, social songs and the like came into being during the days when our people would have Big Gatherings for purposes of trade and fellowship which came to be referred to as Pow Wows.
There remain many who are trying to learn their languages today but not many who are learning our cultural ways with the songs for various ceremonies. Even naming ceremonies have taken on a certain “Heinz 57” type of approach. For those of you who don’t recognize the words Heinz 57, it was a type of sauce that had many different herbs and sauces in it. It is still made today. The knowledge of songs and cultural practices in vogue today among most of the tribes, is eclectic at best. Potpourri comes to mind!
I share this today as another of our heritage fluent speakers passed from the scene over the last few days. When we lose speakers, we lose vast libraries of wisdom, knowledge and understanding about our languages and cultural practices. It is a sad day when we lack speakers who can conduct a funeral in the right manner, from a traditional perspective of our own cultural ways, or who can sing the songs that should be sung at a “given” funeral, because there are some folks whom we should honor in very specific ways upon their death. That knowledge is lost! And the Songs that accompany those ceremonies are lost!
All is not lost though, if those who are learning these ways will apply themselves to fully seeking and learning those cultural practices with their language also. Kyenep kendasyek is what I hear our elders saying! That means Hurry and Learn!
Nin se Neaseno.