Language Commissioner Barbara Nolan to deliver Giizisoo-Mzinigan Language Series webinar
By Rick Garrick
GARDEN RIVER FIRST NATION — Anishinabek Nation Language Commissioner Barbara Nolan looks forward to delivering a Giizisoo-Mzinigan (annual calendar) Language Series webinar on September 1 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. through the virtual platform Zoom.
“The Anishinabek Nation produces a Giizisoo-Mzinigan, which means a monthly calendar, and we try and do a lot of language in there,” Language Commissioner Nolan says. “It has a welcome from myself as the Anishinaabemowin Commissioner and I [wrote phrases] in the language and then followed by English.”
Language Commissioner Nolan says the Giizisoo-Mzinigan also features a welcome by Ali Darnay, Anishinaabemowin Manager at Anishinabek Nation, and Laurie McLeod-Shabogesic, Anishinaabemowin Coordinator at Anishinabek Nation; the Ngo Dwe Waangizid Anishinaabe (One Anishinaabe Family), the preamble to the Anishinaabe Chi-Naaknigewin (Anishinabek Nation Constitution); and a feature on Introductions in Anishinaabemowin.
“People want to know how to introduce themselves in the language,” Language Commissioner Nolan says. “And if you have a Spirit Name, you can share that as well. It’s just like how to carry on a little conversation with somebody.”
Language Commissioner Nolan says the Giizisoo-Mzinigan also includes information on Anishinaabemowin classes, such as the classes that the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians host Monday to Friday, facilitated by Isadore Toulouse and Patrick Osawamick.
“And then we have the spelling of the Anishinaabe words,” Language Commissioner Nolan says. “You have to understand the sounds, the consonants, and then the short vowels and the long vowels, so it has a little lesson on that because people are going to be reading what’s in the monthly calendar.”
Each of the months in the calendar feature the name of the moon in Anishinaabemowin and English, as well as Anishinaabemowin phrases for each day, for instance January features Manidoo Giizis or Spirit Moon with Anishinaabemowin phrases by Fort William First Nation’s Corine Bannon and Eabametoong’s Charlotte Neckoway.
“September is called in English Leaves Turning Moon, that’s what Waababagaa Giizis means,” Language Commissioner Nolan says. “So, the leaves are going to turn colour, the days are getting a little bit shorter, and they’re getting a little bit cooler.”
Language Commissioner Nolan, who provided the Anishinaabemowin phrases for September, says the phrases refer to what is happening in each particular month.
“So, here we have phrases like Endsa nibing, wiingashke ngashi, My mother picks sweetgrass every summer,” Language Commissioner Nolan says. “So we have the Anishinaabe sentence and then below it is the English translation.”
Language Commissioner Nolan says they have two phrases for Orange Shirt Day: Ezaawmingaanh Babgiwyaan Giizhgat, which means Orange Shirt Day, and Debwewin miinwaa Boonendamowin Giizhigad, which means National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
“So, it’s all about anything pertaining to the Fall time,” Language Commissioner Nolan says, noting the phrase for September 16, Pshigendaan maawanjichiged ninookomis means My grandma likes to gather. “So that’s the time for when we have to pick all that we planted. Lots of people have the garden; there’s tomatoes to be picked, there’s cucumbers to be picked, there’s beans. So, that sort of stuff is in this calendar.”
Language Commissioner Nolan says she goes through each word in the month she is facilitating.
“I’ll get them to say the word, Waababagaa, just the way it’s written,” Language Commissioner Nolan says. “So I’ll do that, and then Giizis is the moon. So, we’ll start on the first day, which is Tuesday, Bezhig, Niizho-Giizhigad. I’ll even ask them to repeat after me — and I try to stay in the language as much as I can because they have to hear it. I read what’s on there, Endsa nibing, wiingashke ngashi, so I’ll have to repeat that a couple of times just so they get the flow of that sentence.”
Language Commissioner Nolan says it is important for people to listen to Anishinaabemowin speakers to learn the language.
“You have to fill your language acquisition device with words, phrases, whatever, and then you begin to understand that language,” Language Commissioner Nolan says. “So what you do is, you just listen.”
Language Commissioner Nolan stresses that there are fewer and fewer Anishinaabemowin speakers every day.
“We have to start producing speakers, so that means we have to start talking to people a lot,” she says.
The Giizisoo-Mzinigan Language Series calendar is available online. People can register for the webinar at: bit.ly/4gMiw9i.