Urban Native Magazine and Regina Aboriginal Professionals Association have launched a photograph challenge (for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) in honour of National Aboriginal History Month. They’re using the Twitter hashtag #NAHM2015PhotoADay.
Here at the Cree Literacy Network, we’ve decided to play along, by gathering the images suggested – but (with help from Solomon Ratt) captioning them in Cree.
For Day Seven, the word is Lacrosse:
pâkahatowêwin / ᐹᑲᐦᐊᑐᐍᐏᐣ
Lacrosse – also known as the “Little Brother of War” – may not be as deeply rooted among the Cree as it is among more Eastern groups. I can guarantee that all of the Muskeg Lake lacrosse players in the following photos are recent adopters: not one of them is over the age of fifteen! Thanks to Kim Greyeyes for letting me share these great shots of her son Aaron (aka Eddie, aka Cheeseburger) and friends, all passionate supporters of the game. The team photo – from 2010 is of Nancy Greyeyes and her team, which included Kihiw Fourstar, Aaron Greyeyes and others (Nancy is the big kid in yellow).
Another exciting bit I discovered while reading about Lacrosse was that the authoritative book on the subject, American Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother of War, was written by ethnomusicologist and Algonquianist Tom Vennum, whom I’ve been delighted to meet a number of times. He talks a bit about the book – and variants of the game – in the following Youtube video:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBgmriMS7v8]
