Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

Sundance's Corner
   by   Louise-Andrée Éthier aka Sundance Aquero Sharp

Kwai to all my relatives today, the word is Késsinnimek! Family, ancestry, roots all rolled into one beautiful sounding Algonquian word.

It reminds me of what the Peace Maker spoke of: Unity and Peace, the precursors of abundance, prosperity and success. Not in the financial sense though that is good too, but in the nature of living one's life!!! Our ancestors always told us that as long as we obeyed the original instructions which was to love one another and to council with one another to be sure amongst the most prominent of instructions, that we would have life on earth forever! Apparently, our native ancestors had not fallen out of the grace with the Lord in the same way that Adam and Eve did because when our other ancestors, the whites came to this country, there was no knowledge of an Adam and Eve here.

The Europeans thought they had come upon a paradise, so who is not to say that the purity or innocence of the truth of life was not here when they came? Certainly the forests, lakes, rivers, air and earth were not polluted! One could drink water from rivers or streams. Even I remember the day I was told not to drink water from the stream as it was polluted and the shock I felt upon understanding what the word polluted meant! On that day, I had a life change! This is not to say we didn't have our conflicts and serious skirmishes as native people for there would not have been the need for the Great Spirit to send a Peace Maker! We have much to learn from the Peace Maker and the instructions he left with us. The abundance of food and all the material resources that today makes us a super-power , fur from the animals, gold, silver, oil, everything that is called material wealth lay as a great quilted blanket across the vast continents of North and South America from sea to sea. Our Mother the Earth! She is our first family member in the scheme of things, and it is to her we owe all our debt to life next to God, Manitou, our Creator; for she feeds and sustains us as my late hubby used to say, "my corn flakes came from mother earth!" So often, we forget where we come from and who we are are in the plastic artificial world we have created!

Késsiminnek takes us on a journey once we realize that we have a history full of exciting events that led to this day. Who was it that said "we stand on the shoulders of giants!" Well, we do, our ancestors, these are the giants! They paved this road that we take our journey on and it is only appropriate that some of us come together to honor these ancestors of ours. Hopefully as our magazine grows and our stories become part of the fabric of a great tapestry, that our hearts will open up and reveal what has been there for a long time insofar as Késsinnimek goes. Our family history in relation to one another. We are all linked in this histroy just like the Iroquois wampum belt demonstrates, each one hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder making life in America, our Mother Earth. Hopefully, our children and grandchildren will learn about the meaning of Késsinnimek and understand what it means in the deepest sense of the word, for it is our task to teach them this word and this magaizine is a lovely format to achieve this!

I look forward to meeting others on this journey through our stories for each of us has a piece of the grand story of our roots in our ancestral memory and the lives we live. Women have their perspective and men have theirs, for each one lays a base for who and what we are today for the common good. Warrior societies and female lodges were grounds for our evolution. Men and women joined in the circle at the end of the day and danced around a camp-fire to say thanks to the creator to express their appreciation for being alive with family. Without family, there is nothing. So even our ancestors saw to it that orphans and elderly people were adopted if they had lost their families. Just like Little Joseph my four year old ancestor who was raised by a new family once he was stolen from his original family. He liked his new family so much that he didn't want to go back home; he remained with his captors and married into them making more family!

History tells us that there were 47 original families that colonized Canada who came from France! Look at us today! My heavens, how fast we grew which means that we have to manage our resources well for the future descendants or there won't be anything left! (like social security in 2030).We come full circle with that because yes, the whole aspect of Késsinnimek is organization and management of families and family government, for all good government is good housekeeping!!! That's what an old Apache Elder once told me and I never forgot it because it was true! And as a young woman, that comment demystified government for me. Her name was Marie-Antoinette! Quite a name for an Apache Elder! But again, an example of our mixtures and who and what we really are as people. Mother Earth has certainly been abused by the careless wastes, the strip mining, pollution of all kinds that the old ancient maiden no longer is able to withstand the burden of time and we now have the weather changes that were prophecied by our native people, even before the whites reached these shores. Undoubtedly, it was for this reason they planned for seven generations ahead. A concept still foreign to the white ruling class today. So many of us misinfomed and with no direction to do this, we have to learn this again and for those who are informed, they need to come out and teach those who need to learn. This is what native people mean when they say they want to preserve their cultures and languages! It's not the feathers and the beads that make culture, it's language and religion; philosophy and ceremony. It's the commitment to the knowledge of the workings of the ancient Mother Earth and Father Sky and Thunder Beings which keeps us in balance and free from drought and the prayers that keep us in abundance. Késsinnimek is a word that will live a long time. It will keep us all regenerating and exchanging our ideas and the interpretation of these that will develop as we research the true meaning of Késsinnimek! It has been a good day today.

Zôbi Widôbaid and Métañdossañtz8añgan .

Copyright © 2003 - 2008 Norm Léveillée

Created 1 Feb 2003