Night Falls Early
1:59 min. - In December it’s dark at 3 p.m. We spend a lot of time in the tent. The elders take this opportunity to teach the young ones a bit of history.
Transcription
Shimun Basile - My late grandfather came from Utshimassit, in Labrador. One day, he set out with his companions over to the other side, where he had never been before. I don't know where that was. He said they met some Innu from Sept-Iles, who invited them to go back with them. At first they travelled by foot, then by canoe. That's how they first arrived here.
Noëlla Basile - Did they make the canoes themselves?
Shimun Basile - Yes. The canoes were very small, and children's little heads stuck out over the edges here and there. They were filled to the brim. He remembered arriving at the mouth of the "Big-River", in Sept-Iles. That's when they saw the priest for the first time, and my grandfather became a Catholic. He didn't have any religion before that. Previously, it was the devil... That's where he was baptized, went to confession and made his First Communion. Everything a good Catholic should do, right? That summer, he also married my grandmother. Then, he came to Mingan. That's where he lived afterwards. His father's name was Pashin. That's our name now.
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Night Falls Early
1:59 min
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- anatshenanu
- they cover the base of the tent with snow
- apakuatakanu patshuianitshuap
- they cover the tent structure with canvas
- ashitshishtau tshimannu
- she strikes a match
- auneu tshishtapakuna
- she carries spruce branches
- ka uitshinanut
- camp
- makanipakan
- a shovel
- mamakushkamu umatukap
- he uses his body weight to trample the snow, to make a place for the tent
- mameshikutatsheu
- sculpting wood to make toys
- mishkumi
- ice
- nanatuaputatsheu
- he pierces the trunk to bend them
- pikuakan
- hole in the ice to fish
- pimipitshuat
- they move around, pulling a toboggan
- piuashikuaitshenanu
- they remove the branches from a conifer with an axe to insulate a floor
- pushtashameu
- he puts on his snowshoes
- shaputuan
- cone-shaped, two-doored tent
- tashkamishkuteu
- he walks across a frozen lake
- tetauan
- central pole
- tshineshkan
- ice chisel
- tshissinuashtakanu pikuakan
- fishing-hole marker
- uapineuat
- white-tailed ptarmigan
- umitshimikusseuakanu
- birch branches as bait
- utai-kushkan
- wooden hook
- utapanashkut utapeu umitima
- here she comes with her firewood on the sled
- Winter
- Spring
- Spring
- Spring
- Summer
- Summer
- Summer
- Summer
- Fall
- Fall
- Fall
- Fall
- Fall
Nametau innu: Memory and knowledge of Nitassinan, a website dedicated to the Innu nation in which elders pass on their skills and knowledge to younger generations.
1 Comment
À la manière sérieuse qu'il raconte cette histoire, je ne comprends pas qu'il puisse transmettre que son grand-père pensait qu,il n,avait pas de religion. Et qu'avant, c'était le démon!!!Les prêtres l'avaient-il si facile? Pourtant la spiritualité amérindienne est puissante, respectueuse et connectée au grand mystère...