#kwakʼwala

[beyourselfchulanmaria]

Hinged Box with Totem Corners, c. 1936 Wood, Paint

$8,500.00 CAD

Alfred J. Shaunessy (Kwakwaka'wakw)

© Douglas Reynolds Gallery

[charring58]

The #Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw (IPA: [ˈkʷakʷəkʲəʔwakʷ]), also known as the Kwakiutl[2][3] (/ˈkwɑːkjʊtəl/; "#Kwakʼwala-speaking peoples"),[4][5] are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their current population, according to a 2016 census, is 3,665. Most live in their… 

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[teaboot]

That's actually something that caught me by surprise when I was in a class for Kwakʼwala (a language belonging to the Kwakwakaʼwakw First Nations' band) until I realized, well, loads of languages using the Latin alphabet do different things with the same letters, so maybe I just wasn't used to seeing Aboriginal languages in my day to day life!

Look at some names, for example:

Sean, pronounced "Shawn" , because it's a Gaelic name sharing the same Latin alphabet we use for English.

Jolka, pronounced "Yolka", because various European languages pronounce J's like English Y's.

Now, Kwakʼwala- the example I'm sticking to because it's the one I'm passing familiar with- is, again, a First Nation's language, of which there are thousands, and for a great many of their respective cultures, Oral History is incredibly important and valued in a way that I'd be confident in saying our western culture is not wired to understand.

Not a game of telephone, warping stories over time, but specific, set histories and stories repeated exactly as they are for thousands of years, with no broad writing system- to the point that there are living, breathing people who can give accurate and provable descriptions of events that took place several hundred years back.

This only doubles the incomprehensible losses at the hands of the church and government when residential schools were created, and children were truly, literally, without a word of exagerration- kidnapped, tortured, and beaten out of their native languages with the expressly written and documented intent, well-known and not at all a secret, to "kill the Indian in the child".

With this one move, all of a sudden thousands of years of history and culture were decimated, entire cultures kneecapped, generations killed and traumatized and alienated from themselves.

We're not talking about just switching which language a person communicates in. We're talking the tower of Babylon and the burning of the library of Alexandria and full-on, deliberate genocide.

That's not to say all hope is lost. Despite the best efforts of the invading government, people remembered and taught and shared what they could, and still do. Some languages are lost and considered dead now, with nobody to speak them, but others are being revived. Kwakʼwala is a living language that people speak freely, and while it has been transcribed to a Latin alphabet, it has 42 characters that represent sounds we are familiar with as well as ones we don't use in English, German, French, or Spanish.

Use of Latin letters for Aboriginal languages isn't what we're used to, but where I grew up, you saw it everywhere and didn't think twice:

Tsawwasen- A coastal city with a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ name from the Down River band in the Frasier Valley.

Comox- A rural valley, but also a Coast Salish language spoken by multiple bands in the area... including the K'omoks band. Familiar name?

Tofino, Capilano, Cultus, Haida Gwaii, Kamloops, Coquitlam, Bella bella, Chilliwack.

Wherever you're from, if you're in Canada or Stateside, I'd recommend looking up what your place's name means, and if it had another one before. I bet you'll find out a lot.

This..... was a lot longer than I intented. And got off topic. But I think it's worth bringing up?

But. Uh. Yeah, butter tarts too I guess

Okay Nanaimo bars or butter tarts though, to go off the last person’s q ✨

Hnnnnnnnnnng. Hard choices.

I'd have to say butter tarts, because while Nanaimo bars are sweeter and have more variety of texture, they are also very very rich and I get nauseous if I eat more than one. With butter tarts I know I'm in safe hands.

They gotta be GOOD butter tarts, though, with lots of filling- not those shitty pie crusts with a smear of glaze folks try and pass off as butter tarts. Get outta here with that

[qelflinq]

Dgaf you can tell I learned to draw scooby doo really good in middle school cause for a project we had to make a family tree and I chose to make mine about the doo family

Big into sphinxes lately

[charring58]

The #Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw (IPA: [ˈkʷakʷəkʲəʔwakʷ]), also known as the Kwakiutl[2][3] (/ˈkwɑːkjʊtəl/; "Kwakʼwala-speaking peoples"),[4][5] are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their current population, according to a 2016 census, is 3,665. Most live in their

[charring58]

The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw (IPA: [ˈkʷakʷəkʲəʔwakʷ]), also known as the Kwakiutl[2][3] (/ˈkwɑːkjʊtəl/; "Kwakʼwala-speaking peoples"),[4][5] are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their

[charring58]

The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw (IPA: [ˈkʷakʷəkʲəʔwakʷ]), also known as the Kwakiutl[2][3] (/ˈkwɑːkjʊtəl/; "Kwakʼwala-speaking peoples"),[4][5] are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their