Suzanne Steele
Michif kinscape purse/pocket, circa 1890s, maker unknown* Soft doeskin, lined with cotton, trimmed with velvet, decorated with glass beads.
* We of the Michif (Red River Métis) prairie kinscapes come from a portable culture, one that moved frequently with the buffalo hunt in spring and summer, settling in hivernants for winter. Our women decorated EVERYTHING — match holders, picture frames, tapis (dog blankets) and especially our men’s and children’s clothes — head to toe! The roses, the buds, the leaves, the tendrils, the berries on this purse are found in most Michif kinscape beading designs. It is said that our patterns were based on embroidery patterns from the French nuns. I was given this little pouch 25 years ago, along with the green trade bead which is probably from the seventeenth century. The dish holds Venetian beads, off-cuts from Murano, given to me by Michif artist Corinna Wollf-Burgo who lives near Venice. The blue and turquoise beads are contemporary, mass-produced. The wolf willow rosary was given to me by one of the Michif translators, Lorraine Coutu, with whom I worked on my opera.
The languages in this poem are Southern Michif, French Michif, and Anishinaabemowin; some are from my opera, Li Keur, Riel’s Heart of the North . The translators I worked with include: Madame Vera DeMontigny of Brandon (Michif), Honorary Doctorates June Bruce, Lorraine Coutu and Agathe Chartrand of St Laurent, Manitoba (French Michif); Mesdames Donna Beach and Debra Beach Ducharme of Animo-ziibiing [Lake Manitoba First Nation] (Anishinaabemowin) and Elder Rose Richardson, Knowledge Keeper of Medicines (Michif).
Any mistakes in translation are entirely mine.
DR SM STEELE , an award-winning poet, scholar, installation artist and librettist, is Red River Métis (Gaudry/Fayant families). She traces her roots to the first families, Anishinaabek and French, of our nation of nations, Canada. www.etchedinsteele.com
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