Binaakwe-giizis Nagamowin (October Song)
Binaakwe-giizis is a song for the season when the wind causes more leaves to be on the ground than in the trees, moose calls are made by hunters, and pheasants end up on dinner tables. It is also the time for remembering the ones no longer in this world by putting out a spirit plate or inviting friends and family to share a ghost supper and exchange stories and memories.
For those of you familiar with the long slow call of a moose, and the drumming sounds made by a pheasant, this song echoes the moose in the first two lines and the pheasant in the last two lines.
This song teaches several lessons with specific words. The “binaakwe” in the name of the month, the action of raking, and the specific action of the leaves are all related to one another and also to “binaakwe’o” (to comb one’s hair).
In the second stanza we have two ways to express the act of hunting: “giiwose” which is the act of tracking animals as a food source, and the prefix “nanda-” which can be added to the name of the animal a hunter searches for.
The third stanza shows the verb “mikwendan” (to remember something) contrasted with “mikwenim” (to remember someone). Part of becoming more fluent is the ability to recognize the way most actions can accommodate talking about both categories of things in the world and just a small variation is needed to say “gimikwendaamin” (we all remember a time long ago) and “mikwenimangwaa” (we remember them).
Short Version
Teachers working with younger children may want to focus on just the second stanza which has two animals and can be matches with a simple pantomime of wind rushing through leaves followed by a hunter, a moose, and a partridge.
Binaakwe-giizis
It is October
gigiiwosemin noopiming
We are hunting in the woods
nandamoozweyang aho
we hunt the moose
nandabineweyang ho
we hunt the partridge.
Long Version
Binaakwe-giizis
It is October
Gibinaakwe’igemin
We are raking
binaakweg binibagaag
off the tree the leaves are falling
dakeyaag dagwaagining.
as it turns cold in autumn.
Binaakwe-giizis
It is October
gigiiwosemin noopiming
We are hunting in the woods
nandamoozweyang aho
we hunt the moose
nandabineweyang ho
we hunt the partridge.
Binaakwe-giizis
It is October
gimikwendaamin mewenzha
we are remembering long ago
mikwenimangwaa noongom
we remember them today
anishinaabebaniig
the anishinaabeg here in spirit.