Origin of Dolphins

Art: Robert Florczak

"The Rainbow Bridge"

Chumash

According to legend, Chumash who fell into the ocean while crossing the rainbow to the mainland were turned into dolphins.
Channel Islands National Park Hutash, the Earth Mother, created the first Chumash people on the island of Limuw, now known as Santa Cruz Island. They were made from the seeds of a Magic Plant.

Hutash was married to the Alchupo’osh, Sky Snake, the Milky Way, who could make lightning bolts with his tongue. One day he decided to make a gift to the Chumash people. He sent down a bolt of lightning that started a fire. After this, people kept fires burning so that they could keep warm and cook their food.

In those days, the Condor was a white bird. The Condor was very curious about the fire he saw burning in the Chumash village. He wanted to find out what it was. He flew very low over the fire to get a better look, but he flew too close; he got his feathers scorched, and they turned black. Now the Condor is a black bird, with just a little white left under the wings where they did not get burned.

After Alchupo’osh gave them fire, the Chumash people lived more comfortably. More people were born each year and their villages got bigger and bigger. Limuw was getting crowded. And the noise people made was starting to annoy Hutash. It kept her awake at night. So, finally, she decided that some of the Chumash people had to move off the island. They would have to go to the mainland, where there weren’t any people living in those days.

But how were the people going to get across the water to the mainland? Finally, Hutash had the idea of making a bridge out of a wishtoyo (rainbow). She made a very long, very high rainbow that stretched from the tallest mountain on Limuw all the way to Tzchimoos, the tall mountain near Mishopshno (Carpinteria).

Hutash told the people to go across the rainbow bridge and to fill the whole world with people. So the Chumash people started to go across the bridge. Some of them got across safely, but some people made the mistake of looking down. It was a long way down to the water, and the fog was swirling around. They became so dizzy that some of them fell off the rainbow bridge, down through the fog, into the ocean. Hutash felt very badly about this because she told them to cross the bridge. She did not want them to drown. To save them, she turned them into dolphins. Now the Chumash call the dolphins their brothers and sisters.

Excerpted from:
The Chumash People: Materials for Teachers and Students. Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 1991.

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Story in English and Cree

‪#‎BMB‬


Story in English and Cree
Mrs. Philomene Corrigal
Canoe Lake First Nation
Cree (Nêhiyawêwin)

Humility

tapahtêyimowin
1. "The story I am about to tell you happened one time when I, my mother, and other family members had been out on a hunting trip. The hunt was successful at that time. It happened by a lake where many treelined islands could be seen.

1. ôma âcimowin kâ-wî-âcimostâtân ê-kî-ispayik; pêyakwâw êkospî, niya, nikâwiy, nohtâwiy mîna nîcisânak ê-mâci-piciyâhk. kî-miyopayiwak êkospî omâcîwak sisonê sâkahikanihk ita ê-ministikoskâk.

2. We were on our way home when we caught sight of some pelicans. This was one of their favorite locations in the area. At the edge of the island where the pelicans had gathered, it was well packed down from use by other animals and birds. The beautiful birds were easily visible as they were silhouetted against the dark green background of the island's treeline. Without really thinking about what he was doing, my uncle began to shoot at them. Being an excellent marksman, he easily hit five of the pelicans killing them instantly.

2. ê-pimi-kîwêyâhk êkwa kâ-wâpamâyâhkik cahcâkiwak pêyakwayak mâna ita ohcitaw ê-tasihkêcik. sisonê ministikohk êkota ôki cahcâkiwak asiyatowak. mitoni kistatahamwak nanâtohk pîyêsîsak mîna kotakak pisiskiwak. katawasisiwak anihi cahcâkiwak ê- asicinâkosicik ministikohk. namôya ahpô mâh-mâmitonêyihtam tânisi ê-itôtahk nohcâwîs, kâ-mâci-pâh-pâskiswât anihi cahcâkiwa. êyikohk ê-nahâskwêt, sêmâk niyânan nipahêw êkota cahcâkiwa anihi.

3. Surprised by my uncle's actions, my mother turned to him and using a firm voice, told him that he had tampered with the law of nature. Needlessly killing pelicans she said, would bring the wind to answer this desecration.
3. koskohik nohcâwîsa awa nikâwiy ê-misi-kanawâpamât. "kwanita ê-mikoskâcihât pîkwac-âya," itwêw. "kwanita êkos îsi kâ-nipahacik cahcâkiwak, âhci ta-misi-yôtin," itêw.

4. Later that afternoon, we could see the clouds gathering in the distance to the west. By time evening arrived, and we were on our way home, the wind really began to blow. At one point, a window of a nearby cabin was blown right off from its casing. Standing trees were blown over by the force of the wind, spread over the ground like a roughly woven blanket. This intense wind also brought rain.

4.ê-akwâci-pôni-âpihtâ-kîsikâk pê-nôkwan ê-pê-misi-yîkwaskwahk pahkisimôtâhk. ispî êkwa ê-otâkosik ê-pimi-kîwêyâhk. âsay êkwa kâ-mâci-yôtihk. pêyakwayak wâsênamân wayawîyâstan wâskahikanisihk ohci. sôskwâc mistikwak ê-kâh-kawâsicik nanâtohk ê-itâskosihkik tâskôc ê-nâh-nâtohkokwâtêk akohp. êkwa mîna êyikohk ê- kimiwahk.

5. We rushed into the house and began to board up the windows with canvas frames. Rain pelted against the house and seeped in from the under the door. During the night, after we had already gone to bed, my father had to leap from his bed to grab a white canvas board so he could nail it quickly against another window blown apart by the continuing fury of the wind. By now, we all awoke to help my father to brace the other windows with yet more canvas frames.

5. nipihtokwêyâmonân wâskahikanihk êkwa ê-mâci-kâh-kiposakahamâhk wâsênamâna apahkwâsonêkin ohci. misi-kimiwan, kwanita kâ-pihtokwêciwahk nipiy sîpâ iskwâhtêmihk ohci. ê-kî-kawisimoyâhk êkwa âsay kêtahtawê nohtâwiy kâ-waniskâpahtât ê-nawacipitahk kotaka pahkwâsonêkin ê-akosakahahk kotakihk wâsênamânihk ê- yohtêyâstaniyik. kahkiyaw êkwa mîna ê-waniskâyâhk ê-wîcihâyâhk ta-sa-sîhtawipitahk kotaka wâsênamâna.

6. When morning arrived the whole area adjacent to our cabin was covered with a thick blanket of grass, sticks, leaves and branches.

6. ê-wâpahk êkwa sôskwâc misiwê cîki wâsakâm ê-pimastêki maskosiya, mistikwa, nîpiya êkwa watihkwana.

7. That was how strong the wind blew

7. êkosi anima êyikohk ê-kî-isi-misi-yôtihk. êyikohk ê-kî-sohkiyôwêk mâna êkospî.
Artist: Artist Dave Kessler
Pelican painted by Artist Dave Kessler, Sculptor unknown.

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The first Native American woman to earn a degree from the University of Oxford

Kelsey Leonard

Kelsey Leonard is the first Native American woman to earn a degree from the University of Oxford, which she earned in 2012. She earned a MSc in Water Science.
A newly-graduated student is “proud” to have become the first Native American woman to receive a degree from the University of Oxford.
Kelsey Leonard, a student at St Cross College, graduated on 22nd September after completing a two-year MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management.
She is a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, a Native American tribe, whose reservation is located near Southampton in New York State. Leonard was “surprised” when she learned of her historic achievement, calling “the whole thing a bit surreal”.
She said that her time at Oxford was a “unique experience,” which she “really enjoyed, particularly meeting graduate students from around the world and being taught by a faculty at the cutting edge of research in environmental science.”



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