Roots
Xuyh, Roots. Told by Edna Deacon at the home of Alta Jerue, Shageluk, AK, October 2002. Recorded by Alice Taff and Donna Miller MacAlpine.
Transcribed and translated by Donna Miller MacAlpine, Edna Deacon, and Alice Taff.
Si'ezre' Edna.
My name is Edna.
{xedh xedh} Xidhitlandi Łegg Jitno'.
The place where I was born (was) Shageluk.
Singonh vi'ezre' Anna Wilson.
My mother was called Anna Wilson.
Sito' vi'ezre' Peter Matthews.
My father was called Peter Matthews.
Soda vi'ezre' Isabelle.
My older sister was called Isabelle.
And sighaye, Edward, Riley, Morris,
And my older brothers, Edward, Riley, Morris,
and sichidlqay yi McMohan, John, and there were
and my younger brothers McMohan, John, and there were
other two, tr'ixineganh ye chilqay xun ezre' qul.
other two, babies, boys with no names.
And my half sister is Lucy.
(DM) Is there a word in deg xiq'i for half-sister?
Ngidiq,
Up there (pointing from Anvik towards Shageluk),
sixinitlyonh, singonh and sito'.
they raised me, my mother and my father.
Sito' getiy, a,
My father really,
dinanoł di'ne tux,
when he tells us,
yuxudz nitr'iho'oł ts'i xiyan'.
everything we have to obey.
Dina ts'i viyi xitaldhiyh, dixo'in,
At us he gets mad, therefore,
vitr'inałjit.
we are scared of him.
Nixsiyał xingo,
While I was growing up,
"Yuxudz ingit'anh," siłne tux.
“You have things to do,” he tells me.
"Yuxudz ist'anh ts'i xiyan'.
“Always be making something.
Digił'anh iłt'e," siłne.
Make something always,” he always tells me.
Idał digitatl'an',
The first time I start making things,
xuyh xuxithdatl, singonh and sito'.
roots they're going for, my mother and father.
Sidedig,
Me too,
gidenist'ith xuyh,
I cut down roots,
ghitseg gguy.
willow roots.
Sito', "Gidił'anh," siłne {ngo xa} {xan xen}
My father, “Make something,” he tells me.
"Go dadz ingit'a iy,
“Do this way,
dingił'anh ts'i, ngo xiq'at," siłne.
work at it, is what I want,” he tells me.
"Xuyh tingił
“Root basket (like a pail with a handle and a lid)
ithe dingił'anh ts'i xixindli'anh ts'i a," siłne q'idughitux.
why don't you learn to make it,” he says to me sometimes.
Ts'i yitots'i, xuyh,
So, roots,
gitr'ighił'an'.
we gathered some.
Dina yix xutthegh xiłdik niggontr'ididatl ts'i.
Our house, down the bank from it, we came there (landed).
Diq'on tr'idliyo.
Up the bank we carried them (the roots).
Yitdi venhdidi xiłdik,
Right then the next day,
singonh, "Viq'angitr'itiłch'ił," yiłne.
my mother, “We are going to start peeling,” she says.
Vits'e isne.
I'm helping her.
"Go dadz dingił'anh iy," siłne.
“Like this do it,” she tells me.
Tr'ixeneg ts'i,
Carefully,
niya'," siłne.
scrape it,” she says to me.
Yuxudz itl'anh.
All this I'm doing.
Ixiłdik,
Then,
"Sriłt'ingiłch'ił iy," siłne.
“Split it in half,” he tells me.
Gee, ndadz go {dil} digili'anh ts'in'?
Gee, how I'm going to do this?
"Go dadz iy?" vidisne.
“Like this?” I ask him.
"E," siłne.
“Yes,” he tells me.
"Gil ngenatl'eł yuxudz gidelax," vidisne.
“I'll watch you while you're doing it,” I tell him.
Yitots'i giłiggi {srił tiy, a srił}
And so one (root)
sriłtr'iyaghiłch'ił.
he split it in half.
"Dadz in a," siłne.
“Like this,” he says to me (holding the 2 split pieces).
Sidedig yuxudz digitatluq.
Me too I start to copy him.
Uxiyił,
Suddenly,
siye',
mine,
yiggiy sriłtixinedr xiyił,
that one, right at the middle,
"Xuyh, sriłts'ingiłch'ił iy," siłne.
“The root, you split it in half,” he says to me.
Yuxudz ditatl'andi
When I start to copy him,
siye' yuxudz xiq'ay xits'i,
mine not even half way,
It just didn't split all the way, so
vits'i siye xidolningh,
I got so mad at mine,
itlyił ts'i yuxudz ngiyixi ngin nighitldatl.
I just grabbed it and threw it on the floor.
Viq'idz yigitlik.
On it I jump up and down.
"Dodo dadz ingit'a ditl'anh ts'i," disne.
“No more I work at this kind,” I tell him.
Ngi'egh yitots'i tinigitsit ts'in'.
Outdoors I stormed.
Yi xo'ot, ngi'egh getiy nedhodz ghisdo'.
Outside there, a long time I sat.
Xidigał xidonisiyo.
Finally I walk back inside.
"Xiday iy ngigixuyh?" siłne a sito'.
“Where are your roots?” he asked me my father.
Yixoyix dhidlo. Dred ni'itlcheth.
Right there they are. Slowly I pick them up.
"Gogidet iy," vidisne.
“Here they are,” I tell him.
"Dadz an a dili'anh," siłne, "tr'ixeneg ts'in'."
“This is the way to do it,” he tells me, “carefully.”
{dr} "Dadz an a xiyitiłch'ił," siłne. {yi}
“This is the way they split it,” he tells me.
"Dałts'in', getiy
“One side, (if it gets) too
xi'ughitux gits'an tr'idilay," yiłne.
thin, you turn it around,” he says.
{Tse} "Che {varne} varzne nditux," siłne'.
Try it again,” he tells me.
Yuxudz itluq yitots'i.
So I did that.
Ixiłdik sriłtth'ighitlch'ił tr'ixeneg ts'in'.
So then I start splitting it carefully.
"Che yuxudz dengilax iy ngo getiy
Do that way again (if it is getting) too
diyiq iy," siłne.
wide,” he tells me.
Yuxudz itl'anh ts'i xidigał,
I'm doing all these little things to it (and) finally,
digitatl'an'.
I start doing it.
I was about 3 years old when I started that.
Sit'o taught me when I was about 3 years old.
How to split roots.
And a lot of those old people tell me,
I learn fast from my father cause my father was an expert.
I didn't know it that time.
Because he had to split his own roots for fish traps, too.
I make baskets, he show me how to start it.
But I get so mad with it. I just stomp on the floor. I grab my poor little basket where I started,
try to make the round one on the middle, and I,
that inside roots just come right off and I'll just drop it to the floor and just stomp on it.
I'm not gonna, gonna make no basket I say.
But as the days go by I'll go and pick it up again and my father would tell me, "I'll help you."
So he would help me and I watch him,
in how to cut the roots down. He'll show me.
He'll hold my little hands with... "I'll hold the knife he said. You put your roots right, right here on your hand like this and..."
He'll cut it a little bit, yeah. "You gotta hold just right so you don't cut your thumb," he tell me.
That's how I learned. But it took lots of patience.
But I had hard time.
I get mad at it and I'll throw it on the floor and stomp all over it and I wouldn't, I'd say I wouldn't try to make baskets.
But I did learn.
(DM) Maybe you could tell us now, like now how you go and get the roots and everything.
When and how and where and the what!
Deg xiq'i.
The local language.
(ED) Deg xiq'i?
(In our) local language?
Go idał xuyh xitr'ididał tux,
Right now, roots, when we are going for them,
yiq'i yeg ne q'idz,
around there on the islands,
ne q'idz niq'itr'idił.
on the island we land.
"Go deg an a xuyh dil'anh," xividisne.
“Around here roots are collected,” I say to them.
Sraqaye dinayił dixit'anh,
The children (who) with us come along,
"Ndagh a xuyh dili'anh ts'i. Ngo xuyh qul a ts'i," xi'ne.
“Where are the roots? Here (there are) no roots,” they say.
Yiggiy yeg yuxudz q'ugixinditoyh.
Those things (roots) they're looking all around for them.
"Ndagh a xuyh? Ngo xuyh qul a," sixi'ne.
Where are the roots? There's no roots”, they tell me.
"On," xividisne. Come and
“Come,” I tell them.
Xivinotthi yitots'i.
I'm leading them.
Tritl tux isoyh.
Among the willows I walk.
"Deg 'n at xuyh ditl'anh," xividisne.
“Right around here the roots I get,” I tell them.
"Ngo xuyh qul a," sixi'ne yitongo.
“Well, (there are) no roots,” they tell me meanwhile.
Deg xiq'i yitots'i xivixo xinisayh,
In my language then I'm talking about them,
"Sraqay tlagg ye," xividisne.
“No-good kids,” I'm saying about them.
Sixidhiłtth'onh qul.
They don't understand me.
"Xantr'ixuxuneg.
“You don't know a thing.
Dughiyix xuyh xelanh dan go," xividisne.
Down here there's roots right here,” I say.
Sixinił'anh.
They're looking at me.
Ghisoł xingo dadz disneyh.
While I'm walking, I bend down.
Dadz disneyh ts'i.
Like this I bend down.
"Gogidet iy.
“Here they are.
Gon yiłtuxneyh," xividisne.
This one (root) pull on it,” I tell them.
Sixinitlggadz!
They're looking at me hard!
Tr'ixighonitldix itl'e.
I guess I surprise them.
"Go deg, a,
“Around here,
{xenon didligho} xinondidliyoy, gho xiyił xuyh xelanh," xividisne.
the willows that stand up, attached to them there are roots,” I tell them.
"Axa xinuxł'anh," xividisne.
“Look around there,” I tell them.
"Vizro dadz ingit'a
It looks like this (showing them roots before I pull them).
tritl ghun'," xughi disne.
willows, near them,” about it I tell them.
"Iy dinuxłqoyh ts'i.
“Chop it off.
Yadz tuxla," xividisne,
Pull it out,” I told them.
"viyił uxłiggok angthe ts'i łats q'idz."
“with it run out there on top of the mud. [The kids are pulling up the long roots and following them down towards the river.]
Yadz ingdizrusr uxixitux.
So (the roots) are pulled up that way. [The roots are so shallow that they pull up with no struggle.]
Ne q'idz getiy, a, q'idughitux xezrenh.
On the islands really, ah, sometimes they (the roots) are (really) good.
Xezrenh tux xełedz łats viq'idz qul.
When it's good, it's nice (because) there's no mud on top.
Ixitux ghizro vixidughit'an'.
When it's like that you could easily see them.
Vith togh xiyił, {and a}
Under the bank,
xuyh ditr'ił'anh, giyanditelay,
roots we get, inside roots, [Warp roots that the split weft roots are woven over.]
xuyh tth'oq xonet, xuyh tingił {yo}.
(for) root trays, root baskets.
Xonet giyanditel ditr'iłt'anh,
Inside roots we gather,
xuyh a, vith t'ogh xit'o inathchit iy.
roots under the bank that are hanging down.
Oh, the roots what I get is from on the sandbar. We get it even in the spring, summer or fall.
And you just can see it on the sandbar. One time I brought school kids out on the sandbar. And I tell them, "Come, there's roots back there."
"Where? There's no roots here," they told me. I tell them, "Sure. There's roots right here." I dug in the mud like this and I tell them, "Here. Pull this." And it just start coming off, long roots. And it just was to the one tree over there.
Gee, they were so surprised. That's how I got roots from the sandbar. Some years the gravel on the sandbar is just ah maybe about 2 or 3 inches. That's very good to get, to find that kind of place so you wouldn't have to work hard to pull roots out.
But this last few years it was so lots of water we had to shovel and shovel. We had to take shovel along. We get big bundles, big round bundles and they're just long. I'll, I'll take about maybe 3 bundles home and then when I get home I start cutting them in pieces. I separate them, from the fat and the skinny ones. I pile it up and then I put it up in my cache.
And from there I start cleaning them. I start scraping them, and splitting it and cutting it down into shape for ah, making, ah, trays and baskets with lids.
And the skinny ones I {y} save it for weaving, for birch bark baskets, edges.
But it's lots of work.
I take my grandchildren out and show them how to get roots but I never show them how to split it yet.
I show, I teach 3 of my grand boys how to make birch bark basket.
And they make it. They sell it for you know their own, to buy clothes for their own self.