Final: Ikwe - Sierra

Ikwe

Long ago there was a man,

A spiritual medicine man,

Who lived on the Mille Lacs reservation

And gave young Natives their names.

He once gave a baby girl her name,

Not Sierra, her English name—

Her name that is really Spanish[1]—

But rather her “Indian name,”

Ikwe, her Anishinaabe name.

The girl’s father knew the man.

He held him in a very high regard,

He even called him “uncle.”

So one day,

He gave the old man tobacco and a request,

Because her father wanted him to give his daughter a name,

Not an English name—

A name that is really Spanish—

But rather an “Indian name,”

An Anishinaabe name.

The man accepted the tobacco,

He agreed to give the father’s only child a name.

The man prayed in his lodge

Until a Ma’iingan[2] manidoo[3]

Brought a name to him.

And the man knew what to name the baby girl,

Not an English name—

A name that is really Spanish—

But rather an “Indian name,”

An Anishinaabe name

The baby girl was supposed to have a naming ceremony,

But she did not.

She was instead named over a dinner table.

And the girl’s father was content with this modern ceremony,

Grateful for the name given to his daughter.

Not, Sierra, her English name—

The name that is really Spanish—

But rather her “Indian name,”

Ikwe, her Anishinaabe name.

The father embraced the little baby’s new name,

Said it encircled her aura.

Ikwe—Woman

“It must mean she’ll be mature

And wise beyond her years.”

Not, Sierra, her English name—

The name that is really Spanish—

But rather her “Indian name,”

Ikwe, her Anishinaabe name.

The girl’s mother’s Anishinaabe name was

Niigaani Binesi Equay—Leading Thunderbird Woman.

And she judged the name

Given to her first-born daughter by a stranger.

Criticized its simplicity,

And the non-traditional way it was bestowed.

Not Sierra, her girl’s English name—

The name that is really Spanish—

But rather her baby’s “Indian name,”

Ikwe, her first born’s Anishinaabe name.

Sometimes the little girl understands her father,

And she embraces her Anishinaabe name.

Is grateful to even have a name.

But other times the little girls feels like her mother,

And she finds fault in her “Indian name” and how it was given.

Wishes she had a powerhouse like her mother.

But, regardless of her shifting attitudes,

Her English name—

A name that is really Spanish—

Is Sierra.

And her “Indian name,”

Her Anishinaabemowin name,

Is Ikwe.

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[1] “Sierra” translates to “mountain range” in Spanish

[2] Meaning “wolf” in Anishinaabemowin (the language of the Ojibwe or Anishinaabe people of the Great Lakes Region)

[3] Meaning “spirit” in Anishinaabemowin