From Whence We Came

I learned something recently that, in hindsight, I should've known but didn't. It's one of those weird factoids anyone who lives in the L'Etoile du Nord should know. Seriously. I was even at the State Capitol a few weeks ago and didn't see it mentioned there, although I'm sure somewhere in the building, probably the gift shop, it's mentioned. I mean, it's even on Minnesota's Wikipedia page :

The word Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the Minnesota River, which got its name from one of two words in Dakota: "mní sóta", which means "clear blue water", or "Mníssota", which means "cloudy water." Dakota people demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mní sóta. Many places in the state have similar Dakota names, such as Minnehaha Falls ("curling water" or waterfall), Minneiska ("white water"), Minneota ("much water"), Minnetonka ("big water"), Minnetrista ("crooked water"), and Minneapolis, a hybrid word combining Dakota mní ("water") and -polis (Greek for "city").

 Another version is Mní Sóta Makhóčhe; where the water reflects the sky. 

I just asked the Senior Son if he knew the original name of Minnesota and he did not. He did say, however, that it was probably a Dakota name, which it is, as opposed to Ojibwe or Chippewa. At least they taught them that much. 

Bdote Mní Sóta - where two rivers meet

I am in great favor of recognizing and renaming places with original names. I was thrilled when Lake Calhoun became Bdi Maka Ska. Although the high school formerly known as Henry Sibley (as in not a nice man who should have things named for him) became Two Rivers High School, I would've preferred Bdote Mní Sóta High School... The Joining of Two Rivers High School. There is something overwhelming and powerful at the place where the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers meet. The Mdewakanton Dakota thought of it as sort of a Garden of Eden kinda place. You can see why even now. 

Since I, too, grew up in the land of Indigenous Names, albeit ours were heavily Mohegan-Pequot, an Algonquin language group that dominated New England and Eastern Long Island, and Mohican upstate, I can actually spell all sorts of weird towns without thinking too hard. We learned this stuff in junior high civics class. Seriously. We did. We were expected to know what was spoken where and how the names came to be because, after all, this is how our state was born. 

As the kids come up on a new school year, I hope someone is taking the time to teach them about from whence We, the People, came. Not just the stories of immigrants and slavery, but of the people who lived here. The ones treated as less than human beings throughout much of the history of this country. The ones portrayed as ignorant savages when they were the ones who knew this land best. They may not have built cities or industries, but they lived full lives off the land as active stewards, a skill we have yet to master. They were the ones caring for the planet, not the Europeans who came having already befouled their half of the hemisphere. Not knowing is more dangerous than knowing. Understanding that the earth requires active care is key if we're gonna live here. Ignoring the heritage of the land, the lessons we need to learn, the practices of the past that must come into our future...is all at our own peril. 

On the other side of my world, we are coming up on the Yamim Nor'aim, the holiest days of the Jewish Year. I cannot help but think we should be pounding our breasts for more than the usual sins on the list. All of us need to add the sins we commit just living in our urban/suburban little bubbles. We need to add the sins that divide rather than unite a community. I think it's pretty much safe to say every one of us owns a sin or two for scoffing at the beliefs, religious or political, of others. Maybe as summer slides into autumn this is a good time to examine what we had, what we want, and/or what we actually need. I do believe all those answers are very different one from another. 

Everyone knows the first part of Deuteronomy 16:20: 

.צֶדֶק צֶדֶק, תִּרְדֹּף 

Justice, justice you shall follow...

But how many people know the rest? 

--לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ 
...that you may live and inherit the land that G-d had given you.

 See how that all dovetails one into another? Teaching our children and ourselves is a communal, civic, and environmental responsibility. Make no mistake; this planet belongs to all of us. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o' the Week

Introspection is rarely a fun-filled activity.

Still, owning up to stuff we need to change is important.

More than important, it's crucial to our very survival as a species.