Mocking Haida song lyrics in Chinuk Wawa
A Haida mocking song in Chinook Jargon.
From Rolf Knight, “Indians at Work: An Informal History of Native Labour in British Columbia 1858-1930“.
An aside about Haida fishermen and cannery workers who journeyed to work at Port
Essington comes from Charles Harrison‘s reminiscences. Harrison was a one-time
missionary among the Haida who later became a settler in the Masset area. His sometimes
far-fetched but occasionally earthy memoirs mention the Haida’s disdain for lesser mortals,
as conveyed in a humorous saying making the rounds in the 1880s or 1890s.
“The Haidas seemed to ridicule the idea of intermarriage with the Zimsheans [Tsimshians] and in the
Chinoo[k] jargon used to sing ‘Kwansun Kakkwau [Ø] Spukshoot Illahe Kluska marry tenas
sun, Kluska[ ]marsh Sitkum[ ]sun’
Spukshoot Illahe is now known as Port Essington. A Zimshean clan lived there and do
now, so the song in English said,‘Always the same at Port Essington[,] They marry in the morning and are divorced at noon.’ (Cited in Lillard, C. 1984:158)
Look like good Chinook Jargon to me (Dave). I’d like to hear it sung!
Took me this long to find my notes on the particle of Haida in Song 24 of Boas”s “Chinook Song”. FB, Journal of American Folk-lore 1 (1888), p. 220-226. For what it’s worth.
Hayu masi, Shorsh! I’ll post more about Haida Chinook songs.
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