The theme this year is “Deer and Changer” a traditional story passed on by Tulalip Ancestor Elizabeth “Lizzie” Krise. Today at 11:30am participants will share with the community what they learned this week at the Friday Ceremony.
The 26th Annual Language Camp for Week One participants worked through 8 different stations. The theme this year is “Dear and Changer” a traditional story passed on by Tulalip Ancestor Elizabeth “Lizzie” Krise. Today, July 14th at 11:30am participants will share with the community what they learned this week at the Friday Ceremony.
The Kenny Moses Building buzzing this week with the 26th Annual Language Camp for Week One participants! Youth work through 8 different stations. The theme this year is “Dear and Changer” a traditional story passed on by Tulalip Ancestor Elizabeth “Lizzie” Krise. Save the date for this Friday, July 14th at 11:30am where participants will share with the community what they learned this week at the Friday Ceremony.
stab kʷi sʔəɬəd ʔə kʷi _____. — What does a ______ eat?ʔuʔəɬəd ti ______ ʔə ti _______. — A _______ eats _______.stab kʷi adsʔəɬəd. — Do you eat _______?ʔi. ʔuʔəɬəd čəd ʔə ti ________. — Yes, I eat ______ .xʷiʔ. xʷiʔ kʷi gʷədsʔəɬəd ʔə ti ________. — No. I don’t eat __________.
Hello families and friends, welcome to the new school year. This year we will be in the classroom full on immersion speaking only Lushootseed. We will also be in four classrooms this year rather than two classrooms. I will be teaching along with a co-teacher in the Elk room, Wolf, room, Deer room, and the Cougar room on the preschool side at Betty J. Taylor Early Learning Academy.
This year we will be working on weather terms and days of the week while working on a calendar routine in the classrooms. One of the songs that we have been singing is “ʔəsčal tiʔəʔ sləx̌il,” which translates to “How is the day?” In the context of the song it is being used to ask about the weather using five basic terms – sunny, cloudy. raining, snowing, and windy. The other song that will be taught in the classroom will be our “datilič st̕ilib” which goes through all the days of the week in Lushootseed to the tune of Oh My Darling, Clementine
Large wild animals (mammals), are those bigger than a wolf and are called tatačulbix. Generally, wild animals that are used as food are called tatačulbix.
Vi taqʷšəblu Hilbert
1918-2008
Vi Hilbert was born July 24, 1918, in Upper Skagit, as an only child to Charlie and Louise Anderson. Vi was a Mother of three, Denny, Lois, and Ron. Growing up, Vi went to 15 different schools. Vi was a story-teller, linguist, a Fluent speaker in Lushootseed and co-author of the second Lushootseed dictionary, advisor on the first one and an educator.
Vi’s father was a fisherman, logger, canoe carver and led canoe races to victory. Her mother was known as a kind, vivacious, loving, generous and dramatic. As a child, both Vi’s mother and father spoke only Lushootseed to her. While growing up, Vi and her parents moved around a lot due to job opportunities.
Charlie Anderson, Vi Hilbert, Lousie-Anderson Photo courtesy of Lushootseed Research
When her parents went to the Yakima reservation to pick hops and fruit, Vi attended a boarding school located in Tulalip. Later on, in her high school years, Vi chose to attend the Chemawa Indian Boarding School, located near Salem, OR but for her last years, she transferred to Franklin High in Portland in order to get the best education she could, working as a household helper in exchange for room and board.
In 1936 Vi married Percy Woodcock and they lived together in Tahola, WA on the Olympic Peninsula. In 1937 she had her son Denny was born. In 1938 she had her daughter Lois. A couple of years later, her son Denny died from Meningitis in 1940, and Vi and Percy were separated. He moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, and Vi went home to Nooksack (an Indian reservation East of Bellingham) to be with her parents.
In 1942 Vi remarried to Bob Coy from the Tulalip Reservation (just west of Marysville and North of Everett). Her third child, Ron was born in 1943. After Vi separated from Bob. She remarried for the third time in 1945 during WWII to Don Hilbert, who was in the navy. They had built their own house in South Seattle, where they lived until 2003. They then moved to Bow, WA, in the Skagit County, to be with daughter Lois.
Vi learned the responsibilities of hard work. If anyone could work it was Vi. She went berry picking, she did ironing, all kinds of housework, she ran a pool hall, she worked in a cannery, she was a stock clerk, a cookie wrapper for a Danish bakery, she had worked at Todd’s Shipyard as an electric welder, she was a waitress for a Chinese restaurant, she did cashiering at Boeing for a food wagon, she worked as an executive secretary at a Seattle Children’s Orthopedic Hospital, and she finally trained as a hairdresser.
Thom Hess and Vi taqʷšəbluʔ Hibert at an Upper Skagit Story telling gathering. Photo courtesy of Lushootseed Research
In 1967 Vi was introduced to Dr. Thom Hess, who was writing a grammar book of Lushootseed, then called Puget Salish. In 1972 Vi attended a Lushootseed class that Hess had taught at the University of Washington and passed all the tests easily. The next year, Hess had arranged it so that Vi taught the class. From there Vi had turned her hair salon into the “brain room”. Together Thom and Vi had written lesson plans for daily language classes, a textbook and her first Haboo Book of traditional stories that were told by her elders. She had shared traditions, stories and the Lushootseed language with the Burke Museum, United Indians of all tribes, Tillicum Village, the Seattle’s Story Teller Guild, and the National Storytelling Association. Vi taught at the University of Washington for 15 years before retiring in 1988. Vi was named a Washington state living treasure in 1989. Then in 1994, she received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of Arts which was awarded to her by President Bill Clinton and presented in person by First Lady Hillary Clinton.
The books include the lessons, dictionaries, and story collections, often bilingual, of Lushootseed Press. She is best known for the story Lady Louse. Haboo, in four versions, tells Native American stories from Puget Sound. Loon and deer were traveling, is a Parabola audio recording. She also contributed chapters and sidebars to several collections.
At the age of 90, Vi passed away in her La Conner home on a Friday morning of December 19, 2008. She was surrounded by her family as she took her journey to the other side. Because of the freezing conditions, her funeral was held a week later at Upper Skagit and her ashes are in the family plot at Nooksack.
Push your dxʷləšucid language skills to the next level!
Subscribe to our Mailing list!
Simply enter your name and email! And we'll sending you occasional educational materials to help in your learning.
By providing your email you consent to recieving occasional educational emails & newsletters. No spam. Just good stuff. We respect your privacy & you may unsubscribe at any time. We don't share your information.
