Thursday 7 June 2012

Gearing Up

I've been working on getting quillwork finished for the upcoming Abegweit Mawiomi. I've been making a lot of cards and plan on having a larger piece for raffle. 

I decided to use more Hieroglyphs (symbols for words) as opposed to just the petroglyphs (rock carvings). One of the reasons is that each hieroglyph has a clear meaning and people really like to know what their piece means. Plus, it's a great way to learn more of the symbols.

From what I've read, the hieroglyphs were a writing system that was used by the Mi'kmaq. There's been some discussion around whether the symbols were a true writing system or just used as memory devices. The early French missionaries adopted the system for religious purposes so a lot of prayers have been "translated".

Mikmaq sample (ave Maria).jpg

There is even one guy who claimed that the writing system came from the Egyptians...but he's been widely discredited. I think the same thing was said about the pyramids in Mexico. I'm trying to imagine ancient Egyptians coming over to teach us how to write and heading off to Central America to teach them how to build pyramids.

Anyway, I look for symbols that look nice but also have a good meaning. The symbol below means "L'nu" which is the name we have for ourselves. It means "the people". There is debate about where "Mi'kmaq" came from and there are different spellings based on French, English or Mi'kmaw usage, ie Micmac. While I find it interesting, I don't get too hung up over it, because I'm L'nu and proud of it!!!

1 comment:

  1. Loving your blog! I'm going to follow it in my RSS feed.

    Susan

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