John Paul Montano



(View this page in Biigtigong Nishnaabemwin?)


John Paul Montano (Aadsookaanan Gaa-sigsidood Neyaab)



I’m deeply grateful for being able to help you accurately reconstruct your sacred stories in your Biigtigong dialect of Nishnaabemwin. Over the last 14 years, I have been fortunate to have learned so much from your elders about what it means to be, and to exist today in this world as, a Nishnaabe person. These last four years in particular, however, listening to your elders tell your sacred stories in your Biigtigong dialect, and hearing them share insights about your sacred stories, have been an especially joyful and eye-opening learning experience for me.

I am thankful, too, for my having been, over many years, able to listen to some of the sacred stories of other communities in other languages and in other dialects, particularly in my own Potawatomi dialect of Nishnaabemwin.

Being able to speak your Biigtigong dialect is still very new for me. Perhaps many of us are aware of, or have personally experienced, situations where seemingly small differences in dialect have greatly altered the intended message being communicated from one dialect to another. So, it is with great caution, and attention to the specifics of your Biigtigong dialect, that I intend to help you reconstruct your most sacred of stories, your aadsookaanan.