Ho-Chunk Renaissance has been working on creating their own Language-based website since Fall 2021 with the mission to “Revitalize HoChunk language”.
Many behind the scenes hands have been involved in getting the website to where it is currently, the team has experienced minor setbacks along the way such as the former website having extensive coding & bug errors which then resulted in hiring Blue Earth Marketing, an advertising & marketing team, coming into the picture to help create a new platform. Since the new website was created Christina Parker, Media and Design Specialist, has worked with Blue Earth Marketing to add content to the website overtime. Lewis St. Cyr, Program Director, & Christina parker shared a goal in mind to have daily content added in the future development of the website.
More plans to expand the website are in mind, the goal of this article is to notify the public of their mission and what goals are being worked towards. Currently The HoChunk Renaissance department receives different types of requests from other programs such as how to pronounce words, spell, or work with classes to teach various cultural practices. With the growth of the website the team hopes to have this “One-stop” hub for all types of tools to continue to learn about The HoChunk Language. Lewis expressed his efforts in getting the website to be in a place where the website is a strong digital resource to build relationships with online language classrooms as well as the HoChunk people.
In conclusion, HoChunk Renaissance has multiple avenues that utilize technology that are being grown by bringing technology & language together thru this website. Downloadable content, children’s learning games, language history, videos/audio clips, and images teaching language are just a few current tools accessible on their website, hochunklanguage.com that continues to grow toward their mission in revitalizing the HoChunk Language.
For more information & updates about HoChunk Renaissance please visit their website: Hochunklanguage.com and Facebook page listed under HoChunk Renaissance.
Winnebago Indian News – By Tyler Snake & Bethani Redhorn
Hōcąk Language Academy – Dual language classroom
Hōcąk Language Academy will strive to provide quality education through the medium of the Hōcąk language. We strive to offer curriculum through educational approaches that are consistent with what our ancestors did and are in line with the current research on education and language acquisition. The Hōcąk Language Academy (HLA) provides opportunities for students to develop and thrive in both English and in Hōcąk. Teachers and students work together to fulfill our school’s vision, mission and core values.
The Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash)
The traditional Three Sisters Garden forms an ecosystem by creating a community of plants and animals. This system creates a beneficial relationship between the three plants- each plant helps the others grow.
Using the strength of the sturdy corn stalks to support the twining beans and the shade ofthe spreading squash vines to trap moisture for the growing crop. The meaning of the Three Sisters runs deep into the physical and spiritual well-being. The well-being of each crop is believed to be protected by one of the Three Sister Spirits. An Indigenous legend has been woven around the “Three Sisters” – sisters who would never be apart from one another – sisters who should be planted together, eaten together, and celebrated together.
As a heritage preservation department, we come together annually and create our Three or Four sister garden. The fourth sister is our sunflower. In the spring, we personally plant each seed into the ground. We continue to sustain our garden by providing the necessary care like our ancestors have done hundreds of years. In the fall, it is customary to share our harvest for our Green Corn Dance gathering and/or give them to wakes and funerals. It is our efforts to include as many students, volunteers, and community members in our efforts.
Translates: The first languageThe Community language class is geared toward participants who seek to preserve and revitalize the HoChunk language. As a division under the HoChunk Renaissance program, the experience includes a pathway to HoChunk language learning thru immersion friendly activities, classroom lecture, and interactive engagement. As a stepping stone in language development, the participants will learn to read and write the HoChunk language, but more importantly, to begin speaking our sacred language. The experience will provide incentives during its eight-week course covering the Novice-Low curriculum, which may include topics of the name, age, where you live, and the six question types: what, who, where, when, yes & no, and either or. Supportive materials & resources will be given during each session and courses will run periodically during the annual year. We are now seeking participants to begin the experience of learning the first language of our proud HoChunk people.Dates: November 4th – December 30thTime: 6pm – 8pmWhere: Online Zoom ClassroomRegistration due November 3rd at 4:00pm. Click here to download application (allow a few seconds for complete download)
Translates: The first languageThe Community language class is geared toward participants who seek to preserve and revitalize the HoChunk language. As a division under the HoChunk Renaissance program, the experience includes a pathway to HoChunk language learning thru immersion friendly activities, classroom lecture, and interactive engagement. As a stepping stone in language development, the participants will learn to read and write the HoChunk language, but more importantly, to begin speaking our sacred language. The experience will provide incentives during its eight-week course covering the Novice-Low curriculum, which may include topics of the name, age, where you live, and the six question types: what, who, where, when, yes & no, and either or. Supportive materials & resources will be given during each session and courses will run periodically during the annual year. We are now seeking participants to begin the experience of learning the first language of our proud HoChunk people.Dates: November 4th – December 30thTime: 6pm – 8pmWhere: Online Zoom ClassroomRegistration due November 3rd at 4:00pm. Click here to download application (allow a few seconds for complete download)
WINNEBAGO, Neb. (AP) – There are a few things that define a Native American tribe more than its language.
That importance of language is one of the driving forces behind the Ho-Chunk Tribe – also known as the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska – seeking to revitalize its language and see it spoken by more people, part of what is called the Ho-Chunk Renaissance.
“Within a lot of Native American cultures, language and culture go together,” Lewis St. Cyr, language program director for the Ho-Chunk, said “You can’t have culture without language and you can’t have language without culture. The importance of it is who we are.”
The language project currently is being taught in various schools with ties to the tribe, including the Winnebago Public Schoos, the Educare preschool, St. Augustine Indian Mission and Little Priest Tribal College.
However, St. Cyr admits that the amount a brief language program during school hours can do 15 minutes per day – is limited and he is working to see the knowledge of the Ho-Chunk language expand through additional methods.
“Right now, we’re at a point where we’re restructuring the program to fit a lot more things that we can utilize as far as technology,” St. Cyr said. “We have a lot more younger people involved with the program and things like that.”
As someone who has had a longtime interest in the Ho-Chunk language, St. Cyr knows how it feels to want to learn the language and know more about it, but not have many resources.
“I was a person that growing up, I wanted to learn this language and be a fluent speaker,” said St. Cyr, a graduate of Wayne State College. “During that time, when I was really interested in this language – and I still am – I was learning on my own, using materials, books, CDs and things like that. I didn’t really have that access to a fluent speaker. I would come back from going to school from Wayne State and I would look for that person (and I) had all these different questions. “There wasn’t really anything set up – an evening program or a place we could really go. However, I would go down to the program during the time – the HoChunk Renaissance Program – and would just go down there talk to some of the people there.”
The Norfolk Daily News reports that with the Ho-Chunk language being spoke less often and be fewer speakers, the tribe realized that it needed to do something to save the language.
“During that time, a lot of the tribal elders were noticing that a lot of the younger generations weren’t picking up the language and weren’t exposed to the language as much as they were,” St. Cyr said. “It started becoming (something of) an endangered language, so this project – the Ho-Chunk Renaissance Project – started and went through the process of a tribal elder getting that going, (then) the tribal council got involved, told them what they were trying to do and eventually this project started. Over time, it started growing and growing.”
St. Cyr said that he has hired five new employees since he took the reins of the language program in August and plans to hire more as he works to develop a team. He also has incorporated the creation story of the Ho-Chunk language into the Ho-Chunk Renaissance’s company logo.
“We believe that without our language, we’re just a common person. We’re not Ho-Chunk – we’re not who we are – and that’s a part of who we are,” St. Cyr said. “It was a gift by the Creator to use this creator. We believe this is what ties us together as a tribal nation. Each tribe’s language is different, but for us, this is who we are, our language and we’ve used it for many, many years.”
While the Ho-Chunk’s language program currently uses a master-apprentice model, St. Cyr wants to do more with an immersion program, a nesting program and greater use of 21st century technology. St. Cyr said that some sort of college class on the Ho-Chunk language might eventually be made available.
“The way this world is now, technology has become such a tool,” St. Cyr said. “We have our children now that utilize iPads and that are on their phone all night. We try to utilize that. There’s been apps, things like that and language apps. I wanted to start getting into some technology development and also into other different aspects.”
While there has not been a formal survey done, St. Cyr estimates there are approximately 10 Ho-Chunk speakers on the Winnebago Reservation, a number that he wants to see increase. He added that there are three fluent Ho-Chunk speakers working in the program.
“We have a lot of people who can understand it; it’s just that bringing them out to speak it,” said St. Cyr. “That’s another thing that we’re trying to focus on.”
St. Cyr said that the tribe also plans to hire a media production manager and to create different videos in the Ho-Chunk language, something that already has been done for the nursery rhymes “Old MacDonald” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
After years of struggling to find resources to learn about the Ho-Chunk language, St. Cyr is happy to give back to his community and his people.
“I know what that felt like when there was no resource or no availability for anything like that,” St. Cyr said. “Going through that, now I know that there’s people out there in that same boat that want that same opportunity but don’t really have it. Knowing that, in the back of my mind I wanted to bring that out and have that available for the community.”