Blueberry Festival event challenged people to say ‘Blueberry Pie’ in Ojibway
Reeti Meenakshi Rohilla - Staff Writer
Saying ‘Blueberry Pie’ in Ojibway, a new Blueberry Festival event introduced this year, challenged individuals to take a shot at pronouncing the 66 character-long Ojibway word, with a chance for a lucky participant to win a $50 MasterCard.
Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre conducted the event. The centre’s Special Education Coach Jenn Elwell shared, “We wanted to create something fun for the Blueberry Festival that also celebrated Indigenous culture and language.” She added, “With so much of the heavy news lately regarding residential schools, a fun and interactive activity such as this is a reminder that Indigenous languages and cultures are still alive and they are vibrant. Any type of activity such as this helps to create awareness, which we hope will create those community bonds and relationships.”
Elwell shared that the Ojibway word for ‘Blueberry Pie’ is Miinibaashkiminasiganibiitoosijiganibadagwiingweshiganibakwezhigan.
She added that the reason why they chose this word was its uniqueness of how long and difficult this word is to pronounce.
Especially with the event being a fun and friendly setting, instead of a competition for the best pronunciation, it received a positive community response, shared Elwell. She added, “We wanted to encourage everyone to try, that’s why we decided to make the prize draw open to anyone who submitted a recording.”
The lucky winner was Alicia Robb, who received a $50 gift card sponsored by Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre.
“It was a fun and creative way for community members to practice speaking in Native language,” shared Elwell. “We are looking forward to participating in next year’s events. If anyone needs to contact us for Indigenous content they can stop by our office or visit us at https://www.kwayaciiwin.com/,” she concluded.