manafiesta

I want to work less than most people do.

My time is valuable so I’d like to give less of it to others in order to survive comfortably, and have more time for myself.

In order to make my time more valuable I am advancing my education, gaining tools in my box, and becoming persuasive.

I would like to contribute by sitting in a space and listening to people, then talking to people, then making decisions.

In Anchorage it is ten degrees and the snow has been hanging, lipping, off the roof more and more each day. And I daydream birds to be nesting in the snow as in cliffs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

V

HOW TO TELL WEATHER

Adapted from People of Kauwerak by William A. Oquilluk

“Now, he had told him about the calendar. It was still daytime. The old man said: “Come, sit at this place and I will tell you what will happen many years from now. This will come in your time.

“This part of the earth will change as the northwest part of the country moves farther and farther away from the sun. Now we all can see that the sun is close to this part of the earth. We will notice the wind has come and the sun is not so warm anymore. Late in this year, there will come a cold time. You will see a snow. It is a real white snow and it will come and stay for some months. Then it will become warm weather again. This snow weather will be called “winter.” Those other months will be called “summer.” All together, twelve months to a year.

“Tonight, I will show you how to go by the moon and starts to tell the weather. You must tell your people about this. Keep this way to tell about the weather the same always. Never change because the stars never change where they are except two stars and the Big Dipper.

They built a fire when evening came. It was getting dark. The sky was cloudless and bright stars appeared in the blue sky. The old man watched the stars. He said: “tonight I will teach you of the stars. You have to teach the others. Then they can teach their descendants from now on. Those stars in the sky will tell you what you should do and they are your guides at night. When it is dark you will know which star will be for your direction.

The old man pointed to the Big Dipper. He said: “On that end where the stars make a curve from the four in a square, the last star points west. It means the night has begun when you see it. When it comes to point straight up to the north, then time has come to midnight – half way through the night time. When it points east, the morning is coming.

Next, he pointed to two stars. “If these two stars are far apart the spring weather will be long with good seal hunting. When they are far apart it means a long spring and a time to go out hunting the sea animals. If those two stars are close, it is also good hunting for little fawn skins. You can tell how those stars move by the third little star beside the star on the right. These stars are called wise men.

“Look, now you see those stars are very still. That means that you will not have wind. If they are blinking, in one or two days there will be wind.

“You watch the clouds, you watch the sun and the moon. You will know what the weather will be by watching them. Watch your stars and you will learn your weather. Remember this and teach others so they will keep knowledge about how to tell weather from generation to generation.
“If the moon is quarterly and it dips very low, there will be stormy weather that month. If the moon dips so low it looks like the bucket of a man who is pouring water out, it means that in the spring there will be lots of sea animals as well as land animals. There will be lots of birds in the air and on the land. When the quarterly moon’s dip is very high upward that means it will be very dry good weather.

“The sun rises at the east and sets in the west. Remember that the stars at the end of the Big Dipper point west, then straight north, then east, and then south. The wind comes from the west, then from the north, then the east, and then from the south.

He said: “You must repeat this to your people. Everyone will know what it will be at each month. You have learned that which no one knows. There are some more things you must learn.