Keeping it cold
Ni:ne McComber and her grandfather John McComber, also known as Chief Poking Fire, are pictured at the St. Francis Xavier Mission Catholic Church around 1975. (Courtesy: Ni:ne McComber)
Story told by watsenNi:ne McComber
My grandfather’s birthday is in the summer and he loved his strawberries. He loved his strawberry juice and his strawberry shortcake so he would have that for his birthday.
He told me that when he was little, they didn’t have an ice box in those days but they had water in the well. How they kept the strawberry juice cold was that the juice would be prepared, put in a pail, and lowered down into the water. The well is like 20 feet deep so that’s pretty cold.
He said before that, how they used to do it when they lived in longhouses, was they had earthenware pots with lids on them. They would make rope with vines from the trees and they would wind it around the top of the pot. They would take it to the river, put it at the shore, and tie it off so that it didn’t float away and the water would keep it cold.
Eniowistohtónhake’
Chief Poking Fire, Ni:ne McComber’s grandfather. (Courtesy: Ni:ne McComber)
Ni:ne McComber iakoká:raton
Rakhsotkénha shaié:rits tsi niwakénhnhes tánon’ kwah rawé:ka’skwe’ ne ken’ niiohontésha. Kwah ki’ rawé:ka’skwe’ ne tewahiahríhton tánon’ ken’ niiohontésha ken’ nikakare’tsherésha né: ká:ti’ nen’ nè:’e én:rake’ tsi enshaié:rite’.
Wahakhró:ri’ tsi ken’ shihrà:’a, tho shontakahá:wi iah tehotiién:tahkwe’ ne kawistóhtha’ nek tsi rotihnaweró:tahkwe’. Tsi ní:ioht tsi enhatihné:kanohste’ ne tewahiahríhton, enhatiweiennén:ta’ne’ sok kanà:tsakon enhatihné:karen’ tánon’ awèn:ke ienhòn:senhte’. 20 tóka’ niwahsì:take niiohnáweres né: káti’ kwah tiowísto tho nón:we.
Wahèn:ron’ tsi náhe’, tsi ní:ioht tsi nihatiiéhrhahkwe’ ne kanonhsésne shihati’terón:ton, rotina’tsaién:tonhkwe’ no’tá:ra ionnià:ton tánon’ ne atenontékstha’. Okwira’kéhshon iohnientskwiren’tónnion nenhatihseriie’tónnia’te’ tánon’ è:neken kana’tsà:ke enhatihwatá:se’. Tsi kaniataratátie’ ienhatíhawe’, atsà:kta enhatí:ien’, tánon’ enhatihwánerenke’ ne tóhsa é:ren aonta’á:wihte’ tánon’ nohné:ka’ eniowistohtónhake’.
Translation by Sahawisó:ko’ Arquette