Nimiipum Inmiwit - The Nez Perce Year of Seasons
Evelyn Carter, D'Lisa Pinkham, Jackie Taylor
Nez Perce Indian Reservation, Lapwai, ID

Grade level
Kindergarten

Time required
Four 30-minute class periods

Materials
Bulletin board with four sections
Cards with the Nez Perce name for each season written in large letters
Cultural items used traditionally by the Nez Perce for food preparation such as a gaffing pole, dip net, digging stick, digging bag, beargrass woven berry basket, mortar and pestle, bow and arrows, drying racks, etc.
Pictures of traditional Nez Perce food preparation items for coloring (see list above)
Pictures of traditional Nez Perce foods for coloring: salmon, roots, native vegetables, berries, elk, and deer
Pictures of seasonal activities in contemporary times and times past for coloring
Historic pictures of Nez Perce people harvesting, preparing and storing foods
Simple map of Nez Perce aboriginal territory, showing prominent landmarks
Satellite image of Nez Perce aboriginal territory – see Resources
The Nez Perce story, “Warmweather and Coldweather”
Small icons representing traditional food related activities

Goals
By completing this lesson the student will

1. gain experience interpreting maps and satellite images,
2. learn about how the Nez Perce people followed the seasonal cycle of food harvest,
3. learn about the traditional foods harvested by the Nez Perce and how they were prepared and stored and
4. learn the Nez Perce names for the seasons and food.

Science standards addressed
National Science Standards

• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
• Organisms and environments
• Life cycles of organisms
• Changes in Earth and sky

American Indian Science Standards

• Observations and understandings of nature and ecological relationships traditionally formed an essential base of knowledge among American Indian cultures
• Changes in Earth’s surface, weather fluctuations and movements of celestial objects and how they affected historical American Indian community locations, annual migrations, and agricultural and ceremonial cycles

Teacher tips
Kindergarten is an opportune time for students to be introduced to the Nez Perce language. Invite tribal language experts and native speakers to work with you and your students during this lesson.

Prepare the seasons bulletin board in advance by dividing a large circle into four sections where you will place the native words for the seasons as you teach them. Students will place their colored pictures of seasonal activities on the board as they identify them for the class.

This lesson would be most effective if introduced and taught during each season with authentic experiences and observations made during each season. However, each season can be introduced daily for four days and then reinforced throughout the year with daily or weekly Nez Perce language review and extension activities.

Background information
The Nez Perce people long ago followed the seasons of the foods. They would travel downriver to harvest fish at Celilo Falls and trade goods with other tribes. They would travel to bison country to hunt bison. They would move to different parts of the country where each of the root foods were located in order to harvest them. They traveled to a special winter camp to stay throughout the winter; travel was limited during the snowy months. Today, these places can easily be traveled to by car.

Nimiipum Inmiwit is the Nez Perce name for the Nez Perce year, ‘inmiwit’ meaning year.
In the United States, there are typically four seasons represented throughout the calendar year: autumn, winter, spring, and summer. In Nez Perce culture, a season is distinguish-ed as a time to gather a particular food, or when a yearly natural phenomenon occurs, therefore, there are more than four seasons annually. For example, during the time of April, called Q’eq’iit’tal, the first root of q’eqiit is harvested. Wilupup, or the time near January, is when cold air travels and blizzards occur.

While the standard calendar used in your classroom is organized into twelve months, the Nez Perce calendar has several more divisions. In order to help students better associate the seasons of the Nez Perce with their normal school calendar, twelve Nez Perce seasons have been identified in the Nez Perce yearly calendar. There are also four general names in Nez Perce for the seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall. These names, along with their associated activities, are found in the list below.

Nez Perce Names for Seasons
Wewexp: Spring; root, bulb, plant harvest time, food preparation, and root feast
Tayam: Summer; hunting and fishing activities, berry harvesting, prepare food
Sexni’m: Fall; hunting, food preparations, moving to winter lodges
Eni’m: Winter; storytelling, tool and weapon repair, ceremonial and medicinal dances

Nez Perce Months (Additional Seasons)
Wilupup: January is the time of cold weather and blizzards.
Alat’amal: February is the time of freezing weather, and when it is difficult to maintain a fire.
Latit’al: March is the season of the first bloom of plants and when new life begins,
Q’eq’iit’al: April is the season of the first root q’eqiit and harvest.
Alapa’al: May is the season of harvesting and preparing the qaws root. It is the season of high rivers and melting snow, people are moving to higher elevations to harvest roots.
Tustimasat’al: June is the season of Tayam, the hot days of summer, and the season the blueback return.
Taya’al: July is the season of the Chinook Salmon return, huckleberries are becoming ripe, and the root food q’emes can be harvested.
Wawammayq’al: August is the season when Salmon reach upper tributaries and streams to spawn.
Piq’unmayq’al: September is the season the Salmon return to rivers for cold weather.
Hoplal: October is the season of cold weather, when the Tamarack turn yellow and the buck deer are running.
Sexliwal: November is the season of leaves and plants turning color, large animals are mating.
Haoq’oy: December is the season that deer carry their fetus; there is no hunting of female game.

Procedure
Engagement

1. Facilitate a class discussion about food with your students.
   • Where do we get our food?
   • Where do we store our food?
2. Ask students what they know about how Nez Perce people obtained food long ago.
   • Did they have grocery stores? Where did they get their food?
   • Did they have refrigerators? How did they store their food?
3. Explain to students that long ago, Nez Perce people lived a seasonal lifestyle, largely influenced by the harvesting and preparation of food, and other activities related to survival.

Exploration

1. Show students some cultural items related to the harvesting, preparation and storage of traditional foods. Ask them to predict what the items are, then discuss their seasonal uses. Show historical pictures of these seasonal activities as well.
2. Show students a large simple map of Nez Perce aboriginal territory, side by side with a satellite image of the same area. As the class identifies each cultural item, show students where the food activity related to it would take place by placing a small icon on the map. Ask a student to find the same area on the satellite image and have them place a small icon of the activity at that location on the image. Ask students to chorally identify each event as it is placed on the image. Some examples include
   • Camas Prairie: q’emes root harvest
   • Atwai: q’eqiit root harvest
   • Celilo Falls: Fish harvest
   • Snake, Salmon, Clearwater, Columbia Rivers: fish harvest and river activities
   • Lower river valleys: winter camps
   • Montana and Yellowstone: bison hunting

Explanation

1. Point to the bulletin board spring section and introduce the name for spring in the Nez Perce language: Wewexp
2. Ask students what type of weather occurs and what types of activities they engage in during spring.
3. Ask students which food activities they think that Nez Perce people engaged in during spring in the old days.
4. Repeat this activity for each season.
5. Break the class into four small groups. Distribute pictures of activities for one season to each group, pictures from both long ago and today. Ask them to color and cut out the pictures. Circulate throughout the classroom and talk to groups to make sure students know what each picture depicts.
6. Ask each student to explain their pictures to the class as they place them on the bulletin board in the appropriate section. Review the Nez Perce name for each season.
7. Tell the story “Warmweather and Coldweather” and discuss its seasonal connection.

Elaboration

1. Take students outside to observe and experience the elements of the seasons. Ask them to make observations about the environment, such as flowers blooming, berries available or animals visible. Students can discuss how the types of clothing they wear during the seasons change to adapt to the temperature.
2. Give students samples of traditional seasonal foods of the Nez Perce such as jerky, dried fruit and roots. Discuss the season and the procedure for obtaining, preparing and storing the foods. If possible, engage students in the actual gathering and preparation of foods (see Follow up activities).

Evaluation

1. Assess students on their explanation of their bulletin board display of seasonal activities, both contemporary and traditional.
2. Informally assess students on the reciting of the Nez Perce names of the four seasons.

Follow up activities

1. When possible, have students experience some of the activities of Nez Perce long ago. Some examples are listed below.
   • Plan a field trip with tribal representatives to Atwai to dig qe’qiit in April or to dig qaws in May.
   • Plan a field trip for students to see the salmon run, or interact with the Nez Perce Fisheries Program during salmon harvest.
   • Visit the Nez Perce National Historical Park to look at the different tools used by the Nez Perce. A circular calendar display is also available in the main lobby. The students can erect a small tipi and engage in storytelling.
2. Throughout the year, teach students the Nez Perce name of the current month or season and the names of the traditional activities that occurred during those times, as provided in the information in the Background section. In the classroom post both a school and Nez Perce calendar.

Resources
Satellite image of the Nez Perce Reservation
http://yoda.cec.umt.edu/sid/bin/show_newjava.plx?image=
nezperce.sid&client=Native_Lands&section=Nez%20Perce%20Reservation&title=Native%20Lands