This First Individual column is written by Tama Fost, who lives in St. John’s. For extra details about CBC’s First Individual tales, please see the FAQ.
Ullukut ilonnasi. Tamauvunga — good day all of you. I’m Tama.
I used to be born and raised in downtown St. John’s. My settler dad, Fred, was from Millertown, N.L., whereas my Inuk mother, Charlotte, is from Hopedale, Nunatsiavut (north coastal Labrador).
Though I’m a Newfoundlander and Labradorian, I’m the primary technology of my Inuit household lineage to have
been born and raised in a metropolis — a first-generation city Inuk, if you’ll.
An individual’s identify is an identifier — inwardly, in addition to externally to others and the neighborhood to which they belong. After the arrival of Moravian missionaries in Nunatsiavut, conventional Inuit names pale and commenced to mirror biblical and Westernized names, though it’s nonetheless frequent to identify a new child after a member of the family or beloved one. The time period atitsiak is used to acknowledge the revered relationship shared between two people.
So what’s in a reputation, precisely, and what significance does naming and atitsiak maintain to Inuit? I’ll get to that, however first I wish to share a little bit about my identify.
To be named
I used to be born within the mid-Eighties, and I’m informed I used to be a number of weeks outdated earlier than my mother and father agreed upon a reputation. For the anonymous weeks, I used to be merely referred to as “the newborn.” Ultimately they selected Tama Stephanie Margaret: Tama after my anânsiak (maternal grandmother), Stephanie as a result of they preferred the identify, and Margaret after my dad’s youngest sister, who handed away as a child.
I used to be baptized Tama. Nevertheless, my mother and father raised me as Stephanie, and this was my major identify till I turned a mom.
My anânsiak was born and raised in Hopedale with Inuktitut as her first language. She gave delivery to 12 kids, eight of whom survived and have been raised in Hopedale together with her husband, Natan — my atâtsiak (grandfather). Whereas elevating my mother and her siblings, my anânsiak labored as a prepare dinner and nurse’s aide. She was sort and quiet and, like many Inuit girls, she had an insurmountable data of family tree and lineage. You wanted solely to say an individual’s identify, and he or she would have the ability to let you know who their mother and father have been, who their mother and father’ mother and father have been, and who their mother and father’ mother and father’ mother and father have been. And from my earliest recollections together with her, she all the time lovingly referred to as me atitsiak.
As a small lady, I didn’t know or hear a lot Inuktitut except I used to be at my grandparents’ home in Joyful Valley-Goose Bay, N.L. I kind of simply assumed that atitsiak meant “grandchild,” however I keep in mind asking my mother at a younger age why Anânsiak solely referred to as me atitsiak. She informed me that atitsiak will be loosely translated to imply “namesake.”
As I grew, I discovered that atitsiak is greater than merely sharing a reputation. It’s a lot deeper, advanced and religious. Like many elements of Inuit tradition and spirituality, atitsiak is neither linear nor one-directional. It’s a time period my anânsiak might name me, and a time period I too might name her.
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There is a component of sharing and reciprocity whereby names are inherited from a number of technology to a different. When a child is called after their grandfather, the mother or father would possibly lovingly name the newborn atâtak, which suggests “father,” or ittok, which suggests “outdated man.”
Some imagine the newborn will inherit comparable traits of the older particular person, particularly when the elder has handed away. As a result of there’s an inheritance of character traits, it’s nearly as if there’s a migration or continuance of spirit. The kid should give honour and reverence to their atitsiak and the significance of namesake relationship.
Motherhood
Once I turned a mom I felt a way of urgency in deepening my connection, exploration and celebration of my Inuit roots. I began spending extra time with the city Inuit neighborhood and commenced studying some Inuktitut, drum dancing and throat singing. If I didn’t honour my Inuit roots, I feared my future grandchildren would lose much more Inuit tradition, data and spirituality than what was misplaced between my anânsiak’s technology and mine. Within the early days of motherhood, I embraced Tama as my major identify to honour being atitsiak to my anânsiak.
The atitsiak relationship in my household isn’t just restricted to myself and my anânsiak. It permeates by way of many generations in our household tree. There are dozens of examples, and I named my expensive son after my dad, who sadly handed away earlier than his first grandchild was born.
Though my dad was a settler, I named my son after him to honour the atitsiak custom whereas acknowledging the Inuit and settler roots in my lineage. As my son grows, he jogs my memory of my dad in some ways, whether or not it’s the best way he walks throughout a room or his ardour for music. It’s no shock I’ll name my son atâtak or ittok infrequently. Though he didn’t have the possibility to satisfy my dad, my son really is atitsiak to his grandfather, who we name Poppy, in mannerisms, identify and spirit.
So for now, I go away you with this query: is the notion of atitsiak merely simply sharing a reputation? I’ll allow you to determine.
However for me, embracing Tama as my first identify and persevering with the atitsiak custom with my son are acutely aware acts of decolonization and reclamation of our Inuit identification, to not point out an honour to carry in nice reverence in thoughts, physique and spirit.
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