Retired teacher Greg Spence uses birds to explain Cree words for summer

For some on the James Bay Coast, the birds can tell a lot about what time of year it is.

The last time Up North host Waubgeshig Rice spoke with Greg Spence, their topic of conversation was Cree words for spring. 

Spence is a retired Cree language teacher and residential school survivor who lives in Moose Factory.

"I spoke about the six seasonal changes . . . and every two moon cycles there's a change," said Spence. "The summer for us is on the calendar around July and August." He went on to describe how the activities of birds are connected to the words for summer.

For example, Canada Geese and snow geese migrate from the south and July is the moulting season. "They drop their prime feathers and they run around for about a month or so and they regrow their prime feathers and prepare themselves for the flight moon," he said.

The flight moon is August. "That's when most of these birds that dropped their feathers, they regrow their feathers and they're starting to fly again," he said.