I have no idea why Rabbit Mountain is called Rabbit Mountain. It's not even a mountain, but a cuesta. This rabbit is from my mom's back bush, not Rabbit Mountain. My mom's house is a half hour walk from Rabbit Mt. Were there a lot of rabbits at Rabbit Mountain at one time? just as herds of woodland caribou used to be abundant 100 years ago along the shores of Lake Superior?
This is one of the reasons behind the demise of once numerous creatures
heavy machinery like front shovels that move heavy rocky materials
The rusting bucket of a front shovel is lying on Rabbit Mountain. Left behind.
The bucket reminded me of Vaskilintu
Vaskilintu means Bronze Bird or Copper Bird. Bird pendants of bronze were part of women's apparel in ancient "Finland" (it wouldn't be called that then, nor would the people be "Finns"). They / we may have been Sami then, as Rauna Kuokkanen has noted (please read comment 3 on her post titled May...). Pirkko-Liisa Lehtosalo-Hilander says that bronze bird pendants, symbolizing mascot animals, came from the Lake Ladoga area of what is now Russia (see pg. 59 of her book).
Vaskilintu has also been translated to mean Iron Bird. Vaskilintu is also a beautiful song. You can listen to The Bronze Bird by Sanna Kurki-Suonio from her cd Musta [Black]. The lyrics are nicer in Finnish than English; listen to her song in Finnish and I think you will agree.
I heard the whisper of a birdie,
lamentation of a bronze bird,
the whimper of a golden peewit
I heard a whisper
A branch was bowed, a stem was bent,
the wind jerked on the tree trunk
a branch was bowed, a stem was bent,
I heard a whisper
Water shivered, earth rumbled,
lightning tore the vault of haven
Water shivered, earth rumbled,
I heard a whisper
Kuulin linnun kuiskauksen
vaskisen linnun vaikerruksen
kultalinnun kuikerruksen
kuulin kuiskauksen
Oksa kaartui, runko taipui
tuuli tempoi puuta vasten
oksa kaartui, runko taipui
kuulin kuiskauksen
Vesi värjyi, maa kumisi
salama sahasi taivaan kannen
vesi värjyi, maa kumisi
kuulin kuiskauksen
2 comments:
The Finnish lyrics are definitely more beautiful, musical and remind me of the Kalevala. I love these posts about our Finnishness.
I am always searching for more meanings; ancestral rootedness in the land now mapped as Finland lives in my bones somewhere, but mixed with the places I live through today
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