Texts

How I Started Working On Nawat

—Ka naja niknekiskia ma shiwi timusenpua nikan iwan tumajmanujwan wan shikinmachti taketzat Nawat. Tiawit timetztashtawat pal metzti ume tzunti tumin. Ken tina? Nemi yek?

“Because I’d like you to come and join our brethren here and teach them to speak Nawat. We’ll pay you 200 colones a month. Well, what do you say?”

How I Have Carried Nawat To Many Countries

How We Prayed

Yejemet tesu kimatit, ken an tejemet tikmatit, ka nemi se Tiut ka te tikishmatit. Yejemet kishmatit katka tay kitat, ken ne tunal, ne at, ne tal, ne tawial, ne kwajkwawit, ne kojtan: ipal itakwal, ipal ne tapewil, wan ne kwajkwawit pal kisaluat itakil pal tikwat pal te tikseliat mayan.

They didn’t realise, as we now know, that there is a God whom we didn’t know. They recognised the things they could see, such as the sun, the rain, the land, maize, trees, and nature, which provided their food, game, and fruit-bearing trees for food so as not to endure hunger.

Yejemet tesu kimatit, ken an tejemet tikmatit, ka nemi se Tiut ka te tikishmatit. Yejemet kishmatit katka tay kitat, ken ne tunal, ne at, ne tal, ne tawial, ne kwajkwawit, ne kojtan: ipal itakwal, ipal ne tapewil, wan ne kwajkwawit pal kisaluat itakil pal tikwat pal te tikseliat mayan.

They didn’t realise, as we now know, that there is a God whom we didn’t know. They recognised the things they could see, such as the sun, the rain, the land, maize, trees, and nature, which provided their food, game, and fruit-bearing trees for food so as not to endure hunger.

Padiush, Nan Tal, ka taja tikitak kwak ninesik, tikitak kwak nipejki niweya, kwak nimuchiwki takat. Mupanpa naja niwelik nikchiwa muchi tay niwelik tik ne tunal, ninemik wejwey takapiltzin, nechmunekiket pal nitekitik iwanmet. Panu sujsul tunal wan nimuchiwki chulet, kunij teya akaj nechneki kwak nikukuya, maya nuiknuwan, kenhayuk nechnekit pero ajsi keman teya akaj nechneki, nan nuiknuwan, ajsi se tunal ka naja nimiki, kunij nan nusiwaw nan nupilawan nechnekit, yawit nechmimat ken kimimat ne kupajsul tik ne kupajsultal, maya taja, Tunan Tal, ashta kwak timikit titechneki ka kunij tiktapua mumajmajkul pal titechnamiki. Yajika timetzilwitiat padiush, Tunan Tal!

Thank you, Mother Earth, because you saw when I was born, you saw when I began to grow, when I became an adult. Thanks to you I was able to do everything I did today, I had a long youth, I was needed for work. After many days I grew old, then nobody wants me when I am ill, only my brothers, they still love me but the day will come when nobody wants me, not even my brothers, the day will come when I die, then not even my wife and my children will want me, they will throw me out as they throw out rubbish, only you, Mother Earth, want us even when we die, for then you open your arms to receive us. For that I thank you, Mother Earth!

Ne tzikat techmachtia ken muchiwa pal te tikseliat mayan. Yejemet ashta ne mas chikitik ashta ne mas tumak tekitit. Ne tesu nemi kaj kintuktia; muchi tekitit.

The ant teaches us what we should do in order not to go hungry. From the smallest to the largest, they work. There is nobody there to give orders; everybody works.

Muchi tikmatit ka se tutut patani. Pero ken kichiwa pal weya, tesu akaj kimati. U su kimatit ka nesi ipal se teksisti, kaj kitakwaltia? Tay mumati, ka inan kitakwaltia.

Everybody knows that a bird flies. But nobody knows how it grows up. Or if they know that it comes from an egg, who feeds it? What is known is that its mother feeds it.

Tay techmachtia ne tutut, ma tejemet tikchiwakan iwan tupijpilawan. Ne tutut, yaja se tamachtiani, ka techmachtia ken weli mupewa tiktemuat ne tutakwal pal te tikseliat mayan.

What the bird teaches us, let us do with our children. The bird is a teacher indeed, for it teaches us how we should start looking for our own food in order not to go hungry.