pointing, not with finger

[Anne Lindsay]

I know there are a number of places you should not point at with a 
finger along the Nelson River. On the same line, Brightman notes:

http://home.westman.wave.ca/~westfall/CIESCHalifax2003.pdf

A feature of many Cree and Oji-Cree communities is the mantônak 'spirit 
island'or  mancônakos 'little spirit island; in fact such islands can be 
found as far east as Quebec.
For the people of Pukatawagan, their mancônakos is located in Highrock 
Lake downstream from the community. The abandoned community of Prayer 
River is nearby;
today, a few people have returned to live at the community of Highrock. 
A spirit island isthe one at which one must not point a finger. Doing so 
will raise a strong wind, and
drowning (or freezing on the ice in winter) may ensue. Stern warnings 
concerning ignorant pointing are contained in the interviews with Keno 
Linklater, Athanase Castel and Miles Bighetty (CEC
D 240-242, 295-303, 489). Miles states that it is themîmîkwîsiwak, the 
supernatural 'little rock people' who cause the gale. Other people claim 
not to know who causes the wind but nearlyall agree that it is very 
dangerous to point with a finger at the island. Taking pictures with a 
camera, on the other hand, isperfectly safe (CECD 301 & 303).


>> Hello Algonquianists,
>>
>> I'm a discussant at an upcoming conference on gesture, and one thing I thought I would mention to the (extremely diverse) audience is the practice among at least some of the Algonquian peoples of pointing with the lips or with the chin, rather than pointing with the finger.
>>
>> I would like to ask you all how widespread this practice is.  And for native speakers (native pointers? :-) ), do you have any intuitions about why pointing with the finger is avoided?  Would it seem rude to point with the finger?  Or inappropriate in some other way?
>>
>> thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share!
>>
>> Amy
>>
>> P.S.  if you hit "reply" remember that you are replying to the whole list! :-)


-- 
If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience. George Bernard Shaw





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