{"id":76487,"date":"2019-07-27T00:17:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-27T06:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=76487"},"modified":"2019-07-27T00:18:42","modified_gmt":"2019-07-27T06:18:42","slug":"athabaskan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/athabaskan.html","title":{"rendered":"Athabaskan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Athabasca Falls, in Alberta\u2019s Jasper National Park \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Athabasca<\/em>. \u00a0Athabaskan<\/em>. \u00a0For some reason, I like the sheer sound<\/em> of the word.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been vaguely aware, for many years, of a family of native American languages called \u201cAthabaskan\u201d (or some variant spelling of that adjective). \u00a0It includes, as its most populous group of speakers, the Navajo, but it also includes the languages of the Plains and Western Apache. \u00a0Beyond those groups, though, and perhaps somewhat surprisingly, its largest contiguous pre-Contact geographical region stretched across what is today Alaska, the Yukon, and Canada\u2019s Northwest Territory, and outlying concentrations of Athabaskan speakers lived before the coming of the Europeans down along the Pacific coast into Oregon and even modern California.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, that\u2019s neither here nor there.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Athabasca Glacier, in Canada\u2019s Jasper National Park \u00a0(Wikimedia CC public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the word Athabasca<\/em> has taken on a whole new and more concrete meaning in my mind during this trip. \u00a0(I don\u2019t know why it hadn\u2019t hit me, or at least stuck with me, from my previous trips here, but it didn\u2019t.) \u00a0We\u2019ve visited Athabasca Falls, for example, and enjoyed driving along the Athabasca River, admired Athabasca Pass, and walked on the Athabasca Glacier.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rio<\/a>
The Athabasca River, running through Jasper National Park
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t our first time on the Athabasca Glacier. \u00a0It\u2019s part of the Columbia Icefield, which is the largest icefield in the Rocky Mountains. \u00a0We\u2019ve visited it at least one previous time \u2014 a time of which I still have a very vivid memory:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As we were leaving, having walked down the steps from the visitor center toward the parking lot, my eldest son, then probably in his very early teens and in a playful mood, hit me with an unexpected football block. \u00a0I brought my arm up to my side to defend myself. \u00a0But he hit me in just such a way, or my arm transmitted the force of his hit in just such a way, that it broke one or more of my ribs.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pain was intense. \u00a0He was laughing, unaware that he had hurt me. \u00a0I wanted to tell him, but, for what seemed a full minute or so, I simply couldn\u2019t breathe. \u00a0I certainly couldn\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It changed the complexion of the rest of that vacation. \u00a0I could scarcely sleep, and every bump on the road was excruciating. \u00a0And this lasted for weeks thereafter.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Walking from the parking lot toward the steps this time, the memory was still extremely clear.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Athabasca,<\/a>
Athabasca Pass, in Canada\u2019s Jasper National Park \u00a0(Wikimedia CC public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But so now will be the memory of where the principal homeland of the Athabaskan languages was (and, presumably, still is).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Canmore, Alberta, Canada<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Athabasca. \u00a0Athabaskan. \u00a0For some reason, I like the sheer sound of the word. \u00a0 I\u2019ve been vaguely aware, for many years, of a family of native American languages called \u201cAthabaskan\u201d (or some variant spelling of that adjective). \u00a0It includes, as its most populous group of speakers, the Navajo, but it also includes the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAthabaskan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Athabasca. \u00a0Athabaskan. \u00a0For some reason, I like the sheer sound of the word.   I've been vaguely aware, for many years, of a family of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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