Day 15: Reclaiming Two-Spirit Languages.
Words as Sacred Medicine
Across Turtle Island, Two-Spirit leaders are breathing life back into ancestral languages that colonialism once sought to erase. For many Indigenous nations, words for gender and sexuality were not just descriptive but sacred, rooted in cosmology, kinship, and spiritual balance. English, shaped by colonial binaries, could never hold that depth.
Reclamation as Resistance
Reclaiming these words is more than translation. It is resistance, healing, and renewal. When Two-Spirit people speak the names given to them by their ancestors, they are reconnecting to a worldview where their existence is not marginal but central to community life.
Examples of Sacred Terms
Anishinaabemowin, the Indigenous language of the the Anishinabek Nation including the Anishinaabeg peoples, also known as Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi, is one of the oldest and most historically important Native languages in North America. Their term niizh manidoowag (“two spirits”) affirms the presence of both masculine and feminine spirit. Diné Bizaad is the name for the Navajo language; “Diné” means “the people,” while “Navajo” was a name given by their Spanish colonizers. Their ancestral word, nádleehi refers to those who embody fluidity of gender roles. These words carry power, belonging, and ancestral recognition.
The Power of Language and Sovereignty
As the late Elder Myra Laramee, of the Fisher River Cree Nation, a Two-Spirit educator, shared:
“When we reclaim the words, we reclaim the teachings, and we reclaim ourselves.”
This reclamation reminds us that naming ourselves is an act of sovereignty. To speak in our languages is to honor ancestors, affirm the present, and create a future where Two-Spirit youth know they are sacred.
Learn More
- Native Languages of the Americas – Resources on Indigenous words for gender and sexuality
- The History of Two-Spirit Folks By By Isabella Thurston for The Indigenous Foundation
- Two-Spirit Archives (University of Winnipeg)
- Two-Spirit and Non-Binary Resources (Winnipeg and Canada)
- Sex and Gender in Native America (GL Review article)
- Getting Started: Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Studies (UBC Library Guide)
- Two Spirit Has Always Been an Identity – by NFB Blog
View All of This Month’s Daily Posts
More 2025/26 Celebrating Diversity
For more information and access to other events, sign our Guestbook!