The Universe Of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, an illustrated glossary by Zhaawano Giizhik*

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The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 Above illustrations: both paintings depict the amazing silhouette of the SLEEPING GIANT at Animikii-Wiikwedong (Thunder Bay), situated in the northern part of Gichigami (Lake superior); an island that according to a local Anishinaabe tradition is the petrified body of Nanabozho (Wiinabozho*). Wiinabozho, who was truly fond of the Anishinaabeg, had gifted them with a mine rich with waabishki-zhooniyaa asiniiwaabik (silver ore). GICHI- MANIDOO, the Great Mystery, had warned the Anishinaabeg not to reveal its location to strangers, or Wiinabozho would be turned to stone. Nevertheless, a canoe guide of the Bwaanag (Dakota Nation) did disclose the secret, and the European intruders whom he led to the mine (present-day Silver Islet) were drowned in a fierce storm that lashed the bay that night. The next morning the horrified Anishinaabeg, who for many generations had used the silver of the mine to craft jewelry and ornaments and tools that brought them much material wealth, noticed that, where once used to be a wide opening to the bay, now lied what appeared to be a sleeping figure of a giant. Nanabozho had been turned into rock overnight…GICHI-MANIDOO’s warning had come true and Wiinabozho, the beloved manidoo of the deep waters, had been turned to stone for eternity… * Wiinabozho is also known by a variety of other names and spellings, including Nanabozho, Nanabush, Wenabozho, Waynabozho, Winaboozhoo, Manabozho, Nanabojo, and Nanabijou. According to some traditional sources, Wiinabozho's grandmother Nookomis, who allegedly named him “Nanabozho” (“Nanabozh” when she addressed him), used the particle "N-” to begin his name, which means "my." Some Anishinaabe speakers, however, would normally drop this endearment and use the more general prefixes W- (meaning “he”) or M- (a null-person prefix). The name Manabozho, then, might possibly reflect the concept or idea behind the Wiinabozho character. A fluent Ojibwe speaker telling a Wiinabozho story or explaining something about Wiinabozho may refer to him as Wiinabozho most of the time, but switch to calling him Nanabozho (or Nanabozh) while narrating for his grandmother. Depending on the story and the narrator's role in telling the story, the name may be presented in its regular nominative form (Wenabozho/Wiinabozho or Manabozho or Nanabozho), or in its vocative form (without the final o: Nanabozh). The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 130
The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 Wikwemikong Ojibwe painter James Mishibinijima: “Great Lakes” (Birchbark Pictograph)(Click on image) NIBI: The Spirit Of The Water. For six centuries or more, the Great Lakes basin, whose abundant waters, ebbing and flowing with the seasons, feed into the North American continent and the Atlantic Ocean, has been the home of my distant ancestors, who for generations have lived close to the water’s edge to survive. Since the days when these Algonquian speaking immigrants first came to this region of bountiful freshwater lakes and islands and rivers and forests, its waters have nourished many generations of the People, physically as well as spiritually. Along with water, all kinds of fish species, turtle spirits, snakes, muskrats, water birds, mermen and mermaids, underwater panthers (see above image), and a myriad of other water creatures, play a central role in the traditional narrations and creation stories for several Anishinaabe Nations that surround the Lakes. From time immemorial, these proud Lake People with a shared ancestry go by the names of: Ojibweg (Ojibwe) Misizaagiwininiwag (Mississauga) Bodéwadmik (Potawatomi) Odaawaag (Odawa), Omàmiwininiwak (Algonquin), Odishkwaagamiig (N'biising, Nipissing), and Mamaceqtaw (Menominee). The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 131
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The Universe Of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, an illustrated glossary by Zhaawano Giizhik*

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