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 “Wisdom Through Experience”’ by the late Ojibwe Medicine painter Roy Thomas In traditional Anishinaabe life, the aadizogaanag and manidoog are presented in seasonally restricted, rather ritualized sacred stories. These parables and allegories depict the vital roles of “our grandfathers” in interaction with other beings (persons) as integral forces in the functioning of a unified cosmos – which the Anishinaabeg basically regard as one gigantic web of social relations, where the relationship between humans and the nonhuman and spirit world is one of continuous interfusion and reciprocal exchange. “Baagitchigawag-Manitou-honouring-my-spirit-helpers” by Métis artist Christi Belcourt. Click on image. The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 34
The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 “Cycles” by Norval Morrisseau Some of the more prominent nonhuman - or sometimes semi human - persons who populate the sacred stories of both the northern and southern Ojibweg include: Wiinabozho (the Giant Rabbit, a popular trickster and hunter and a grandfather possessing great wisdom in the prolonging of life); Wiisakejaag (the Crane Spirit who after GICHI-MANIDOO created the world, destroyed the earth with a flood and created his own with supernatural powers); Animikii (the Thunder Grandfather; first of fathers; occasionally appearing in the lower sky regions, in the capacity of thunderbirds, inveterate enemies of the underworld creatures); Nookomis (Grandmother Moon; the first of mothers): Giizis (Father Sun, the supreme life giver, who is often portrayed in northern Ojibwe allegories as a young man walking on the winds); Ogashinan or Omizakamigokwe or Gookomisinaan (Mother Earth, source of all life, symbol of motherhood); Nibi (the Spirit of Water: the life giver, a sacred source, the nourishing and purifying blood of the earth); wendaanimag noodinoon (the four winds, whose dwelling places define the four directions); Zhaawandazii (the old Spirit of the warm south whose sighing and moaning in autumn release the gentle southern breezes that spread warmth and enchantment over the northwoods, and cause the Indian Summer); Biboonikwe, the manidoo who resides in the North and puts an end to growth and life until Ziigwan (Spring) arrives; Gaa-biboonikaan (Ga-ba-boon-ga or the Winter Bringer, a group of stars in the sky (Orion) that herald the winter); Mishiikenh the Mud Turtle (or Makinaak, the Great Snapping Turtle), an important intermediary between the human world and the incorporeal world); Mashkasaswaabig (Flint, quintuplet brother of the Four Winds, who at birth tore his mother to pieces and was penalized by the Great Hare who chipped pieces off his stony body); Wiigwaas (the White Birch, child of the Thunder Spirit, sacred benefactor of the People); Makwa (the Bear, a grandfather who chose to take the earth walk as a spiritual teacher of mankind); Ojiig (the Fisher, a manidoo who assumed the shape of a weasel and ascended to the skies to steal the Summer but instead was changed into the Dipper constellation); Wiindigoo (winter spirit of excess: a human being from the north shores of Lake Nipissing who turned into a supernatural cannibal giant and was slain by a human hero called Miigis, or Shell); and Gookookoo (the Owl; powerful mediator between life and death, guiding travellers on the trail to the Land of Souls by loaning his eyes to them, a benevolent as well as malevolent manidoo/aadizookaan integrating light and dark; see page 99). Other grandfathers and spirits, some more remote than others, are: Makadeshigan (the Black Bass, ruler of the underworld, patron of night and bad dreams); Asabikeshi (Spider Woman) who helped Wiinabozho bring Giizis (the Sun) back to the people and weaves the dream catchers to protect the children in their dreams; Wiininwaa, "Nourishment from the Breast", a woman who became immortal through manidoowiziwin 35 The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014
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The Universe Of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, an illustrated glossary by Zhaawano Giizhik*

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