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

The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014
The Anishinaabeg have always lived according the cyclical rhythm set by, as they called
it, aandakiiwinan, the seasonal changes.
In the old days, during the warm moons in the period called niibinisiwin (summer
camping), the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg of the northwoods, as soon as the ice on the lakes
and rivers melted, left their winter camps and headed for the shores of gichigamiin, the
Great Lakes. Here they stayed during the summer moons near the river mouths, where
the men fished for namebinag (sucker) and namewag (sturgeon) that were entering the
rivers and streams to spawn.
Others set up summer camps near the shores of the zaaga’iganan (inland lakes) and
fished, hunted, and gathered plant foods and medicinal herbs. These temporary summer
villages were usually composed o fsingle-family waaginogaanan and asawa’ogaanan
(respectively circular or domed and conical wigwams made of bent-over saplings and
covered with birch bark sheets) that generally housed populations of 50 to 70 persons.
Meanwhile the many small Anishinaabe clan groups that lived south of gichigamiin, who,
unlike their Ojibwe relatives from Canada were semi-agricultural people, organized
themselves into band units of (sometimes up to) 300 to 400 people as soon as the ice
thawed and camped in regions with fertile soil and plenty of fish and game and other
food sources. These southern Ojibweg hunted, fished, tapped sugar
from ininaatigoog (sugar maple trees) and wiigwaasag (birch trees) and collected other
plant foods and berries, and tended gardens of mandaamin (maize), anijiiminan (beans),
and nabagokwisimaan (squash). Their summer villages were usuallty made up of small,
round wiigiwaaman (wigwams) made of sapling frames and covered with cattail leaf mats
and tree bark.
Niibinishiwin was not only a time of labor but also of social activities and weddings and
ceremonies. At the end of the season called dagwaagin (fall), some of these summer
camps served as a base for productive fish expeditions to the
tempestuous gichigamiin where the men netted adikamegwag and maazhamegosag
(whitefish and trout) that spawned in gigantic numbers. After the abundant catch the fish
was cleaned, smoked, and freezed for the wintermoons. While the men took care of
fishing, these kinds of activities would put a heavy demand on the collective labor of the
women.
Since time immemorial, the moons of June, July, and August have been associated with
wild berries, which are ready for picking in early summer and midsummer, and some
even in late summer and fall. So, in many parts of Turtle Island in what is now Canada
and the United States, the moon of June is named after the strawberry ("heart
berry"); July, depending on the area and community, is often called miskomini-giizis (red
raspberry moon) by the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg in Canada, or miin(ikaa)-giizis (blueberry
moon, called so by those who belong to the southeastern and nothwestern branches of
the Ojibwe Anishinaabe Nation. August, a time when blueberries and blackberries are still
harvestable, is also called miin-giizis in some parts of Canada.
The Anishinaabe and Cree ancestors have always been very fond of berries. Berries,
cherries, and acorns were traditionally compounded with other herbs in making medicine.
Dried berries, sometimes combined with dear tallow and moose fat, provided nutrition for
in the winter moons. When boiled, berries were seasoned with ziinzibaakwad (maple
sugar) or combined with other foods. Strawbwerries and bunchberries were eaten raw.
Cranberries - harvested in the fall when the fruit takes on its distinctive deep red color -
were cooked using sugar. Blackberries, cherries, chokecherries, red raspberries, and
currants, after being cooked (usually without sugar), were traditionally spread on slates
of wiigwaas (birch bark) and then stored in makakoon (birch bark baskets and boxes) for
winter use.*
The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014
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