An illustrated glossary by Zhaawano Giizhik*
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The Universe of The Ojibwe <strong>An</strong>ishinaabeg <strong>by</strong> <strong>Zhaawano</strong> Giizhik - 2014<br />
been told before. He became a popular guest at each festival or wedding where<br />
<strong>An</strong>ishinaabeg gathered to wed, sing and dance; his storytelling became so popular that it<br />
even exceeded the singing and dancing. However, as he pretended to know everything<br />
about life and the nature of things and about what was lying ahead in the future – which,<br />
in fact, he did - , his stories sounded more and more fantastic, so that in the end no one<br />
believed him anymore. Even when he tried to warn his people that men with pale skins<br />
and hair on their faces would one day cross the big salty sea and arrive in Waabanakiing,<br />
the land in the East, and eventually bring the <strong>An</strong>ishinaabeg adversity and death, he was<br />
met with unbelief and sneers. This was DIBAAJIMOOD’s tragedy: he knew too much. His<br />
omniscience and wisdom became the root of the envy and hatred that other famous<br />
<strong>An</strong>ishinaabeg – and even certain aadizookanaag, NOOKOMIS’ grandsons who<br />
approached to listen in at the storyteller sessions - started to feel for him.<br />
Increasingly blackened and slandered <strong>by</strong> jealous humans and aadizookaanag alike,<br />
DIBAAJIMOOD became extremely disappointed and decided to advise the young not to<br />
make the same mistake he had made. He told them: “In order to gain credibility – and,<br />
more importantly, keep your credibility - you’d better make sure never to talk too much,<br />
or exaggerate, or brag, or – the worst sin of all: to show you know everything. Do not<br />
give others a reason to envy or hate you. It’s better to hold your cards against your<br />
chest!”<br />
Despite the bad treatment DIBAAJIMOOD received from his fellow <strong>An</strong>ishinaabeg, he is<br />
remembered as a masterful storyteller who taught his People the wonderful virtues of<br />
imagination, allurement, and poetry. So, in order to honor their first artist-storyteller, the<br />
<strong>An</strong>ishinaabeg from the North Country still call a true story DIBAAJIMOWIN and a truestory<br />
teller DIBAAJIMOOD.<br />
“The Voice For The Children”, 2012, acrylic on canvas <strong>by</strong> Cree/Ojibwe Medicine painter Simone McLeod/Earth Blanket<br />
Well into the 20th century, Ojibwe children were sent away from their families on the<br />
reservation to live at strict government or church-run boarding schools. Here, in these<br />
strange and hostile surroundings, their own language and culture were totally wiped out.<br />
The Universe of The Ojibwe <strong>An</strong>ishinaabeg <strong>by</strong> <strong>Zhaawano</strong> Giizhik - 2014<br />
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