The Traditional Anishinaabe World View.pdf
Illustrated glossary offering a cross section of the traditional worldview of the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, who for the past 1000 years or more inhabit Gaa-zaaga'ekanikaag, the Land of Many Lakes ( the North American Great Lakes area).
Illustrated glossary offering a cross section of the traditional worldview of the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, who for the past 1000 years or more inhabit Gaa-zaaga'ekanikaag, the Land of Many Lakes ( the North American Great Lakes area).
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<strong>The</strong> Universe of <strong>The</strong> Ojibwe <strong>Anishinaabe</strong>g by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014<br />
Zhaawano Giizhik: Wiidigemaaganag (Niizhomaangwag) ("Life Partners/ Two Loons") pen and ink drawing (2003)<br />
<strong>The</strong> quiet splashing of paddles slicing the tranquil, transparent<br />
waters of a deep lake. <strong>The</strong> distant and melancholic call of a loon at<br />
nightfall. <strong>The</strong>se sounds sooth the <strong>Anishinaabe</strong> ear like no other<br />
sound does. <strong>The</strong> lakes, however, are sometimes home of various<br />
hazards in the form of the treacherous Nibiinaabekwe (Mermaid) who<br />
with her sweet voice lures people into the waves, or families of Mishiibizhiwag, or Great<br />
Horned Lynxes – sacred underwater spirits associated with copper (a sacred metal) and<br />
whose occasional hissings and roaring caused by the violent slashing of their copper tails<br />
disturb wind and water of lakes and rivers. <strong>The</strong>se dreaded creatures, capable of travel by<br />
means of underground rivers to appear in certain inland lakes, not only emerge on the<br />
surface of these lakes, but also through dangerous and remote spots between the<br />
surface and the underworld such as caves, crevices, or whirlpools.<br />
Luckily, there are also less dangerous beings that live in or<br />
around the lakes: these include the mischievous water<br />
dwarfs called memegwesiwag and the friendly<br />
bagwajininiwag, the little wild forest people, creators of<br />
mystic glades in the woods, who are known to sometimes<br />
inhabit the sandy beaches, emerging from their sanctuaries<br />
on moonlit nights to dance in the shadows, warning<br />
passers-by of the fearful Mermaid. And the shining lodges<br />
of the mishiinimakinagoog, the turtle spirits, can be seen in<br />
the summer evenings when the moon shines on their island habitat; Ojibwe and<br />
Odaawaa fishermen, who steer their canoes near certain steep cliffs and jagged pinnacles<br />
at night, occasionally hear their happy voices echo across the dark lake…<br />
Inserted image: “Mishipashoo”’ (Mishibizhiw) by the late Norval Morrisseau (Copper Thunderbird) (ca. 1959)<br />
<strong>The</strong> Universe of <strong>The</strong> Ojibwe <strong>Anishinaabe</strong>g by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014<br />
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