Nourish the Word

In the Anishinaabe seven fires prophecy is an additional prophecy about a boy that would be shown where the records were hidden. “In the confusing times of the Sixth Fire, it is said that a group of visionaries came among the Anishinabe. They gathered all the priests of the Midewiwin Lodge. They told the priests that the Midewiwin Lodge was in danger of being destroyed. They gathered all the sacred bundles. They gathered all the Wee’-gwas scrolls that recorded the ceremonies. All these things were placed in a hollowed-out log from Ma-none’ (the ironwood tree). Men were lowered over a cliff by long ropes. They dug a hole in the cliff and buried the log where no one could find it. Thus the teachings of the elders were hidden out of sight but not out of memory. It is said that when the time came that Indian people could practice their religion without fear that a little boy would dream where the ironwood log full of sacred bundles and scrolls was buried. He would lead his people to t...

I have gathered here some examples of various tribes’ traditions that involve a promise from their respective culture hero to return. Micmac The first example comes from the last chapter of On the Trail of Elder Brother: Glous’gap Stories of the Micmac Indians , by Michael B. Running Wolf & Patricia Clark Smith. Below are selected quotes from the prophecy I find particularly relevant to us today. The full prophecy can be read in the book and is worth a read. “‘By now, I have taught you all you need to know in order to live well in this world,’ he replied. ‘You may fear that this is not the case, but it is so. And when the time comes, I promise you I will return. Only one thing remains to be given to you, and that is a knowledge of things that will come to pass before I come back to walk among you once more. I’m going to give you that knowledge now.’” “‘Far off is another invasion,’ Glous’gap continued. ‘In enormous canoes bearded men are coming from a...