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...

Continuing with the Anishinaabe tradition of a global flood , there are some versions that tell of Sky Woman, and others that replace the role of Sky Woman with Nanabush. In Basil Johnston's The Manitous , he combines the two different tellings by linking them together. In his telling, the Sky Woman's flood occured first. Later on, culture hero Nana'b'oozoo (also Nanabush) experiences his own catastrophic flood and remembers what Geezhigo-Quae (or Sky Woman ) did to re-create the Earth. This he repeats, and again it is the muskrat who succeeds where all others fail in bringing a bit of earth to the surface through which life can begin again. This bears similarity to different scriptural books, where a people have forgotten their way, and stand in need of a reminder. Each divine teacher or prophet who provides that way for others shares a similar role as Nana'b'oozoo's in his version of the flood. A good scriptural comparison can be made to John the Bapti...

One thing I have noticed and love about Native American culture is that a lot more about female divinity has been preserved than in European and Middle Eastern religions. There is more to this than I currently understand, but look forward to knowing more over time. The significance of woman has almost been eradicated from modern Christianity. So this is a great pleasure to explore. I know I won't do justice to this subject, but I'm going to try anyway. If you missed part 1 of this series, I suggest you read it , because the Recreation tale I am addressing is contained there, and I won't be repeating it in this post. One thing I noticed is that the nature of the story is of a secondary creation. I will soon go over the primary creation story that involves Gitchi Manitou (the Great Mystery). The initial creation ended in failure, and only with the participation of Sky Woman in this tale and this secondary creation is the vision of Gitchi Manitou realized. Basil Johnst...

"To satisfy my own curiosity I have sometimes interpreted to their old men, portions of Bible history, and their expression is invariably: 'The book must be true, for our ancestors have told us similar stories, generation after generation, since the earth was new.'" History of the Ojibways by William Whipple Warren   This quote is interesting to me, given its time period and given William W. Warren's background. He lived from 1825-1853. He had the benefit of being raised in two cultures, that of his native mother's (before that culture would be entirely repressed) and his European father's. He comments more than once in his book of the similarities he found between the two, and developed the opinion that either his mother's people were part of the lost tribes of Israel, or had communed with them at some point. One of these similarities I see is in the creation performed by Kitche Manitou. Kitche Manitou (also Gitchie Manito) has been interpreted a...

I find the Anishinaabe story of a flood fascinating. I've seen it compared in William Whipple Warren's History of the Ojibways with the flood of Noah. But I see a different comparison when I read it. I see something else I recognize. Here is a version from Basil Johnston's The Manitous , chosen for its brevity. According to tradition, Kitchi-Manitou (the Great Mystery) created the world, plants, birds, animals, fish, and the other manitous in fulfillment of a vision. This world was flooded. But while the earth was under water and life was coming to an end, a new life was beginning in the skies. Geezhigo-Quae (Sky Woman) was espoused to a manitou in the skies, and she conceived.  The surviving animals and birds observed the changes taking place in Sky Woman's condition as they clung to life on the surface of the of the flood waters. They set aside whatever concerns they might have had about their own fates and asked one of their fellow survivors, the Giant Turtle...