Living with animals : Ojibwe spirit powers / Michael Pomedli.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pomedli, Michael M., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Midewiwin.

Ojibwa Indians--Religion.

Ojibwa Indians.

Ojibwa Indians--Medicine.

Ojibwa Indians--Rites and ceremonies.

Animals--Religious aspects.

Animals.

Physical Description:

xli, 335 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, [2014]

Contents:

1 The Grand Medicine Society, the Midewiwin 3

Membership 4

Wabeno, Jessakkid, and Midewiwin 7

Origins of the Midewiwin 8

Cosmic Ordering 16

Nanabush 21

Health and the Midewiwin 23

Functions of the Midewiwin 26

Sound of the Drum 28

Medicine Bags 29

Birch Bark Scrolls, the Lodge, Teachings, Ceremonies 30

Midewiwin and Rock Art 31

Bear, the "Guiding Spirit of the Midewiwin" 34

Megis/Shell 35

Midewiwin and Leadership 38

2 "Paths of the Spirit": Moral Values in the Writings of Four Nineteenth-Century Ojibwe in the Spirit of the Midewiwin 48

Peter Jones: Like the "Red Squirrel" Who Stores Nuts, Store Works of the Great Spirit 49

Andrew J. Blackbird: "The Great Spirit is looking upon thee continually" 54

George Copway: "I am one of Nature's children" 65

William Whipple Warren: "There is much yet to be learned from the wild and apparently simple son of the forest" 69

3 Otter, the Playful Slider 80

Physical Otter 80

Otter as Representational 82

Otter as Patterned 85

Otter and Ojibwe Standards of Life 89

4 Owls: Images and Voices in the Ojibwe and Midewiwin Worlds 94

Classification and Characteristics of Owls 95

Owl as Bad Luck, Bad Medicine 97

Owl as Protector and Healer 102

Owl as a Teacher of Altruism 103

Owl and Directions, Winds, and Seasons 105

Owl and the Dead 109

Owl and Conservation 110

Owl and Origin of Day and Night 111

Representations of Owl 111

5 Omnipresent and Ambivalent Bears 115

Bears' Anatomy, Physiology, and Behaviour 115

Ojibwe Relationships with Bears 119

Representations of Bear in Ceremonial Performances 126

Near-Identity of Bears and Ojibwe 128

Bear in the Midewiwin Ceremonies 130

Totems/Dodems, Clans 134

Evil Bears 137

Bear as Archshadow 139

Bear as Celestial 140

Bears and Visions of Sound 142

Bear as Medicine and Healer: Following the Bear Path 145

Bear as Patterned 150

Bear as Child Abductor 156

Bear as Environmental Guardian, Mother 157

Games 160

Bear and Greed 162

6 Water Creatures 168

Harmful Creatures 169

Snakes and the Afterlife 172

Helpful Creatures 173

Women, Water, and Snakes 180

Sea Creatures and Copper 184

Sea Creatures and Silver 187

The Little People 189

7 Thunderbirds 193

Thunderbirds as Givers 194

Relationships among Humans, Sky, and Water Creatures 197

Birds and Play 198

Thunderbirds and Ojibwe Life 202

Thunderers as Communicators and Protectors 204

Thunderbird Symbolism 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-329) and index.

ISBN:

9781442647015

1442647019

9781442614796

144261479X

OCLC:

842499923