The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa: Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 143-300Hoffman, Walter James
Religion
The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa: Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 143-300
Hoffman, Walter James
Midéwiwin; Ojibwa Indians -- Religion; Ojibwa Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Ojibwa Indians -- Societies, etc.; Secret societies -- North America
Between the position occupied by Dzhe Man´idō and the earth were four
lesser spirits (Nos. 6, 7, 8, and 9) with whom Dzhe Man´idō decided to
commune, and to impart to them the mysteries by which the Indians
could be benefited. So he first spoke to a spirit at No. 6, and told
him all he had to say, who in turn communicated the same information
to No. 7, and he in turn to No. 8, who also communed with No. 9. They
all met in council, and determined to call in the four wind gods at
Nos. 10, 11, 12, and 13. After consulting as to what would be best for
the comfort and welfare of the Indians, these spirits agreed to ask
Dzhe Man´idō to communicate the Mystery of the Sacred Medicine to the
people.
Dzhe Man´idō then went to the Sun Spirit (No. 14) and asked him to go
to the earth and instruct the people as had been decided upon by the
council. The Sun Spirit, in the form of a little boy, went to the
earth and lived with a woman (No. 15) who had a little boy of her own.
[Illustration: Plate V.
Origin of Âni´shinâ´bēg.]
This family went away in the autum to hunt, and during the winter this
woman’s son died. The parents were so much distressed that they
decided to return to the village and bury the body there; so they made
preparations to return, and as they traveled along, they would each
evening erect several poles upon which the body was placed to prevent
the wild beasts from devouring it. When the dead boy was thus hanging
upon the poles, the adopted child--who was the Sun Spirit--would play
about the camp and amuse himself, and finally told his adopted father
he pitied him, and his mother, for their sorrow. The adopted son said
he could bring his dead brother to life, whereupon the parents
expressed great surprise and desired to know how that could be
accomplished.
The adopted boy then had the party hasten to the village, when he
said, “Get the women to make a wig´iwam of bark (No. 16), put the dead
boy in a covering of birch bark and place the body on the ground in
the middle of the wig´iwam.” On the next morning after this had been
done, the family and friends went into this lodge and seated
themselves around the corpse.
When they had all been sitting quietly for some time, they saw through
the doorway the approach of a bear (No. 17) which gradually came
towards the wig´iwam, entered it, and placed itself before the dead
body and said hŭ, hŭ, hŭ, hŭ, when he passed around it towards the
left side, with a trembling motion, and as he did so, the body began
quivering, and the quivering increased as the bear continued until he
had passed around four times, when the body came to life again and
stood up. Then the bear called to the father, who was sitting in the
distant right-hand corner of the wig´iwam, and addressed to him the
following words:
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