The Ojibwa is one of the largest tribes of the United States, and it is
scattered over a considerable area, from the Province of Ontario, on the
east, to the Red River of the North, on the west, and from Manitoba
southward through the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. This
tribe is, strictly speaking, a timber people, and in its westward
migration or dispersion has never passed beyond the limit of the timber
growth which so remarkably divides the State of Minnesota into two parts
possessing distinct physical features. The western portion of this State
is a gently undulating prairie which sweeps away to the Rocky Mountains,
while the eastern portion is heavily timbered. The dividing line, at or
near the meridian of 95° 50' west longitude, extends due north and
south, and at a point about 75 miles south of the northern boundary the
timber line trends toward the northwest, crossing the State line, 49°
north latitude, at about 97° 10' west longitude.
Minnesota contains many thousand lakes of various sizes, some of which
are connected by fine water courses, while others are entirely isolated.
The wooded country is undulating, the elevated portions being covered
chiefly with pine, fir, spruce, and other coniferous trees, and the
lowest depressions being occupied by lakes, ponds, or marshes, around
which occur the tamarack, willow, and other trees which thrive in moist
ground, while the regions between these extremes are covered with oak,
poplar, ash, birch, maple, and many other varieties of trees and shrubs.
Wild fowl, game, and fish are still abundant, and until recently have
furnished to the Indians the chief source of subsistence.
Tribal organization according to the totemic system is practically
broken up, as the Indians are generally located upon or near the several
reservations set apart for them by the General Government, where they
have been under more or less restraint by the United States Indian
agents and the missionaries. Representatives of various totems or gentes
may therefore be found upon a single reservation, where they continue to
adhere to traditional customs and beliefs, thus presenting an
interesting field for ethnologic research.
The present distribution of the Ojibwa in Minnesota and Wisconsin is
indicated upon the accompanying map, Pl. II. In the southern portion
many of these people have adopted civilized pursuits, but throughout the
northern and northwestern part many bands continue to adhere to their
primitive methods and are commonly designated “wild Indians.” The
habitations of many of the latter are rude and primitive. The bands on
the northeast shore of Red Lake, as well as a few others farther east,
have occupied these isolated sites for an uninterrupted period of about
three centuries, as is affirmed by the chief men of the several villages
and corroborated by other traditional evidence.
Father Claude Alloüez, upon his arrival in 1666 at Shagawaumikong, or La
Pointe, found the Ojibwa preparing to attack the Sioux. The settlement
at this point was an extensive one, and in traditions pertaining to the
“Grand Medicine Society” frequent allusion is made to the fact that at
this place the rites were practiced in their greatest purity.
Mr. Warren, in his History of the Ojibwa Indians,[1] bases his belief
upon traditional evidence that the Ojibwa first had knowledge of the
whites in 1612. Early in the seventeenth century the French missionaries
met with various tribes of the Algonkian linguistic stock, as well as
with bands or subtribes of the Ojibwa Indians. One of the latter,
inhabiting the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie, is frequently mentioned
in the Jesuit Relations as the Saulteurs. This term was applied to all
those people who lived at the Falls, but from other statements it is
clear that the Ojibwa formed the most important body in that vicinity.
La Hontan speaks of the “Outchepoues, alias Sauteurs,” as good warriors.
The name Saulteur survives at this day and is applied to a division of
the tribe.
[Footnote 1: Coll. Minn. Hist. Soc., 1885, vol. 5, p. 130.]
According to statements made by numerous Ojibwa chiefs of importance the
tribe began its westward dispersion from La Pointe and Fond du Lac at
least two hundred and fifty years ago, some of the bands penetrating the
swampy country of northern Minnesota, while others went westward and
southwestward. According to a statement[2] of the location of the tribes
of Lake Superior, made at Mackinaw in 1736, the Sioux then occupied the
southern and northern extremities of that lake. It is possible, however,
that the northern bands of the Ojibwa may have penetrated the region
adjacent to the Pigeon River and passed west to near their present
location, thus avoiding their enemies who occupied the lake shore south
of them.
[Footnote 2: Reproduced from the ninth volume of the New York
Colonial Documents, pp. 1054, 1055.]
[Illustration: Plate II.
Ojibwa Indian Reservations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
I Red Lake. II White Earth. III Winnibigoshish. IV Cass Lake. V Leech
Lake. VI Deer Creek. VII Bois Forte. VIII Vermillion Lake. IX Fond du
Lac. X Mille Lacs. XI Lac Court Oreílle. XII La Pointe. XIII Lac de
Flanibeau. XIV Red Cliff. XV Grand Portage.]
From recent investigations among a number of tribes of the Algonkian
linguistic division it is found that the traditions and practices
pertaining to the Midē´wiwin, Society of the Midē´ or Shamans, popularly
designated as the “Grand Medicine Society,” prevailed generally, and the
rites are still practiced at irregular intervals, though in slightly
different forms in various localities.
In the reports of early travelers and missionaries no special mention is
made of the Midē´, the Jes´sakkīd´, or the Wâbĕnō´, but the term
sorcerer or juggler is generally employed to designate that class of
persons who professed the power of prophecy, and who practiced
incantation and administered medicinal preparations. Constant reference
is made to the opposition of these personages to the introduction of
Christianity. In the light of recent investigation the cause of this
antagonism is seen to lie in the fact that the traditions of Indian
genesis and cosmogony and the ritual of initiation into the Society of
the Midē´ constitute what is to them a religion, even more powerful and
impressive than the Christian religion is to the average civilized man.
This opposition still exists among the leading classes of a number of
the Algonkian tribes, and especially among the Ojibwa, many bands of
whom have been more or less isolated and beyond convenient reach of the
Church. The purposes of the society are twofold; first, to preserve the
traditions just mentioned, and second, to give a certain class of
ambitious men and women sufficient influence through their acknowledged
power of exorcism and necromancy to lead a comfortable life at the
expense of the credulous. The persons admitted into the society are
firmly believed to possess the power of communing with various
supernatural beings--manidos--and in order that certain desires may be
realized they are sought after and consulted. The purpose of the present
paper is to give an account of this society and of the ceremony of
initiation as studied and observed at White Earth, Minnesota, in 1889.
Before proceeding to this, however, it may be of interest to consider a
few statements made by early travelers respecting the “sorcerers or
jugglers” and the methods of medication.
In referring to the practices of the Algonkian tribes of the Northwest,
La Hontan[3] says:
When they are sick, they only drink Broth, and eat sparingly; and if
they have the good luck to fall asleep, they think themselves cur’d:
They have told me frequently, that sleeping and sweating would cure
the most stubborn Diseases in the World. When they are so weak that
they cannot get out of Bed, their Relations come and dance and make
merry before ’em, in order to divert ’em. To conclude, when they are
ill, they are always visited by a sort of Quacks, (_Jongleurs_); of
whom ’t will now be proper to subjoin two or three Words by the bye.
A _Jongleur_ is a sort of _Physician_, or rather a _Quack_, who being
once cur’d of some dangerous Distemper, has the Presumption and Folly
to fancy that he is immortal, and possessed of the Power of curing all
Diseases, by speaking to the Good and Evil Spirits. Now though every
Body rallies upon these Fellows when they are absent, and looks upon
’em as Fools that have lost their Senses by some violent Distemper,
yet they allow ’em to visit the Sick; whether it be to divert ’em with
their Idle Stories, or to have an Opportunity of seeing them rave,
skip about, cry, houl, and make Grimaces and Wry Faces, as if they
were possess’d. When all the Bustle is over, they demand a Feast of a
Stag and some large Trouts for the Company, who are thus regal’d at
once with Diversion and Good Cheer.
When the Quack comes to visit the Patient, he examines him very
carefully; _If the Evil Spirit be here_, says he, _we shall quickly
dislodge him._ This said, he withdraws by himself to a little Tent
made on purpose, where he dances, and sings houling like an Owl;
(which gives the Jesuits Occasion to say, _That the Devil converses
with ’em_.) After he has made an end of this Quack Jargon, he comes
and rubs the Patient in some part of his Body, and pulling some little
Bones out of his Mouth, acquaints the Patient, _That these very Bones
came out of his Body; that he ought to pluck up a good heart, in
regard that his Distemper is but a Trifle; and in fine, that in order
to accelerate the Cure, ’t will be convenient to send his own and his
Relations Slaves to shoot Elks, Deer, &c., to the end they may all eat
of that sort of Meat, upon which his Cure does absolutely depend._
Commonly these Quacks bring ’em some Juices of Plants, which are a
sort of Purges, and are called _Maskikik_.
[Footnote 3: New Voyages to North America, London, 1703, vol. 2,
pp. 47, 48.]
Hennepin, in “A Continuation of the New Discovery,” etc.,[4] speaks of
the religion and sorcerers of the tribes of the St. Lawrence and those
living about the Great Lakes as follows:
We have been all too sadly convinced, that almost all the Salvages in
general have no notion of a God, and that they are not able to
comprehend the most ordinary Arguments on that Subject; others will
have a Spirit that commands, say they, in the Air. Some among ’em look
upon the Skie as a kind of Divinity; others as an _Otkon_ or
_Manitou_, either Good or Evil.
These People admit of some sort of Genius in all things; they all
believe there is a Master of Life, as they call him, but hereof they
make various applications; some of them have a lean Raven, which they
carry always along with them, and which they say is the Master of
their Life; others have an Owl, and some again a Bone, a Sea-Shell,
or some such thing;
There is no Nation among ’em which has not a sort of Juglers or
Conjuerers, which some look upon to be Wizards, but in my Opinion
there is no Great reason to believe ’em such, or to think that their
Practice favours any thing of a Communication with the Devil.
These Impostors cause themselves to be reverenced as Prophets which
fore-tell Futurity. They will needs be look’d upon to have an
unlimited Power. They boast of being able to make it Wet or Dry; to
cause a Calm or a Storm; to render Land Fruitful or Barren; and, in a
Word to make Hunters Fortunate or Unfortunate. They also pretend to
Physick, and to apply Medicines, but which are such, for the most part
as have little Virtue at all in ’em, especially to Cure that Distemper
which they pretend to.
It is impossible to imagine, the horrible Howlings and strange
Contortions that those Jugglers make of their Bodies, when they are
disposing themselves to Conjure, or raise their Enchantments.
[Footnote 4: London, 1689, p. 59, et. seq.]
Marquette, who visited the Miami, Mascontin and Kickapoo Indians in
1673, after referring to the Indian herbalist, mentions also the
ceremony of the “calumet dance,” as follows:
They have Physicians amongst them, towards whom they are very liberal
when they are sick, thinking that the Operation of the Remedies they
take, is proportional to the Presents they make unto those who have
prescrib’d them.
In connection with this, reference is made by Marquette to a certain
class of individuals among the Illinois and Dakota, who were compelled
to wear women’s clothes, and who were debarred many privileges, but were
permitted to “assist at all the Superstitions of their _Juglers_, and
their solemn Dances in honor of the _Calumet_, in which they may sing,
but it is not lawful for them to dance. They are call’d to their
Councils, and nothing is determin’d without their Advice; for, because
of their extraordinary way of Living, they are look’d upon as
_Manitous_, or at least for great and incomparable Genius’s.”
That the calumet was brought into requisition upon all occasions of
interest is learned from the following statement, in which the same
writer declares that it is “the most mysterious thing in the World. The
Sceptres of our Kings are not so much respected; for the Savages have
such a Deference for this Pipe, that one may call it _The God of Peace
and War, and the Arbiter of Life and Death_. Their _Calumet of Peace_ is
different from the _Calumet of War_; They make use of the former to seal
their Alliances and Treaties, to travel with safety, and receive
Strangers; and the other is to proclaim War.”
This reverence for the calumet is shown by the manner in which it is
used at dances, in the ceremony of smoking, etc., indicating a religious
devoutness approaching that recently observed among various Algonkian
tribes in connection with the ceremonies of the Midē´wiwin. When the
calumet dance was held, the Illinois appear to have resorted to the
houses in the winter and to the groves in the summer. The above-named
authority continues in this connection:
They chuse for that purpose a set Place among Trees, to shelter
themselves against the Heat of the Sun, and lay in the middle a large
Matt, as a Carpet, to lay upon the God of the Chief of the Company,
who gave the Ball; for every one has his peculiar God, whom they call
_Manitoa_. It is sometime a Stone, a Bird, a Serpent, or anything else
that they dream of in their Sleep; for they think this _Manitoa_ will
prosper their Wants, as Fishing, Hunting, and other Enterprizes. To
the Right of their _Manitoa_ they place the _Calumet_, their Great
Deity, making round about it a Kind of Trophy with their Arms, viz.
their Clubs, Axes, Bows, Quivers, and Arrows. * * * Every Body
sits down afterwards, round about, as they come, having first of all
saluted the _Manitoa_, which they do in blowing the Smoak of their
Tobacco upon it, which is as much as offering to it Frankincense.
* * * This _Preludium_ being over, he who is to begin the Dance
appears in the middle of the Assembly, and having taken the _Calumet_,
presents it to the Sun, as if he wou’d invite him to smoke. Then he
moves it into an infinite Number of Postures sometimes laying it near
the Ground, then stretching its Wings, as if he wou’d make it fly, and
then presents it to the Spectators, who smoke with it one after
another, dancing all the while. This is the first Scene of this famous
Ball.
The infinite number of postures assumed in offering the pipe appear as
significant as the “smoke ceremonies” mentioned in connection with the
preparatory instruction of the candidate previous to his initiation into
the Midē´wiwin.
In his remarks on the religion of the Indians and the practices of the
sorcerers, Hennepin says:
As for their Opinion concerning the Earth, they make use of a Name of
a certain _Genius_, whom they call _Micaboche_, who has cover’d the
whole Earth with water (as they imagine) and relate innumerable
fabulous Tales, some of which have a kind of Analogy with the
Universal Deluge. These Barbarians believe that there are certain
Spirits in the Air, between Heaven and Earth, who have a power to
foretell future Events, and others who play the part of Physicians,
curing all sorts of Distempers. Upon which account, it happens, that
these _Savages_ are very Superstitious, and consult their Oracles with
a great deal of exactness. One of these Masters-Jugglers who pass for
Sorcerers among them, one day caus’d a Hut to be erected with ten
thick Stakes, which he fix’d very deep in the Ground, and then made a
horrible noise to Consult the Spirits, to know whether abundance of
Snow wou’d fall ere long, that they might have good game in the
Hunting of Elks and Beavers: Afterward he bawl’d out aloud from the
bottom of the Hut, that he saw many Herds of Elks, which were as yet
at a very great distance, but that they drew near within seven or
eight Leagues of their Huts, which caus’d a great deal of joy among
those poor deluded Wretches.
That this statement refers to one or more tribes of the Algonkian
linguistic stock is evident, not only because of the reference to the
sorcerers and their peculiar methods of procedure, but also that the
name of _Micaboche_, an Algonkian divinity, appears. This Spirit, who
acted as an intercessor between Ki´tshi Man´idō (Great Spirit) and the
Indians, is known among the Ojibwa as Mi´nabō´zho; but to this full
reference will be made further on in connection with the Myth of the
origin of the Midē´wiwin. The tradition of Nokomis (the earth) and the
birth of Manabush (the Mi´nabō´zho of the Menomoni) and his brother, the
Wolf, that pertaining to the re-creation of the world, and fragments of
other myths, are thrown together and in a mangled form presented by
Hennepin in the following words:
Some Salvages which live at the upper end of the River St. _Lawrence_,
do relate a pretty diverting Story. They hold almost the same opinion
with the former [the Iroquois], that a Woman came down from Heaven,
and remained for some while fluttering in the Air, not finding Ground
whereupon to put her Foot. But that the Fishes moved with Compassion
for her, immediately held a Consultation to deliberate which of them
should receive her. The Tortoise very officiously offered its Back on
the Surface of the Water. The Woman came to rest upon it, and fixed
herself there. Afterwards the Filthiness and Dirt of the Sea gathering
together about the Tortoise, there was formed by little and little
that vast Tract of Land, which we now call _America_.
They add that this Woman grew weary of her Solitude, wanting some body
for to keep her Company, that so she might spend her time more
pleasantly. Melancholy and Sadness having seiz’d upon her Spirits, she
fell asleep, and a Spirit descended from above, and finding her in
that Condition approach’d and knew her unperceptibly. From which
Approach she conceived two Children, which came forth out of one of
her Ribs. But these two Brothers could never afterwards agree
together. One of them was a better Huntsman than the other; they
quarreled every day; and their Disputes grew so high at last, that one
could not bear with the other. One especially being of a very wild
Temper, hated mortally his Brother who was of a milder Constitution,
who being no longer able to endure the Pranks of the other, he
resolved at last to part from him. He retired then into Heaven,
whence, for a Mark of his just Resentment, he causeth at several
times his Thunder to rore over the Head of his unfortunate Brother.
Sometime after the Spirit descended again on that Woman, and she
conceived a Daughter, from whom (as the Salvages say) were propagated
these numerous People, which do occupy now one of the greatest parts
of the Universe.
It is evident that the narrator has sufficiently distorted the
traditions to make them conform, as much as practicable, to the biblical
story of the birth of Christ. No reference whatever is made in the
Ojibwa or Menomoni myths to the conception of the Daughter of Nokomis
(the earth) by a celestial visitant, but the reference is to one of the
wind gods. Mi´nabō´zho became angered with the Ki´tshi Man´idō, and the
latter, to appease his discontent, gave to Mi´nabō´zho the rite of the
Midēwiwin. The brother of Mi´nabō´zho was destroyed by the malevolent
underground spirits and now rules the abode of shadows,--the “Land of
the Midnight Sun.”
Upon his arrival at the “Bay of Puans” (Green Bay, Wisconsin), Marquette
found a village inhabited by three nations, viz: “Miamis, Maskoutens,
and Kikabeux.” He says:
When I arriv’d there, I was very glad to see a great Cross set up in
the middle of the Village, adorn’d with several White Skins, Red
Girdles, Bows and Arrows, which that good People had offer’d to the
Great _Manitou_, to return him their Thanks for the care he had taken
of them during the Winter, and that he had granted them a prosperous
Hunting. _Manitou_, is the Name they give in general to all Spirits
whom they think to be above the Nature of Man.
Marquette was without doubt ignorant of the fact that the cross is the
sacred post, and the symbol of the fourth degree of the Midē´wiwin, as
will be fully explained in connection with that grade of the society.
The erroneous conclusion that the cross was erected as an evidence of
the adoption of Christianity, and possibly as a compliment to the
visitor, was a natural one on the part of the priest, but this same
symbol of the Midē´ Society had probably been erected and bedecked with
barbaric emblems and weapons months before anything was known of him.
The result of personal investigations among the Ojibwa, conducted during
the years 1887, 1888 and 1889, are presented in the accompanying paper.
The information was obtained from a number of the chief Midē´ priests
living at Red Lake and White Earth reservations, as well as from members
of the society from other reservations, who visited the last named
locality during the three years. Special mention of the peculiarity of
the music recorded will be made at the proper place; and it may here be
said that in no instance was the use of colors detected, in any
birch-bark or other records or mnemonic songs, simply to heighten the
artistic effect; though the reader would be led by an examination of the
works of Schoolcraft to believe this to be a common practice. Col.
Garrick Mallery; U.S. Army, in a paper read before the Anthropological
Society of Washington, District of Columbia, in 1888, says, regarding
this subject:
The general character of his voluminous publications has not been such
as to assure modern critics of his accuracy, and the wonderful
minuteness, as well as comprehension, attributed by him to the Ojibwa
hieroglyphs has been generally regarded of late with suspicion. It was
considered in the Bureau of Ethnology an important duty to ascertain
how much of truth existed in these remarkable accounts, and for that
purpose its pictographic specialists, myself and Dr. W. J. Hoffman as
assistant, were last summer directed to proceed to the most favorable
points in the present habitat of the tribe, namely, the northern
region of Minnesota and Wisconsin, to ascertain how much was yet to be
discovered. * * * The general results of the comparison of
Schoolcraft’s statements with what is now found shows that, in
substance, he told the truth, but with much exaggeration and coloring.
The word “coloring” is particularly appropriate, because, in his
copious illustrations, various colors were used freely with apparent
significance, whereas, in fact, the general rule in regard to the
birch-bark rolls was that they were never colored at all; indeed, the
bark was not adapted to coloration. The metaphorical coloring was also
used by him in a manner which, to any thorough student of the Indian
philosophy and religion, seems absurd. Metaphysical expressions are
attached to some of the devices, or, as he calls them, symbols, which,
could never have been entertained by a people in the stage of culture
of the Ojibwa.