Midewiwin

About Midewiwin

The 'Midewiwin' (also spelled ''Midewin'' and ''Medewiwin'') or the 'Grand Medicine Society' is a secretive religion of the aboriginal groups of the Maritimes, New England and Great Lakes regions in North America. Its practitioners are called ''Midew'' and the practices of ''Midewiwin'' referred to as ''Mide''. Occasionally, male ''Midew'' are called ''Midewinini'', which sometimes is translated into English as either "shaman" or "medicine man".
Tribal groups who have such societies include the Abenaki, Anishinaabe (Ojibwa/Chippewa, Odawa/Ottawa and Potawatomi), the Sioux and the Winnebago. These North American or Turtle Island aboriginals known either as First Nations or as Native Americans passed along birch bark scrolls, teachings, and have degrees of initiations and ceremonies. They are often associated with the Seven Fires Society, and other aboriginal groups or organizations. The Miigis shell, or cowrie shell, is used in some ceremonies, along with bundles, sacred items, etc. There are many oral teachings, symbols, stories, history, and wisdom passed along and preserved from one generation to the next by these groups.
Early accounts of the Mide from books written in the 1800s describe a group of elders that protected the birch bark scrolls in hidden locations. They recopied the scrolls if any were badly damaged, and they preserved them underground. These scrolls were described as very sacred and the interpretations of the scrolls were not easily given away. Current theories claim the Ojibwe Nation is possibly descended from the Hopewell People who formed a vast trading network across the North American continent. The historical areas of the Ojibwe were recorded, and stretched from the east coast all the way to the prairies by way of lake and river routes. Some of the first maps of rivers and lakes were made by the Ojibwe and written on birch bark.
Whiteshell Provincial Park is named after the white shell (cowrie) used in Midewiwin ceremonies. This park contains some petroforms that are over 1000 years old, or possibly older, and therefore may predate some aboriginal groups that came later to the area.

Contents
See also
External links
References

See also



★ Animism

★ Shamanism

★ Hopewell culture

★ Abenaki mythology

★ Anishinaabe traditional beliefs

★ Medicine bag

External links



★ Encyclopædia Britannica article

★ MIDEWIWIN - Secret Ojibwa Medicine Society

★ Ohio Archeology Blog - Ancient DNA from the Ohio Hopewell

References



★ Benton-Banai, Edward. ''The Mishomis Book - The Voice of the Ojibway''. (St. Paul: Red School House publishers, 1988).

★ Blessing, Fred K., Jr. ''The Ojibway Indians observed''. (1977, Minnesota Archaeological Society).

★ Deleary, Nicholas. "The Midewiwin, an aboriginal spiritual institution. Symbols of continuity: a native studies culture-based perspective." Carleton University MA Thesis, M.A. 1990.

★ Densmore, Frances. ''Chippewa Customs''. (Reprint: Minnesota Historical Press, 1979).

★ Dewdney, Selwyn Hanington. ''The Sacred Scrolls of the Southern Ojibway''. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1975).

★ Hoffman, Walter James. "The Midewiwin, or 'Grand Medicine Society', of the Ojibwa" in ''Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Bureau of Ethnology Report'', v. 7, pp. 149-299. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1891).

★ Johnston, Basil. ''Ojibway Ceremonies''. (1990, University of Nebraska Press).

★ Landes, Ruth. ''Ojibwa Religion and the Midewiwin''. (Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press, 1968).

★ Vecsey, Christopher. ''Traditional Ojibwa Religion and its Historical Changes''. (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1983).

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