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'Nokomis' is the name of Nanabozho's grandmother in the Ojibwe traditional stories and
was the name of Hiawatha's grandmother in Longfellow's poem, The Song of Hiawatha, which is a re-telling of the Nanabozho stories. Nokomis is an important character in the poem, mentioned in the familiar lines
:By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
:By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
:Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
:Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
:Dark behind it rose the forest.
According to the poem, ''From the full moon fell Nokomis/Fell the beautiful Nokomis''. She bears a daughter, Wenonah. Despite Nokomis' warnings, Wenonah allows herself to be seduced by the West-Wind, Mudjekeewis,''Till she bore a son in sorrow/Bore a son of love and sorrow/Thus was born my Hiawatha''.
Abandoned by the heartless Mudjekeewis, Wenonah dies in childbirth, leaving Hiawatha to be raised by Nokomis. ''The wrinkled old Nokomis/Nursed the little Hiawatha'' and educates him.
In the Ojibwe language, ''nookomis'' means "my grandmother," thus portraying Nokomis of the poem and the ''aadizookaan'' (Ojibwe traditional stories) from a more personal point of view, akin to the traditional Ojibwa narrative styles.

Contents

Places named after Nokomis

Other uses

References

Places named after Nokomis

★ The town of Nokomis, Florida

★ Nokomis, Minneapolis, a community in Minneapolis, Minnesota

★ Nokomis, Illinois

★ Nokomis, Saskatchewan, Canada[1]

★ Lake Nokomis is part of a chain of lakes connected by Minnehaha Creek in Minneapolis, Minnesota

★ Nokomis Regional High School, in Newport Maine http://www.msad48.org/mainfrm.cfm?tpid=964

Other uses

★ Nokomis: Long-lived female golden eagle cared for at the San Francisco Zoo. She was brought to the Zoo after a farmer shot her, taking out her right eye.^[1][2]

References

1. http://www.theguardsman.com/051401/page12-13.pdf
2. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/14/MN172707.DTL&type=travel