Interpreting the Ojibwe Pictographs of North Hegman Lake MN - 4

Michael Wassegijig Price, Wikwemikong First Nations, is the founding president of the new Red Lake Nation College in Red Lake, Minnesota. He is the author of a website about Anishinaabe Star Knowledge.

"Because stars move from east to west, the Anishinaabe believe that when we die, our spirits travel to "Ningaabii'anong;" the Western sky. The Anishinaabek also believe that new life and knowledge emerge from "Waabanong ; " the eastern sky. . . .

Knowledge was generally passed down through the "Midewiwin, " a society of healers and spiritual leaders, or the "Waabanowin," the Society of the Dawn. . .

The Anishinaabe constellation, "Bugonagiizhig --Hole in the Sky," is the star cluster known as Pleiades. The seven stars represent the opening between the Earth and the star world. This "Hole in the Sky" leads to the spirit world. These seven stars also represent the seven poles used in the construction of the "Jiisakaan--Shaking Tent Ceremony. " "Bugonagiizhig," a winter constellation that rises in the northeast sky in October and makes its way across the winter sky, sinks below the northwest horizon in late March, becoming invisible from April through August. Other Anishinaabek communities refer to Pleiades as "Madoo'asinug--Sweating Stones." The seven stars in this constellation represent the seven stones used in the sweatlodge ceremony.

The "Madoodiswan," or "Sweatlodge," is the constellation also known as the Corona Borealis. Characterized as a group of stars in a circular pattern with the door of the lodge opening to the north/northeast, it rises in the northeast sky in March and disappears on the horizon in September. The "Sweatlodge" constellation is directly overhead during the early evenings of June, yet is not seen for six months throughout the winter.

The most wellknown constellation is the Big Dipper or Ursa Major. To the Anishinaabe, the Big Dipper is part of the constellation "Ojiig'anung--Fisher Star." "Ojiig'anung" lies just above the horizon from October to December. In December, it emerges in the northeast sky. Throughout the long winter, the Fisher makes its way across the night sky. The Anishinaabek knew that spring was close when "Ojiig'anung" was directly overhead in the early evenings. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) had recorded the story of the "Ojiig'anung (The Fisher)," but did not make the connection between the story and the rise of the constellation in early spring. The rise of "Ojiig'anung" was also an indication that it was time to prepare for "Aninaatig ozhiga'igewin --tapping of the maple trees." . . .

"Mishi bizhiw," or the Great Lynx, is another constellation that emerges in the late winter skies. Because the lynx is known to be a somewhat dangerous animal, this constellation is a reminder that the north woods, especially during the transition time between winter and spring, can be dangerous. Thinning ice on the lakes and rivers, hard crust on the snow, flooding, and unpredictable snowstorms are characteristic of the Great Lakes region during this time. The constellation, "Mishi bizhiw," consists of the two constellations of Leo and Hydra. The head of Leo makes up the long curled tail, while the head of Hydra makes up the head of the Great Lynx.

Polaris, or the North Star, is known as "Giwedin'anung--Star of the North." "Giwedin'anung" was used in determining the four cardinal directions as well as navigating through the Great Lakes region at night. "Giwedin'anung" is part of the constellation known as "Maang‚The Loon." The Loon constellation comprises the stars of the Little Dipper. "Giwedin'anung" is located at the tip of the tail feathers of the Loon constellation.

According to the Dictionary of the Ojibway Language (1878) by Frederic Baraga, the Anishinaabek word for Milky Way is spelled "tchibekina." I had asked several Elders in the area what that word meant, but no one knew. Finally, George Goggleye, an Elder from the Leech Lake Reservation, said that Baraga had spelled it wrong. It was actually pronounced "jiibay kona" (jiibay--spirit; kona--path), which meant "Spirit Path." The rock pictographs at Hegman Lake in Canada, which show three canoes traveling in the same direction, may indicate the "jiibay kona" or Milky Way" (Price 2002).

In her 1993 book Portage Lake: Memories of an Ojibwe Childhood Maude Kegg, recounted the following story which described an Ojibwe winter custom for bringing back the Spring:

Shoot the Wintermaker

Again what the old lady told me.
She talked about everything with me.
It´s long ago and the Indians are cold
because the winter is too long.

They make bows for the children. They tell them:
"Go and shoot up in the sky. Shoot the Wintermaker."

The children go outside and aim skywards.
They shoot the Wintermaker.
And sure enough it warms up (Kegg, 1993).

Other Native American sources describe a somewhat similar belief that shooting into the sky during an eclipse will bring back the sun.

Anthropologist Sister M.Inez Hilger, a professor at St. Benedict's College in St. Joseph, Minnesota, traveled to nine Ojibwe reservations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan in the 1930's and described the use of the sky and pictography for Ojibwe navigation through the deep woods:

"Chippewa who were acquainted with the locality of their habitat and with the country surrounding it relied on the position of the sun or of the North Star to find directions; when not well acquainted with a locality, they marked the trail in order to make return possible. "When men went hunting in those early days, they didn't need to mark the way; they always found home without difficulty. However, if some families were moving and expected others to follow them at a later time, the first ones chipped bark off trunks of trees or broke branches along the way. If the direction changed en route, the tree was chipped on two sides, one chip in line with the direction from which the family came and the other in line with the direction to which they had turned. If the distance to be traveled was long, and no chances were to be taken of having the second detachment lose its way, a small piece of birch bark was fastened to a tree at turns in the trail: a +, "a star," engraved on the birchbark indicated a turn toward the rising sun; a -, one one turning toward the setting sun. This was done in addition to chipping the tree" (Hilger 1992:105).