Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin

Book excerpt: The elemental conflict of man against a hostile nature has nowhere been enacted more dramatically than in the experience of the Ojibwa Indians of Southwestern Ontario and Northern Minnesota, where the hunter, isolated by his vast lands and frozen winters, felt himself a soul at bay, against cosmic forces personalised as cynical or terrorizing. Out of this confrontation with a stark and hostile environment the Obijwa Indians shaped a distinctive society and cosmology, both emphasizing individualism. Ruth Landes describes the religious society known as the midéwiwin as it existed among the Obijwa. She presents conditions of Obijwa life during the 1930s as background for understanding the tribe's intricate ethical-religious system; she relates the origin tale in several variations, about the supernatural gift of midéwiwin; and she narrates in fascinating particulars the midé "Life" rituals for curing and for Shamans' indoctrinations; and the "Ghost" ritual that completes cure of a soul after death. The author's own observations are enahnced by comments and narratives from Will Rogers (Hole-in-the-Sky), a noted shaman, and Mrs. Maggie Wilson, daughter of a Cree missionary and daughter-in-law of an Ojibwa shaman.