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| 1681 Obtossaway, an Ojibwe Chief, 1903 |
Posted on 19.06.2015, 24.06.2015, 13.11.2015, 21.08.2016
The Ojibwe (or Chippewa) are a large group of First Nations and Native Americans in Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the second-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by the Cree, and in the United States they have the fourth-largest population among Native American tribes, surpassed only by the Navajo, Cherokee and Lakota. They are a major component group of the Anishinaabe-speaking peoples, a branch of the Algonquian language family. The Anishinaabe peoples include the Algonquin, Nipissing, Oji-Cree, Odawa and the Potawatomi.
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| 1688 Arrowmaker, an Ojibwe Brave, 1903 |
Because many Ojibwe were formerly located around the outlet of Lake Superior, called Sault Ste. Marie by the French colonists, they referred to the Ojibwe as Saulteurs. Ojibwe who subsequently moved to the prairie provinces of Canada have retained the name Saulteaux. Ojibwe who were originally located along the Mississagi River and made their way to southern Ontario are known as the Mississaugas. The majority of the Ojibwe peoples live in Canada. There are 77,940 mainline Ojibwe; 76,760 Saulteaux and 8,770 Mississaugas, organized in 125 bands, and living from western Quebec to eastern British Columbia. Ojibwe in the U.S. number over 56,440, living in an area stretching across the northern tier from New York west to Montana.
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| 2695 Two Chippewa Maidens in Eau Claire (Wisconsin), cca. 1950 |
The Ojibwe are historically known for their crafting of birch bark canoes, their sacred birch bark scrolls, the use of cowrie shells for trading, the cultivation of wild rice, and the use of copper arrow points. They live in groups (otherwise known as "bands"). Most Ojibwe, except for the Great Plains bands, lived a sedentary lifestyle, engaging in fishing and hunting to supplement the women's cultivation of numerous varieties of maize and squash, and the harvesting of manoomin (wild rice). They developed a form of pictorial writing, used in religious rites of the Midewiwin and recorded on birch bark scrolls and possibly on rock.
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| 2032 Chief Shingabawossin, 1826 |
The Ojibwe people were divided into a number of odoodeman (clans; singular: doodem) named primarily for animals and birds totems (pronounced doodem). Traditionally, they had a patrilineal system, in which children were considered born to the father's clan. For this reason, children with French or English fathers were considered outside the clan and Ojibwe society unless adopted by an Ojibwe male. The Ojibwe have a number of spiritual beliefs passed down by oral tradition under the Midewiwin teachings. Teaching lodges are common today to teach the next generations about the language and ancient ways of the past. The traditional ways, ideas, and teachings are preserved and practiced in such living ceremonies.
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