The Midewiwin (also spelled Midewin and Medewiwin) is from the term for the Grand Medicine Society 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. The Maritime provinces. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes in North America on or near the Canada-United States border. ... The shaman is an intellectual and spiritual figure who is regarded as possessing power and influence on other peoples in the tribe and performs several functions, primarily that of a healer ( medicine man). The shaman provides medical care, and serves other community needs during crisis times, via supernatural means (means... Medicine man is an English term used to describe Native American religious figures; such individuals are analogous to shamans. ... Abenaki couple The Abenaki (also Wabanaki), meaning people of the dawn, are a tribe of Native Americans/First Nations belonging to the Algonquian peoples of northeasternNorth America. ... Anishinaabe or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek (which is the plural form of the word) is a self-description often used by people belonging to the indigenous Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonkin peoples of North America, who share closely related Algonquian languages. ... Chippewa redirects here. ... The Ottawa (also Odawa, Odaawa, Outaouais, or Trader) are a Native American and First Nations people. ... Rain dance, Kansas, c. ... Wahktageli (Gallant Warrior), a Yankton Sioux chief (Karl Bodmer) Funeral scaffold of a Sioux chief (Karl Bodmer) Horse racing of the Sioux Indians (Karl Bodmer) The Sioux (IPA ) are a Native American people. ... The Ho-Chunk or Winnebago (as they are commonly called) are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what are now Wisconsin and Illinois. ... Turtle Island may refer to: A Native American term for the North American continent Another name for Nanuya Levu, a privately owned island of the Yasawa Group in Fiji Another name for Vatoa, in the Lau Group in Fiji Turtle Island, the 1974 book of poetry by Gary Snyder, winner... First Nations is a term of ethnicity used in Canada. ... Native Americans are the indigenous peoples within the territory that is now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska down to their descendants in modern times. ... The Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) people of North America had written down complex geometrical patterns and shapes on birch bark scrolls. ... Cowry shells (also spelled cowrie), are marine snails of the genus Cypraea (family Cypraeidae), found chiefly in tropical regions, especially around the Maldives or the East Indies. ...

Early accounts of the Mide from books written in the 1800's 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. For other uses of Chippewa, see Chippewa (disambiguation). ...

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. Whiteshell Provincial Park is one of the Provincial Parks along the Eastern border of Manitoba, near Ontario, Canada. ... Whiteshells, or Cowrie shells were used by aboriginal peoples around the world, but the word whiteshell specifically refers to shells used by Ojibway peoples in their Medewin ceremonies. ... Cowry shells (also spelled cowrie), are marine snails of the genus Cypraea (family Cypraeidae), found chiefly in tropical regions, especially around the Maldives or the East Indies. ... Petroforms are large shapes that were made out of large rocks. ...

See also

• Animism
• Shamanism
• Hopewell culture
• Abenaki mythology
• Algonquin mythology
• Chippewa mythology

Animism is the belief in personalized, supernatural beings (or souls) that often inhabit ordinary animals and objects, governing their existence. ... A shaman doctor of Kyzyl. ... Hopewell culture is the term used to describe common aspects of the Native American culture that flourish along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern United States from 200 BC to 400 A.D. At its greatest extent, Hopewell culture stretched from western New York to Missouri and from Wisconsin to... The Abenaki (also Wabanaki) are a Native American tribe located in the northeastern United States. ... The mythology of the Algonquin, an aboriginal North American people of the region of Montreal and Quebec contains the following gods and spirits: // Kitchi Manitou is the father of life, The Great Spirit, the Supreme Being Earth-Mother, aka Nokomis - Algonquin legend says that [b]eneath the clouds [lives] the... The Chippewa (also Ojibwa, Anishaabe) are a tribe of Native Americans located in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. ...

External links

• Encyclopædia Britannica article
• MIDEWIWIN - Secret Ojibwa Medicine Society
• Ohio Archeology Blog - Ancient DNA from the Ohio Hopewell

References

• Densmore, Frances. Chippewa Customs. (1979, Minnesota Historical Press).
• Hoffman, Walter James, M.D. The Mide'wiwin: Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibway. (2005, Lightning Source Inc.)
• Johnston, Basil. Ojibway Ceremonies. (1990, University of Nebraska Press).