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Table of Contents
Objibwa Pictures and Song-Pictures - Howard A. Norman
Original pgs 64-67. Alcheringa 1-3
howard_a._norman-_objibwa_pictures_and_song-pictures_pages_from_alcheringa_1-3_winter-1971.pdf
Overview
These pictures and song pictures of the Ojibwa people depict various traditions they upheld and some rituals they used to ask their gods to grant them with water during drought, or cure an ailment affecting many tribe members. There are three sections. The first includes some exposition about the song-picture and then shows the hieroglyph and its translation. The second section details the response from a crowd after the telling of a legend or story about a wolf and shows the various pictures of wolves and their different meanings. The third and final section shows and explains the traditional depictions of animals which exaggerate the part of the animal that the artist thought to be the most memorable part.
This Alcheringa entry was compiled and translated by Howard A. Norman.
Context
The Objibwa people have many common names including Ojibwe, Chippewa, and Salteaux, which is why sources may use different names or different spellings in documentation. Their current radiation of land spreads from Southeast Canada to a small portion of the upper midwestern states of the U.S.
The Ojibwe language is more well known as “Ojibwemowin” or as “Anishinaabemowin,” and a handful of other names. Ojibwemowin has many dialects, with no one dialect considered dominant. Ojibwe writing systems are diverse as well. A large part of the traditional communication methods of the Ojibwa people include petroglyphs, or early rock carvings, which may still be known by some of the Ojibwa elders, but since the glyph's contents are considereed to be sacred information, not much is known about their meanings. Modern-day Ojibwa still use glyphs as a traditional means of communication, though they have retired the mediums of stone and hides for their etchings. The word "Midē", used in the title of this alcheringa entry means “member of the Midewiwin, or "Great Medicine Society," which was the main religion of the Ojibwa.
