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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. However, since the glyph's contents are considered 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 introductory note at the top of this Alcheringa entry means “member of the Midewiwin, or "Great Medicine Society," which was the main religion of the Ojibwa.
Commentary
The pictographs are used alongside the creations of each song and are developed to preserve and depict the song's meaning or intention (if related to some kind of request to, or praise of, the spirits/gods called manido or manidoo).
===== Section 1 =====
The picture-songs detailed within this entry in the first section have mainly to do with asking the spirits for water or for cures for diseases. The final picture-song in section one shows a song more centered toward praise, which focuses on someone's fortune concerning the “toad woman,” who is a manido of great power and seen as a force of healing and as a means of spiritual communication between tribes.
Many more examples of these songs can be found here (e.g., sections 193-196, sections 207-219, and more).
