Original pgs 64-67. Alcheringa 1-3

howard_a._norman-_objibwa_pictures_and_song-pictures_pages_from_alcheringa_1-3_winter-1971.pdf

These pictures and song-pictures of the Ojibwa people depict various traditions they upheld and some rituals they used to ask their spirits/gods for help. They used songs and dances alongside these pictures to ask the spirits/gods to grant them with water during drought, or cure an ailment affecting many tribe members, among other blessings.

There are three sections of this Alcheringa entry. 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 entry was compiled and translated by Howard A. Norman.

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.

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). The picture was developed simultaneously with the song, like writing music on a scale. The notes and pitches did not need to be notated because there was usually one specific rhythmic chant in a single pitch or a short series of frequently-used pitches.

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.

In this section the entry details some of the reactions expected from the audience after the telling of a story involving a wolf. The audience members listening to the story are at first expected to prove their attention by a still silence. The storyteller asks two questions about “who will start a laugh,” which refers to the shaking of the rattles the listeners have. One audience member will shake their rattle and describe the wolf with a strange detail and attempt to act it out with body movements and facial expressions. Each audience member is expected to take a turn and each must shake their rattle during their turn and continue shaking it after their turn is over. In this section some of the properties a wolf can be described with are detailed on Alcheringa page 66.

In this section, the use of overexaggerating body proportions when drawing animals is explained. The artist draws the animal with the body part they noticed most emphasized in size. For example, if the drawer beholds a frog and noticed the frog's eyes more than any other body part, that drawer would greatly exaggerate the size of the frog's eyes in his drawing.

Many more examples of these Ojibwa pictures and song-pictures can be found here (e.g., sections 193-196, sections 207-219, and more).

Ackerman, James, 1815 Or , Lithographer, and Seth Eastman. Meda Songs. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2001695727/>.

Edited by Nora Livesay and John D. Nichols, The Ojibwe People's Dictionary, https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/.

Hoffman, Walter James. “The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mide'wiwin or ‘Grand Medicine Society’ of the Ojibwa.” The Midewiwin of the Ojibwa, Project Gutenberg , 25 Sept. 2006, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19368/19368-h/19368-h.htm#plateXXIIa.

“Midewiwin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midewiwin.

“Ojibwe Language.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojibwe_language.

“Ojibwe.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojibwe.

Skinner, Alanson. “Plains Ojibwa Tales.” The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 32, no. 124, University of Illinois Press, 1919, pp. 280–305, https://doi.org/10.2307/534982.

Vennum, Thomas. “Ojibwa Origin-Migration Songs of the Mitewiwin.” The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 91, no. 361, University of Illinois Press, 1978, pp. 753–91, https://doi.org/10.2307/538673.