Social organization among the Anishinaabe, as among many other peoples throughout the world, is based on the family of a man and a woman and their children. American Indian societies emphasize the economic cooperation of husband and wife, others that of adult brothers and sisters. Men’s work has been largely separate from women’s work. Women usually took responsibility for the care of young children and the home, and for the cultivation of plants, while men frequently hunted or traveled for trade.
Young children played a variety of games when growing up. Most games were designed as learning experiences to be used later when grown-up. When children went into the woods they were taught to watch and heed the “Spirit of the Woods.” Children were told that if they were going into danger the spirit of the woods would break a little branch and throw it in front of them as a warning. In all outdoor sports the girls were as proficient as the boys. The butterfly was regarded as “the spirit of childish play,” by some Tribes. Children were never allowed to destroy butterflies. They were taught to call the butterflies to join in their games, especially in the game of hide and seek.
At the time of maturity, a young girl was required to isolate herself for four days and nights. Her mother made a little wigwam for her at some distance from the lodge and it is said that in old days she was allowed absolutely no food during this period. A feast was given after her maturing, and she continued her fast until that time. In later days an older sister or other relative brought a little food to the girl. During her isolation she was not allowed to scratch her hair or body with her hands, a stick being provided for that purpose. Sometimes during the first summer of her womanhood she was not allowed to taste any fruit, berries or vegetables until the proper ceremony had been held.
A maturing boy was required to undergo a fast in which he hoped and expected to obtain a vision. The father taught the boy to prepare for this and insisted that he persevere until he secured the dream. The boy blackened his face with charcoal and usually went away from home for his fast. Sometimes a father took the boy a considerable distance and made a nest for him in a tree. He left the boy there several days, going occasionally to “see if he was all right.” It was not unusual for a boy to make several attempts before he secured a dream.
The young maidens of the Anishinaabe were closely guarded and were modest in their behavior toward the young men of the tribe. If a young man wished to call upon a young woman he talked first with the older people who lived next to the door of the lodge. He might then proceed to the middle of the lodge, where the young people lived, and talk with the girl in a low tone, but she was not allowed to leave the lodge with him. If a young man came to call rather late in the evening when the fire had burned low, the mother or grandmother would rise and stir up the fire so that it burned brightly, then fill her pipe and sit up and smoke. The young man could continue his call, but was conscious of being watched.
In the evenings the young men played the “courting flute,” but it was never permitted that a young girl leave the lodge in response to the flute. If the young man’s intentions were serious, he killed a deer or some other animal and brought it to the girl’s parents. This was to indicate his ability and intention to provide well for his family.
Men were of marriageable age as soon as they were able to supply food for a family. “A boy had to be a good hunter and a good worker to get married; he was that usually at about 20.” A girl was of marriageable age as soon after puberty as she was able to do all the work expected of a housewife, such as building wigwams, gathering wood, tanning hides, drying meat and fish, and cooking food. Some girls married as early as 14 years.
Many times a girl in the older days did not know the man she married until the day of marriage. Often she had not even seen him; parents made all arrangements. The girl’s wishes regarding a man were usually taken into consideration, however, although some were forced into marriages.
The Anishinaabe did not have a marriage ceremony. Marriage consisted of eating together and of sharing the fur robe used as bedding. When parents had settled upon the marriage or when the man had received the consent of the girl’s parents, he went to their wigwam with all his belongings “and that was all.”
The young couple might go away quietly for a few days, or they might go at once to live in a lodge of their own. It was the usual custom for a girl to remain home for a while after marriage, if all was satisfactory, they might, if they desired, build a lodge of their own, or occasionally, they might live with the husband’s parents.
It was customary to notify all the people when a new baby was born. Immediately the men went to the wigwam and attempted to gain possession of the child, the father and immediate relatives defended the child against the others. The child’s relatives threw water and sometimes a mixture of flour and water, on the attacking party; the men fought and wrestled. It is said that everybody was wringing wet when the struggle was finished. The men who secured the baby took it to the leader who carried it four times around the fire while the people sang a song with words meaning “we have caught the little bird.” The parents gave presents to the men to secure possession of the baby. It is said “this was done to make the child brave from hearing so much noise as soon as it was born.”
The names of Anishinaabe under the old conditions of life may be divided into six general classes:
1) Dream name given ceremonially by a “namer”
2) dream name acquired by an individual
3) “namesake name” given a child by its parents
4) common name or nickname
5) name of kinship group
6) name without any significance
Sometimes a child would not be named until illness overtook them. A namer would then be summoned in haste, the belief that his power could save the life of the child.
A baby was carried by it’s mother on her back in a cradle board to train the baby’s back to be straight, allow for easy travel and to keep it safely in place while she was working. The frame could be hung on a tree, leaned up against a tree and would not get hurt if it fell over: the bow protected its head and body.
Articles hung on the bow of a cradle board one article often used resembled a spider web, usually hung on the bow of the cradle. The dream catcher, as called by the Anishinabe, simulated a spider web in the center. It has a hanger about 6” long in order to swing freely. Feathers hang from the hoop fastened by strips of leather. Some dream catchers have symbolic totems hanging also which may be good luck charms or favorite objects.
The Anishinaabe believe that the night air is filled with dreams – both good and bad. The dream catcher, when hung, moves freely in the air and catches the dreams as they float by. It is believed that the good dreams know the way and slip through the center hold, then slide down the soft feathers to the sleeper below. Bad dreams, now knowing the way, get entangled in the webbing and perish with the light of day. Small dream catchers were hung on cradle boards so infants would have good dreams. Larger sizes were hung in lodges for all to have good dreams.
Children were taught certain words of their native language by imitation. Names of objects might be taught by holding the object before the child and pronouncing the name until the child was able to repeat it correctly. Often the child was rewarded by being given the object after pronouncing its name. Most of the child’s vocabulary was learned by hearing elders speak. The various bands spoke dialects of the Ojibwa language, “but all could make out what other bands were saying.”
The Anishinaabe had no written language. A form of pictography, consisting of symbolisms that represented numbers, directions, days, hills, lakes, sky and earth, and of crude delineations that represented men, birds, animals and material objects was known to a few persons in every band. Those who were well versed in it could combine these delineations and symbols into ideographs that represented progressive action.
Anishinaabe children were given much freedom and therefore spent much time in play. Their developmental age, was not unlike that of other children. While small they played with toys made by their elders; when a little older, boys and girls played together in games and in imitation of elders; when still older, sexes excluded each other and played apart and tolerated no interference from each other; in adulthood, some games were played by each sex exclusively, some by both sexes but apart, and others by both sexes together.
Formerly the child had little choice in companionship, since the only children within its environment were those of its own family or of the few families that lived in its group. Groups of families were of necessity small since all had to live upon nature in the locality. They usually moved en masse in following the seasonal occupation of maple-sugar making, berry picking, wild-rice gathering, fishing and hunting.
Emphasis was placed upon children being kind and respectful to older people. They were instructed and trained to share the superfluous. A child was not only taught honesty formally but was made to return articles not belonging to it. A lying child was told it was making a wrong beginning in life; a boasting or a tale-bearing one was not listened to. Quarrels between children of the same family were ignored; but children quarreling with neighboring children were forbidden to play with them again. Most hurting denunciations were “you dog” or “you ghost.”
Boys past puberty were expected to help and to learn to make birchbark canoes of various sizes used for travel during the summer and whenever the river and lakes were free of ice; for fishing, hunting, berrying and wild-rice gathering; and for moving household goods and families.
Diversions within and between groups consisted of story telling; of smoking, chewing and snuffing while visiting; of playing games and gambling; and of dancing. The children, if not actual participants in these activities, could always be nonparticipating observers.
The games among the Anishinaabe were games of chance, such as the moccasin, hand, plate, snake and stick games; and games of dexterity, including the bone, bunch of grass, awl, woman’s, and lacrosse games.
One of the most prevalent diversions of the Anishinaabe consisted of visiting. Time was spent in conversation, or in silently sitting in each other’s presence. In the summertime, visiting was done out-of-doors under sun shelters; in the winter, in the wigwam around the fireplace. Children, when not romping around and playing, sat by and listened in. Topics of conversation were often mere gossip, but many times, especially in the winter, historic events such as wars, traveling and visits of other tribes were recounted. Good humor, telling jokes and smoking added their share of entertainment.
Separations between husbands and wives were part of the Anishinaabe culture pattern. Either partner could leave and return to the parental home, or could marry another person. It was quite common for a husband, after having lived with a woman for a long period of time and raised quite a family, to abandon her and his children without any cause, and to take another woman and begin to rear a new family. In such circumstances he never did anything to support the wife and children he had abandoned.
Infidelity on the part of the wife was punishable, even with death; generally either the wife or the paramour was killed. The husband of an unfaithful wife usually disfigured the woman’s face so no man would desire her.
Hunting provided both food and clothing. Deer were shot, impounded or snared. At night they were enticed by torchlight; in the daytime, by the “deer call.” Bears were caught in deadfalls. Wolves, foxes and rabbits were snared. Beavers were speared.
Fish, both fresh and smoked, were important foods. In the fall, groups of families moved to lake shores to fish for winter storage. Nets, fishhooks, spearheads and traps were used in fishing. Women usually used nets which they made of inner bark of basswood or of nettles.
Adult clothing was made from finely tanned hides of deer, moose, elk or bear and of dressed skins of rabbit, beaver and other small fur-bearing animals. Children’s clothing was made of delicately tanned hides of fawn and of skins of beaver, squirrel and rabbit.
Wood was the only fuel used. Women gathered it daily and packed it on their backs in carrying straps. Fire was made by striking two stones or by rotating a wooden fire drill. Punk served as tinder. Cooking was done over an open fireplace, either in or outside the wigwam. In winter the fireplace gave also heat and light to the wigwam.
Gardening consisted of cultivating corn, squash, pumpkins and beans in small plots scattered haphazardly in tall grass and in open spaces in the woods.
As soon as a person died he was washed, his hair braided and his best clothing put on him, also a great quantity of every sort of bead work. With the dead were placed any trinkets or articles particularly valued in life. A pipe and tobacco pouch, with flint, steel and punk were buried with a man. A favorite ax or pack strap might be buried with a woman. The only articles of utility placed with the dead (unless of some personal attachment) were those articles needed on a short journey, such as a little kettle, a dish and spoon.
After the proper preparations had been made the relatives sent for the Mide, who conducted a form of funeral ceremony. The Mide sat beside the deceased and told him to be careful to avoid certain turns in the road to the spirit land, or to trust certain spirits who would meet and assist him.
Burial was with the feet toward the west, as tradition states that to be the direction of the spirit’s journey. Some Ojibwa believe home after death to lie westward. “Homeward Road” spirit travels through after death. Since all stories have been handed down verbally from one generation to another, one reason for this may be the return to a country before white settlement - a time of enjoyment and happiness. Opinion seems to differ as some believe the land of departed spirits is not of necessity toward the west but “somewhere - as though in space.”
As among all races of people, there were certain established customs of mourning and others that varied with the individual. The grief of some persons was so extreme that they cut gashes in their bodies when the death occurred. Wailing usually began immediately after a death, but this was not required by custom; it was said some persons who were “of strong mind” did not wail at all. The custom of cutting the hair or wearing it unbraided, and of wearing old clothing was universally observed.