The Hiawatha Heritage House

04/23/2024

05/15/2023

https://www.record-eagle.com/news/lifestyles/anishinaabek-neighbors-waabanokiizhick-mandosking/article_fb8b7f26-f0c5-11ed-b5c1-ff17b00b0f55.html

TRAVERSE CITY — The meaning of “home” takes on many interpretations, depending on who you ask.

05/03/2023

Willwalk School April 1938
Leo Mendoskin
Johnny Cadreau
Edna Gurnoe Pavlot
Dolly Boulley Lewis
Margaret Joseph Gurnoe Cook

On side Antoine Boulley and Frank Shannon

04/20/2023

Legend of the Miskwedo 🍄 🍄 part II

Many days and many nights went by. Slowly matters began to change. Wah-ay-eah. Elder Brother arose in the mornings, his heart heavy with sadness and foreboding. He worried and he worried and he was unhappy. Wah-ay-eah. Younger Brother, on the contrary, arose smiling each day, his heart filled with happiness, his lips singing merriment. Nahow, zhawenimowin!
Now Elder Brother noticed that Younger Brother went very frequently behind the wigwam to urinate. He stayed much longer than seemed to be necessary, and particularly, at the full of the moon, he stayed a long, long time. At last Elder Brother, who disliked playing the spy, decided that for his brother's welfare he simply must investigate. So he went out behind the wigwam and discovered, just as he had thought, Little Brother was not urinating. He had already gone down the trail further into the woods. Elder Brother followed secretly until he came to a clearing.
What does he behold? There he sees Younger Brother standing in the center of an open space, a large group of people around him. Younger Brother's arms are open wide, spread like the umbrella of a mushroom. His robes are beautiful, glowing red, and tufts of white feathers adown his head. In a high, humming voice of happiness, like the song of uncountable bees, he sings to The People.

"Because of my supernatural experience,
In the Land of the Miskwedo,
I have a cure to alleviate your ills,
To take away all your unhappiness.
If only you will come to my p***s
And take the quickening waters flowing from it
You, too, can be forever happy."

Every time the clouds darken the moon, he urinates. The people catch his urine in monkukeg, birch bark containers. They drink this liquid that has been given to them as a great boon by the Miskwedo Manidog. All the members of the mushroom cult, all the devotees of Miskwedo, Youger Brother, who is the chief mushroom, the drum chief, the three elders and three sets of lesser people sing their happy songs, their hearts are strong, and each one does the work of ten.
Wah-ay-eah, poor Elder Brother! He did not understand the ways of the red-topped mushroom. He did not understand the use of the golden mushroom. He did not understand the use of the golden mushroom liquid and the p***s elixir. He continued to be filled with foreboding.
"Nothing good can come of it," he lamented. He troubled, he worried, and he was unhappy. Oh Wah-ay-eah.
Neither did Younger Brother understand the workings of the Sacred Mushroom. But he went on being happy, and all the people following him continued in a state of bliss
And so it is and so it continues to this very day, now at this place and this time, as it was then, and shall be in the future. All the people who are OLDER BROTHERS, like Elder Brother in our story, because they do not understand, they are unhappy. They trouble, they worry, and they fuss. Neither do the YOUNGER BROTHERS of this world understand, yet still they drink the golden mushroom waters and are happy. They drink the Elixir of the Gitchi Miskwedo, and much is revealed of the supernatural and other knowledge in this way. It is the Giiziswaabo -- the liquid Power of the Sun -- Kesuwabo. Aahauw! Jahwenda-mowining, ahauw! :heart:

Art by Dwayne Horn

04/17/2023

The legend of Miskwedo 🍄

Told by Keewaydinoquay

Attention, I will tell a story, a story of The People, a story of Miskwedo, that red-topped mushroom which is the spiritual child of Nokoomis Giizhick, Grandmother Cedar, and of Nimishoomis Wiigwas, our Grandfather Birch. Listen and learn.
Certainly this is true, for it was told by our honored forefathers. Now this happened in the long, long ago times, many uncountable moons gone by and many uncountable trails back, it is thought, at one of the temporary camps during the Great Migration of our people across the continent of Minissah, from the Land of the Sun-rising toward the Land of the Sun-setting, when they were being led by the Divine Miigis to our home, to the promised land of Giwedinaki.
There were two brothers, so young that they had not yet received their adult names: full brothers they were, both sons of the same woman of the Owl clan and of the same man of the Sturgeon clan. The firstborn was called Elder Brother and the secondborn was called Younger Brother. They lived alone together (Oh, Wah-ay-eah) for their parents had died bravely along that Great Migration trail. Oh, Wah-ay-eah! They hunted the same quarry, ate the same food, and shared all things in peace and harmony -- and that was good. Ahauw!
Now one day, at the place about which this story is told, the boys were very hungry, their stomachs empty. Since there were mountains in that place, they climbed up the rocky slopes looking for food. At last they came to a great cave high in the mountainside. It seemed to them that light came out of the cave opening. An amazing sound, a sound like the humming of uncountable bees, was heard. Very carefully and very quietly the brothers approached, curiously peering through the opening. They saw a beautiful meadow in which there grew many tall red and white mushrooms -- handsome wafaskwedeg they were -- turning and revolving, buzzing and murmuring, singing a strange song of happiness under a brilliantly sunny sky.
Quick as a flash of lightning, Younger Brother scrambled through the opening running with joyous abandon into the meadow of murmuring mushrooms.
"Stop! Wait! Stop!" called Elder Brother. "We do not know what Spirits there are in this place. We do not know what they might be."
But Younger Brother did not stop. He was, in fact, already gone!
Younger Brother ran to the tallest, strongest, reddest, most handsome mushroom of them all. White fluffs, like tuft feathers of the finest war-bonnet, waved across its shining cap. Streamers of filmy white, like frills of clouds, swirled in rhythm as it revolved. Elder Brother watched aghast as Younger Brother became fused to that giant mushroom's stipe. He beheld Younger Brother begin to grow a bright red cap. At first slowly, then faster and faster, Younger Brother began to spin in the sun. Elder Brother was horrified. Quickly he noted the location of the giant mushroom and the position of the little mushroom which had once been his Younger Brother. Then he ran. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, away from the bewitching meadow, away from the great cave, away from that awful hole in the mountainside. Back down the winding trails, back down the rocky slopes, he ran, never pausing until at last he came to the village.
"Awooheee!"
He gave the emergency call for the elders and the medicine people. Quickly he told them everything that had happened.
"What shall I do?" he begged. "Tell me, Wise Ones, how to save my little brother."
The elders and the medicine people looked at each other. They shook their heads.
"We have never heard of such a thing," They said. "We must ask the Drum."
When they had consulted the Drum, which was Medicine Drum, they said, "We have an answer, but it is a difficult one. This is what you must do. You must remember every world. You must go to that place called "The-Place-of -the-Magic-Sands". It is a high cliff along the lake with a talus slope and great waves pounding the rocks into the sand. There you should collect the magic sands, Onaman. Put them in a deerskin bag with sacred to***co and pull the drawstring tightly. Think a prayer of thanksgiving to the Spirits of that place for their making of Onaman (the magic sands). Continue running along the trail until you come to "The-Place-Where-the-High-Trees-Grow-and-the-Eagles-Nest". Find the highest tree and the nest of the largest eagle. He is a Thunderbird. You must obtain four feathers from his tail. Think to the Thunderbird a prayer of thanksgiving and petition as you keep on running toward the mountain. Follow the same trail to where the light of the great cave shimmers through the opening in the side of the mountain.
"Now face Waabinong with the eagle feathers in your hand, asking Gitchi Manitou's blessing on them. Observe which mushroom is the tallest, strongest and the handsomest. He is the chief. With utmost speed enter the witching meadow, thrust an eagle feather through the stipe of the chief. He will stop turning. Now locate the wisest Miskwedo among them, the eldest mushroom who is sporulating, the one with the most influence. As fast as you can, put an eagle feather through the stipe of this mushroom. He, too, will stop turning. Now the third eagle feather must be thrust through the stipe of the mushroom which you know to be Younger Brother. Then dump the bag of magic Onaman all over him. Carefully remove every bit of this mushroom from the shining cap to the bulb at the foot. Do not break off any particle or a part of Younger Brother will be broken too. Carrying the mushroom with you, hurry through the opening in the mountain. Stop just long enough to place the last protective eagle feather across the opening of the cave, then continue down along the trail as fast as you can go. This is what you are supposed to do.
"As you run away from that mountain, the load (your "Brother" mushroom) will become heavier and heavier, until finally, it will become as it was in the past. There will be your Younger Brother running beside you. But though you recognize him as being there, as he once, was, do not speak, do not stop! As you run, it will become more and more as it was in the past, except for one thing -- an eagle feather will protrude from Younger Brother's skin. There it must always remain."
All these things occurred then. They happened as it was foretold they would happen. Elder Brother remembered clearly every little thing. He did exactly as he was told, collecting the magic sands and the eagle feathers. He went through the hole in the side of the mountain, placing the protective eagle feathers and dumping the magic sands over Younger Brother. He rescued Younger Brother, who seemed to become as he was in the past -- except for one weird thing: an eagle feather stuck out strangle from his skin just as if it had grown there! Together the boys ran swiftly down the trail, back to the camp of The People. There they lived once again, in the same lodge, in peace and harmony. And that was good. nahaw!

04/01/2023

"Nobody can have two-spirits but they can also, they can hold two characteristics of Nishinaabe, the best of both worlds, and we acknowledge them in this circle because they belong here, they do, and they were always with us, no matter what." says Chop Waindubence on Niizhiwag Nishinaabe (those Anishinaabeg who are two[spirted]) on Day 1 of the Anishinaabe Dodemaag Teachings.

01/15/2023

Baraga, Frederic, Bishop
B01969 Shawan, Jospeh
B01970 Shigwadag, Marie
B01971 Mendoshkang, Anton.
B01994 Mindoshkang, Carolina born at Minisheing
B02012 Eshwegwanebi, George born at Lake George
B02046 Tibishkogijig, Jean Baptiste born at Minisheing, Sugar Island
B02047 Tibishkogijig, Louis born at Minisheing, Sugar Island
B02049 Migwan, Andrews born at MInsheing, Sugar Island
B02050 Eniwakwaang, Jean Baptiste born at MInisheing, Sugar Island
B02091 Nakiwe, Josepha born at Minisheing, Sugar Island
B02092 Tibishkogijig, Joseph born at Minisheing, Sugar Island
B02093 Aboiadjiwanokwe, Maria
Chambon, John F.,S.J.

B03123 Jean-Baptiste/Cok, William Baptised at St. Joseph’s church on Sugar Island
B03156 Greno, Edward Baptized in the church of St. Joseph, Sugar Island, opposite Iamy Island
B03166 Netamap, Pierre baptized on Sugar Island at St. Jospehs
B03286 Makobwan, Mariah Bouley baptized at the church of St. Jospeh on Suage Island
B03620 Mendoshkang, Joseph Baptised at Minisheing on Sugar Island
B03621 Lafreniere, Louise Baptiseed at Minisheing on Sugar Island

Richard, Joseph R.,S.J.
B04348 Bebamawin, Marguerite Eva parents from Minisheing [Joseph Bebamawin/Maria Eniwabi]
B04351 Holder, David parents from Minisheing [Moses Oller/Rosalie Netamop]
B04352 Gordon, Sophia parents from Minisheing [Jospeh Gurnoe, Archangela Netamop]

Chambon John F., S.J.
B05038 Mendoshkan, Jane Baptised at Sugar Island, Chapel St. Joseph
B05039 Mendoshkan, Isabella
B05060 Bouley, Vinnie Baptised at Sugar Island, Minisheing
B05097 Eniway, James Baptised at Sugar Island, St. Jospeh Church
B05115 Oller, Anna Baptised at Minisheing on Sugar Island. Later married at Larmies Chapel to Richard Mandosking
B05152 Whalen, Michel Joseph baptized at Minisheing on Sugar Island
B05163 Mendoshkan, Robert Baptized at St. Joseph on Sugar Island
B05173 Boucher, Elizabeth Baptised at St. Joseph on Sugar Island
B05174 Tibishkogijig, Thomas Baptised at St. Joseph, Sugar Island
B05202 Bouley, Alexander Baptised at St. Joseph’s on Suagar Island
B05255 Gornau, Joseph baptized at Sugar Island at the church of St. Joseph
B05256 Mendoshkang, Richard Baptized at Sugar Island at the Church of St. Joseph. Married Ann Oller at St. Larmie’s on Sugar Island, 29 Jan 1918
B05269 Oller, Charles baptized at St. Joseph Sugar Island

Gagnieur, W.F., S.J.
B05317 Frechette/Fisher, Julie Baptized at Minisheing on Sugar Island
B05318 Naogijik/Captain, Elizabeth baptismal place: Suagr Island (Jinmy Island?). Naogijik is also known as Captaine.
B05370 Boulay, Arnaud J. Baptiste Baptized at Suagr Island, Minisheing
B05371 Boucher, Angeline Delima Baptized at Sugar Island, Minisheing
B05400 Capten/Naogijik, William Baptised at Suagr Island (Minisheing). The name is spelled Capten and Capden in the record.
B05401 Wabamang/Whiteloon, William Joseph Jabos. Baptized at Sugar Island, Minisheing. Wabamang is later known as whiteloon.
B05459 Larose, Marie Baptized at Sugar Island (Minisheing)
B05462 Gourneau, Rosa Marie Baptized at Sugar Island Minisheing
B05503 Getigewanebi, Cathrine Mary Baptized at Minisheing, (Gem Island) Suagr Island
B05504 Shawano/Shawanon Marie Monique Baptized at Minisheing (Gem Island)
B05538 Kabegijik/Joseph, George Baptized at Minisheing, Sugar Island. George Kabegijik is also known as George Joseph.
B05539 Boucher, Angelique Baptized at Minsiheing, Sugar Island
B05540 Boucher, Marie Baptized at Minsiheing, Sugar Island
B05541 Oller, Frederic Joseph Baptized at Minisheing, Sugar Island
B05559 Mendoshkang, Maria Louisa Baptized at Minisheing, Sugar Island (Gem Island).
B05602 Coleman, Mary Baptized at Sugar Island, Minisheing
B05627 Wabamaug/Whiteloon, Martha Baptized at Sugar Island (Minisheing). Wabamaug is also known as Whiteloon
B05653 Wabamaug/Whiteloon, Joseph Baptized at Sugar Island (Minisheing)
B05654 Boule, Cathrine Zoe Mary Baptized at Sugar Island (Minisheing)
B05693 Boucher, Frank John Baptized at Minisheing (Lake George), Sugar Island
B05694 Tibishkogijik/Kabegijik, Mary Julia Baptized at Minisheing (Lake George), Sugar Island. Surname noted later (1929) as Kabegijik. Also noted that today it may be the surname Joseph.

Richard, Joseph R., S.J.
B05713 Oller, Robert Baptized at Minisheing, Sugar Island. Baptized by Fr. Richard recorded by Fr, Gagnieur
Gagnieur, W.F., S.J.
B05734 Mendoshkang, John Joseph Baptized at Sugar Island Minisheing
Richard, Joseph R.,S.J.
B05763 Roy, Lucy Irene Baptized at Minisheing, Sugar Island
B05764 Bazinet, Magdalene Baptized at Minsiheing, Sugar Island. Written under Bazinet at a later date are the surnames Riley and Jaykash with question marks.

12/18/2022

This map shows the burial mound and village site of the Jim Island Indians. This small indain village is most likely where chief Ma-ne-do-scung shared many of the legends in the Song of Hiawatha with Henry Longfellow.

12/11/2022

5 Anishinaabeg of the Awizisii doodem (bullhead clan) shared these stories.

11/19/2022

New Hiawatha Legends