Ojibwe lessons: Ojibwe history is foretold

When I think about how the Ojibwe have helped shape this great state, I tend to separate the ways we have influenced the land from the ways we have influenced its people.

Maybe I do this because the Ojibwe worldview could not conceive of influencing the land, or aki (earth). So any notion of who influences what must be turned upside down and inside out by asking: “In what ways has aki shaped us? In what ways has everything about this land and sky, this place called Minnesota—all things animate, inanimate, and spiritual—shaped the Ojibwe?”

How the Ojibwe have helped shape the state’s people—inclusive of cultures, institutions, languages, beliefs, and ways of being—is another matter, however, and some knowledge of Ojibwe history is helpful in understanding our influence.

Ojibwe oral history tells us that the migration of our ancestors to the Minnesota region beginning in approximately 900 C.E. resulted from a series of prophecies. In the telling of the story, seven prophets appeared out of the ocean and each told a prophecy of what would happen to the Ojibwe people.

The first prophet said the Ojibwe should move west from the eastern ocean or they would perish, and that they would know that they had reached the chosen land when they came to a place where food grew on water. The food was mahnomen (wild rice), found in Minnesota’s shallow northern lakes.

Each of the other prophets predicted parts of the Ojibwe story, too: the coming of the light-skinned race (Europeans) and the resulting generations of great suffering; of when the People would become lost spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and physically; of the loss of their lands; the taking of their children (in the mission and boarding school era); Christianization and the banning of their traditional spiritual beliefs; and the decline in Ojibwe language use, cultural practices, and ways of being.

The seventh prophet said there eventually would be a time of healing from the period of great suffering and described the cultural and spiritual renaissance the Ojibwe are experiencing today, when some Ojibwe would return to their language and spiritual teachings, and to living out the values of the Good Path (Mino-Bimaadiziwin). Gitchi Manito (Great Spirit, or God) gave these values to the Ojibwe at the time of our creation.

Knowledge of the teachings of the Seven Fires is important for Ojibwe people because it reminds us we are part of a larger plan. As a result of the story, we know why we are here, living in the region, including Minnesota, and we know why non-Native people are here, as well. The story also reminds us why we came here, how historical events have shaped who we are today, and, more importantly, our role in perhaps shaping the way all of us as citizens of this earth should care for the precious resources of the air, water, and land.

Thomas D. Peacock is a retired professor of education at the University of Minnesota Duluth and a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. He has authored books and many articles on Ojibwe history and culture. He wrote this piece for the Minnesota Historical Society.