Living in Harmony : Mino-nawae-indawaewin 0986874000, 9780986874000

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s\¥m =sertimle)alarixeya Commissioned by Zagamok Wesagygankaan Nal tialiatetel ey-\el(e(-\tala

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Living in

Harmony Mino-nawaeindawaewin

BASIL JOHNSTON O.Ont., LLD, B.A.

Living in Harmony © 2011 Basil H. Johnston

Kegedonce Press gratefully acknowledges the generous support of:

Commissioned by: Zagamok Wasseyaankaan

Private donation to this series by

Anishinaabebigewin

“A Grandmother Keeper of Souls”

Grade One Published by Kegedonce Press

Be

Cape Croker First Nation, RR#5

We acknowledge the support of the Canada

Canada Council for the Arts

Conseil des Arts du Canada

Wiarton, ON Canada NOH 2T0

Council for the Arts which last year invested

www.kegedonce.com

$20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada.

Editor: Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm

ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL CONSEIL DES ARTS DE L'ONTARIO

Cover design & cover illustration: Adrian Nadjiwon Book design: Kim Monteforte, WeMakeBooks.ca

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Johnston, Basil, 1929-

Living in harmony : Mino-nawae-indauwaewin / Basil H. Johnston

(The Anishinaubaemowin series) Text in English and Ojibwa.

ISBN 978-0-9868740-0-0 1. Ojibwa Indians—Folklore. I. Title.

2. Ojibwa Indians—Religion.

II. Title: Mino-nawae-indauwaewin.

E99.C6J68165 2011

3. Conduct of life. 4. Ecology.

III. Series: Anishinaubaemowin series

398.2089'97333

C2011-905936-3

When our people speak of “living in harmony” they mean that people

should live in good will and peace as men and women of the same blood

ought to work and live together in friendship. They used “mino-inawau-daumoowin” or “mino-nawaemaugaewin” to express this special kinship with other beings. Among our peoples, manitous (the mysteries), cheebyuk (ghosts of the department) had a special place in their hearts. These manitous were appointed to be custodians of

various parts of the earth, sky and seas of the plants and the various

species of life; they could grant or deny the petitions of men and women or punish them for abusing one of their co-tenants. No higher tribute could be paid to anyone or anything than was paid

to the land than compare it to a woman by calling her Mother Earth. She gives birth, sustenance, guidance, medication, affection, dreams, visions

of beauty to all living creatures and revelation to man. After the earth was formed into seas, mountains,

forests, plains,

marshes, Kitchi-Manitou planted trees and all sorts of growing things upon the land. There, all living beings found a time and a place to perform their services for Mother Earth and for each other. The earth goes through four seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter.

In the spring, in harmony with the change in the air, little flowers spear through the snow to draw in the breath of life from the wind. Within a scant few days, blossoms bloom on fruit trees. Flowers of every shade and

LIVING IN HARMONY

colour and scent bespeckled the orchards and the meadows. About the same time countless millions of bees, ants large and small, and other

insects crawl out of their hives and underground passages where they

have spent the winter in sleep and awaked by the land to pollinate the blossoms and flowers and drive nectars from roses, clover, lilacs. Bees

and ants “live in harmony” with plants and trees and shrubs to produce ‘food for all and make honey for themselves.

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Among the first plants to bear fruit are strawberries. Other plants follow in order until late fall when potatoes, melons, and squashes grow forth from seed to flower, to vegetable or fruit. Transformation

has taken place, a miracle worked by the insects, the plants and the elements. There is harmony in the sequence, never is the sequence or the other reversed. When plants begin to yield their fruits and vegetables and berries, many birds change their eating diets, forgoing worms in favour of insects

and seeds. Birds and animals make adjustments to the availability of food. Around the third week in July, robins and many other birds stop warbling or singing; within two weeks it is the dance of insects and their drumming that echoes across the meadows and the forests. They have adapted to the change, living in harmony with the come and go seasons.

In late August the birds that migrate for the winter begin to gather in flocks. How soon or late they gather will reflect how soon or late winter will set in, but it will always take place in conjunction with the setting of autumn. It is the voice of Mother Earth pulsating through the plants to the insects, birds, and animals, letting them know that it is time to go. What

insects, birds and animals do in answer to Mother Earth’s beckoning is nothing more nor nothing less than it is time to do this because this is taking place.

Basil Johnston

Yet there are conflicts between insects, birds, animals. Wolves stalk

and maul deer for their meals; sparrow hawks knock smaller birds in midflight out of the air. Yes, there are fights between our co-tenants on this land, but these skirmishes are usually short, ending when one of the contestants has been driven off. Among them there is no spirit of revenge. After their skirmish, the opponents return to live in harmony. “Living in harmony” isthe first of laws; it advocates get along, love one anotHer as brothers ought to love one another. Be of good will to all men and all things; all such expressions that convey the notion of respect

and affection for all things. Despite their intelligence or need in their lives, and though they talked

about it and gave expression to “living in harmony”, humans have not adopted the principle in their lives. From our stories, we believe that if right it is the makeup of our beings that makes “living in harmony” difficult to adopt. The native language refers to the parts of the human body as “weeyoowih”, the body, flesh; “checkauk”, soul or vital principle, “cheboam or cheebaum”, spirit; “inaendumoowin”, the mind, and “odae’”, the heart. Each of these parts has a need. When a need is indulged, it becomes a

want which can become a form of gluttony, another word for selfishness.

Besides “living in harmony”, our ancestors urged “walking in balance” for the individual. A person’s wants are not to exceed his needs. When

the physical wants of a person get the better of his heart and his spirit and mind, there is turmoil within a person, no inner peace. So long as men indulge their appetites to the point that they become dominant, so long will there be turmoil in the world about them.

By walking in balance, it will be easier to “live” in harmony.

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