Artist inspirations, part 3

The true legacy of Ogimaa Obwandiyag (Chief Pontiac)

Anishinaabe Inini

Once in a while a person of exceptional intellect and creativity, from the past or the present, inspires me into creating a graphic art work, a piece of jewelry… or a song. Today I like to share with you the remembrance of a great Anishinaabe Inini who lived one and a half century ago, and whose corrupted name – as it has been mangled through time in millions of strange mouths – is still widely known even today.

More than just a car

To most gichi-mookomaanag (Euro-Americans) the name ‘Pontiac’ simply means a city, a lake, and a car. But to many Original Americans, particularly those belonging to the Anishinaabe Nations, these are offending symbols revealing the unfeelingness and arrogance of a dominant culture.

To the Anishinaabeg, OGIMAA OBWANDIYAG (Chief Obwandiyag) is a name with a magic ring that should be respectfully and properly pronounced at all times.

The name OBWANDIYAG, or OBOITITIYAK, literally means “he stops (a canoe) by means of a spear handle”. The name proved itself quite fitting; after all, OBWANDIYAG would enter history as the last anchor of the Native cause against the rising tide of Zhaaganaash (British) dominion.

A fierce 18^th century Anishinaabe freedom fighter from the Great Lakes area, OBWANDIYAG became known as one of the all-time most successful Anishinaabe mayaa'osewiniwag (war leaders) in opposing the tyrannic Zhaaganaash Empire. The only Anishinaabe Inini who, a few decennia later, would surpass him in successfully mobilizing a powerful confederation of Native Nations to erase the ugly footprint that the  gichi-mookomaanag  had already imprinted on Turtle Island (and thus altered the course of American history), was a Shaawano who bore the name of Tecumtha – or TECUMSEH, as he became known in the outside world.

Otter clan

OGIMAA OBWANDIYAG was an Odaawa-Nishinaabe (Odawa) of mixed ancestry who belonged to the Otter doodem (clan), a mysterious, intelligent and formidable politician and war leader, a gifted orator and a natural leader of men, who between 1762 and 1766 united thousands of Anishinaabe warriors of the THREE FIRE CONFEDERACY and became famous for his defiant resistance to the arrogant European power – and inspired still many other Native Nations to follow him.

Three Fires

Ogimaa Obwandiyag holding up one of his many wampum belts - beaded with purple
and white quahog clam shells -,  of which he made extensive use in asking the nations 

of the Three Fires (and at least eight other Native Nations of the Great Lakes and the 

Ohio Valley) to join him in attacking the settlements and forifications of the Zaaganaashag.
Fiberglasss model dressed in cloth, buckskin, fur, feathers and brass created by Jerry Rowe 

Enterprises of New York. Source: Great American Indian Leaders, Special Exhibit Catalogue: 

Encyclopedia Brittanica U.S.A. 1968. Photo digitization by the author.

The THREE FIRE CONFEDERACY, or THREE FIRE COUNCIL  is a long-lived political and military alliance of Anishinaabe peoples. According to the sacred birch bark scrolls of the Midewiwin, about 1200 summers ago after reaching Lower Peninsula of present-day Michigan on their migration westward from the Atlantic coast, three groups began to emerge from the Anishinaabe Nation: the OJIBWEG, appointed as ‘Faith Keepers’, or keepers of Anishinaabe religion and caretakers of the Sacred Waterdrum of the Midewiwin; the ODAAWAA- NISHNAABEG (Odawa) or Trader People, responsible for trade and sustenance; and the BODÉWADMIK (Potawatomi) or People of the Fire Pit, who came in charge of the Sacred Ancestral Fire. (Sometimes a fourth group, the  MISI-ZAAGIWININIWAG or Mississauga, is distinguished but they are generally grouped with the Ojibweg.) These three or four groups formed a loose political-military confederation, called the NISWII-MISHKODEWIN (Three Fires). Although the niswii-mishkodewin had several meeting places, Michilimackinac (an island between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan) became the preferred meeting place because of its central location. From this island, the Council met for military and political purposes and maintained relations with fellow Anishinaabeg and other nations. The Three Fires Council is still very much alive today, its contemporary function being a movement of spiritual revival, maintenance and strengthening of the original Teachings, Rituals, Ceremonies, and Prohecies of the Anishinaabeg; all vested in in the Midewiwin, the Anishinaabe Lodge of the Good Hearted Ones.

War of liberation

After the Seven Years' War between the Wemitigoozhiwag (French) and the Zhaaganaashag (British), the latter became the dominant foreign power on Turtle Island (North America). The Zhaaganaashag  issued strict regulations that banned the credit and gifts that the Native Nations living in the Great Lakes area and the Ohio Valley had been accustomed to receiving from the Wemitigoozhiwag, who had been their allies and trading partners. As a result of the systematic contempt and racial hatred they experienced at the hands of the Zhaaganaash military and feeling the immense pressure of a renewed westward migration of Zhaagonash settlers, several Native Nations in the area northwest of the Ohio River - between Lake Superior and the lower Mississippi - retaliated by grouping themselves under OBWANDIYAG .

Using the metaphor of an otter fiercely attacking beaver dams, OBWANDIYAG, who more or less presented himself as the  gichi-mayaa'osewini (great war chief) of the Three Fires Council, lashed a vast fortified area extending from the Ohio Valley in a broad arc to the cold and majestic shores of Gichi-ogimaa-gami (Lake Superior). Among the mayaa'osewiniwag who would become his most loyal supporters were Minevava and Maajiikawis from Michigan's upper peninsula, Wasson from Michigan's lower peninsula, and Sehakos of the Askunessippi (Thames River Ojibweg) of Southwest Ontario.

Obwondiyag's most powerful ally from the east was Guyasuta, an influential  Mingo/Ondowahgah (Seneca) leader. As early as 1761, the  Ondowahgah  Haudenosaunee began to send out war messages to the Great Lakes and Ohio Country Nations, urging them to unite against  the Zhaagonaashag. When Obwandiyag went to war in 1763, the Ondowahgah were prepared and quick to join him.

The Euro-Americans call the uprising that OBWANDIYAG and his ally Guyasuta instigated, a rebellion. To the Anishinaabeg, it was, and still is, a war of liberation.

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Image above:

Mishinigig Ogimaa ("Mighty Otter Chief"). Sterling silver and 14K gold bolo tie equiped with a black leather lanyard. I designed this bolo tie as a tribute to Ogimaa Obwandiyag. The three silver eagle tail feather in Obwandiyag's scalplock symbolize the political and military power of the Three Fires. The ermine tails (which I made of mother-of-pearl) at the back of Obwandiyag's head represent the Nations that make up the Confederacy: the Ojibweg, the Odaawaag, and the Bodéwadmik. The Misi-Zaagiwininiwag are represented by the smaller tail. The combination of the silver eagle feathers and gold bear paws in the headdress signifies the summum of power, both spiritually and military. The red coral "blood drops" are symbolic of the eight Zhaaganaash forts that Obwandiyag's allied forces managed to destroy in the year of 1763. The stylized gold otter design placed at the side of Obwandiyag's head stands for his doodem or clan, and the amazing fighting spirit he showed in his life. Finally, the two eagle wing feathers adorning the silver and gold tips symbolize the friendship and cooperation between the Anishinaabe Nations and the Nation of the Ondowahgah Haudenosaunee, represented by their main war leaders, Obwandiyag and Guyasuta. Jewelry and photography by ZhaawanArt.

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Vision of the Wolf

The mysterious power of attraction that OBWANDIYAG held over so many Native Peoples, and which resulted in a temporary paralyzing of British interests over thousands of square miles, was partially built on a widespread Native revitalization movement that he helped to organize. This movement was based upon a vision that a visionary belonging to the nation of the Lenni Lenape received, of a wolf spirit who received instructions from the Master Of Life to promote general well-being among all Native Nations of Turtle Island. The wolf spirit told the Anishinaabe Peoples to stop drinking alcohol, to refrain from plural marriage and marital infidelity, to make peace among each other, to refrain from black magic, and, last but not least, to once and for all expel the Zhaaganaashag, their way of life and all their manufactured goods.

Map by Kevin Myers. Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 

The powerful vision of the wolf that OBWANDIYAG adopted from the Prophet of the east, combined with his own formidable organizational skills and terrible offensive power, made the mighty Zhaaganaash lion quake, and before he was ultimately defeated, he and his Native and Wemitigoozhi (French) allies had captured in less than six weeks no fewer than eight Redcoat forts, forced their enemy to abandon another, and placed two more under siege. All but Detroit and Fort Pitt fell to OBWANDIYAG'S allied forces. And although this, what he himself had called, “Beaver War” eventually ended in failure, it was a magnificent effort that nearly succeeded. Failing to persuade some other Native Nations in the West to join his rebellion, and lacking the hoped-for support from the Wemitigoozhiwag, OBWANDIYAG quickly realized the hopelessness of the case, and faced by defection and with no real prospect of a lasting victory, he finally signed a treaty with the Zhaaganaashag in 1766. The Native nations that had taken part - The Three Fires Confederation, Lenni Lenape, Minisink (Munsee), Shaawano (Shawnee), Myaamiaki (Miami), Giiwigaabaw (Kickapoo), Asakiwaki (Sauk), Wendat (Wyandot), and Ondowahgah (Seneca) - were seriously taken back and once more at the mercy of the hated Zhaaganaashag. The extent of Zhaaganaash mercy had already revealed itself three years earlier in a gruesome form, when army officers deliberately handed out smallpox-infected blankets and handkerchiefs to Natives during a peace talk, with savage success. This noble gesture would enter history as (probably) the first example of germ warfare on the face of Turtle Island.

End of a dream

With the Beaver War at an end, the influx of Zhaaganash settlers into Anishinaabe Aki (Anishinaabe lands) increased considerably, and the old abuses and injustices towards the Native inhabitants continued until some leaders decided to go to war again. OBWANDIAG, however, stayed true to his word and counseled peace. This caused the militants among the Anishinaabeg to distrust him and seriously diminished his prestige as a mayaa'osewini. Hereupon OBWANDIYAG retired to the Nation of the Illiniwak at Cahokia, accompanied only by a small band of relatives and loyal followers.

In 1769, OBWANDIYAG was cowardly attacked from behind and assassinated while visiting the French village of Cahokia in Illinois (in a village that is now a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri) by a member of the Peoria Illiniwek – perhaps in retaliation for a murder that OBWANDIYAG had committed earlier on a fellow Peoria in Detroit.

With the clubbing and stabbing to death of OGIMAA OBWANDIYAG died the Anishinaabe dream of holding back the European conquest of Turtle Island. There would be other ogimaag (leaders) and much Anishinaabe blood would be spilled on the lands surrounding the Great Lakes, but their country would eventually be taken away from them and the spirits that inhibited the land forever disturbed and dishonored.

A story of awakening

Although OBWANDIYAG’S determination and his inspirational spiritual leadership (not least based on a clever use of metaphors of the otter, the beaver, and the wolf) had been the spark that instigated a widespread liberation war, and he certainly helped to spread the resistance by sending many mizhinaweg (messengers) carrying wampum belts urging other Nations to join it, he did not command the uprising as a whole. Yet he definitely kindled it by his bold actions, and his pro-Native, spiritual appeal that was the backbone of his liberation campaign against the hated Zhaaganaasag earned him wide respect and prominence, not only among the Anishinaabe Peoples but also among other Native nations.

And although OBWONDIYAG had his dark sides and certainly left behind him a record of horror and brutality, out of his amazing story came some positive things: his freedom fight prompted the Zhaaganaash government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict (the Royal Proclamation of 1763). and, very importantly, showed other Native people not to bow down for tyranny and stand up for their identity and land rights. His example also stresses the importance of telling and retelling his story over and over again, so as to prevent the stained collective conscience of our modern society from falling asleep forever. OBWANDIYAG'S story, therefore, is a story of awakening.

It is true: to most people, the name PONTIAC refers to a line of glossy cars. I nevertheless like to think of his name as an uncomfortable reminder to the millions of people who today inhabit the once sacred lands of Turtle Island. The Anishinaabeg still remember his true name and know that OBWANDIYAG still haunts the land that once was theirs. And there, his spirit and his story hidden in every rock, tree, stream and lake, will continue to disturb the collective amnesia of dominant society that so far has denied Obwandiyag’s descendants a decent and worthy life.

OBWANDIYAG-NAGAMON / SONG FOR OBWANDIYAG

G’niikaanisinaan, mishinigig ininiwag gichi-ogimaa

Miskwaajiibe bimose-miskamikomiikana

Waase-miskwakone gijichaag

Dibishkoo-giiwedinang g’ga naningishkowaag.

(“Our brother, the mighty otter, first leader of Anishinaabe men,

Bloody ghost that hunts the red beaver trail,

Bright with flame is your spirit,

Like the North wind you will make them tremble.”)

(My personal song of honor to the spirit of Ogimaa Obwandiyag)

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Time line:

C. 1720-1725 – OBWANDIYAG is born, probably in an Odaawaa village on the north side of the Detroit River (near present-day Detroit). His father was an Odaawaa Nishinaabe; his mother was Ojibwe Anishinaabekwe or perhaps Myaamiaki (Miami).

C. 1735 – OBWANDIYAG moves to the Canadian side to the site of the present-day Walkerville, Ontario.

1747 – OBWANDIYAG becomes war leader of the Odaawaa Anishinaabeg.

1754-1755 – OBWANDIYAG supports the Wemitigoozhiwag (French) during the French and Indian War.

1755 – OBWANDIYAG takes part in the French and Indian victory over the Braddock expedition on 9^th of July in 1755.

1760 - OBWANDIYAG agrees to let Zhaagonaash troops pass unmolested through Odaawaa territory to occupy Michilmackinac on condition that he should be treated with respect by them.

1762  -  Outraged by the disrespect and brutal treatment by the Zhaaganaash military, OBWANDIYAG enlists support from almost all Native Nations that live northwest of the Ohio river  for a joint campaign to expel the Redcoats from the formerly French lands. According to OBWANDIYAG ‘s plan, each Nation would seize the nearest Zhaaganash fortification and then join forces to wipe out the undefended settlements.

1763 – On the 27^th of April, OBWANDIYAG holds a large council about 10 miles below Fort Detroit which is now known as Council Point Park in Lincoln Park, Michigan. After the failure of the Native allies to capture Fort Detroit, OBWANDIYAG withdraws to the Illinois Country. Although his influence has declined around Detroit, OBWANDIYAG gains stature in the Illini and Wabash country as he continues to encourage resistance to the Zhaaganaashag (British).

1766 – OBWANDIYAG meets with the Zhaaganash superintendent of Indian affairs Sir William Johnson on the 25^th of July at Oswego, New York. This heralds the end of OBWANDIYAG’S BEAVER WAR and the start of a formal truce between the Native allies and the Zhaaganaashag.

1768 – With his prestige among his own Nation almost gone, OBWANDIYAG is forced to leave Odaawaa village on the Maumee River and goes to live among the Nation of the Illiniwak at Cahokia.1769 – OBWANDIYAG is assassinated at the French village of Cahokia on the 20^th of April. His body is taken to St. Louis and buried in an unknown grave site.

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About me and my sources of inspiration:

My name is Zhaawano Giizhik.  As an American artist and jewelry designer currently living in the Netherlands,  I like to draw on the oral and pictorial traditions of my Ojibwe Anishinaabe ancestors from the American Great Lakes area. For this I call on my manidoo-minjimandamowin, or 'Spirit Memory'; which means I try to remember the knowledge and the lessons of my ancestors.

The MAZINAAJIM or ‘pictorial spirit writings’ - which are rich with  symbolism and have been painted throughout history on rocks and etched on other sacred items such as copper and slate, birch bark and animal hide - were a form of spiritual as well as educational communication that gave structure and meaning to the cosmos. Many of these sacred pictographs or petroforms – some of which are many, many  generations old - hide in sacred locations where the manidoog (spirits) reside, particularly in those mystic places near the coastline where the sky, the earth, the water, the underground and the underwater meet.

Teaching Stories, part 8

The Origin And Spirit Powers Of The Birch Tree

'Wiigwaas': Pencil drawing by Zhaawano Giizhik

In this blogpost, I am going to dwell a little further on my pictorial and jewelry art and the ancient teaching stories that I share along with it. Part 8 of a new series. 

Wiigwaasaatig, or Wiigwaasimitig, the white birch tree, or Paper Birch, is a sacred member of the Tree Nation. Apart from the Maple, the White Cedar and the Mountain Ash, wiigwaasaatig is the most esteemed tree person throughout Anishinaabe Aki, the land of the Anishinaabe Peoples. 

The two reasons for this are the great usefulness of the birch to the Anishinaabeg and the other is his connection with Wenaboozhoo – yet these two reasons are really one, for everything that is a benefit to the People is traced to Wenaboozhoo, the mythical aadizookaan (supernatural being) who taught the Anishinaabeg how to survive in their natural environment - and yet, by his foolish actions, gave them an endless supply of humor.

In the sacred Anishinaabe stories or parables - myth is a European concept! -, metamorphosis occurs with noticeably frequency where manidoog (manitous or spirit beings) change their form. Wenaboozhoo, undoubtedly the most beloved of all aadizoogaanag and manidoog, is the pinnacle of all that is good in the Anishinaabeg.
Yet, paradoxically, Wenaboozhoo also opens a dark window on the soul, revealing all that is bad in human nature. He is basically a manidoo in nature and essence before anything else; outward appearance is only an incidental attribute of his incorporeal being. One of the many good deeds Wenaboozhoo performed for the good of the People was that he had blessed their beloved birch tree.


The straight and tall composure, the beautiful snow-white color, and the reverence that my distant ancestors held for the birch tree inspired my wife and I to name our youngest son ‘Wiigwaas’, who was born in the Midsummer Moon of 1989 – which is the time of year when the birch bark harvest draws to an end.

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'Thunder Leaf': sterling silver ring by ZhaawanArt set with turquoise and red coral. The free-form turquoise stone is aaccompanied with a stylized birch leaf of sterling silver. The ring celebrates the beauty and spirit powers of Wiigwaasaatig, the birch tree.

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I once read an aadizookaan or traditional (sacred) story, related by the late Gilbert Oskaboose from the Serpent River First Nation in Ontario, about the origin of the birch tree. Below is a summary, a free adaptation of his “The Legend Of The Birch Tree” (1988).

“Many moons ago, after a bloody battle with a warring Nation from the South that took place in what is now Northern Ontario, the aayaanikaaj mishoomisag (ancestors) buried their most beloved son and most honored warrior, who during his short life had listened to the name of Wiigwaas. In the time of Waabigwani-Giizis (Flowering Moon, or May) out of Wiigwaas’s grave grew a sapling, straight and tall, his bark possessing the truly enchanting color of new-fallen snow! Hereupon Gichi-Manidoo, the Great Mystery, sent Noodin, the Wind, to tell the People about the birch and how he could help them in countless ways. And from that time on the Anisinaabeg harvest the bark from the time the leaves of the birch unfold until the end of Aabitaa-Niibinoo-Giizis, the Midsummer Moon (July). “

Ojibwe Anishinaabe Spirit writing migration story on birch bark 

Just like the buffalo would do with the peoples of the Plains, or the caribou with those of the subarctic, Wiigwaasaatig would provide the Woodland Peoples with food, clothing, and housing, and all kinds of utensils. His sweet and nutritious onzibaan (tree sap) could vie with that of the Maple tree. 

His bark (wiigwaas) gave the People materials for the covering and roofing of their wiigiwaaman (wigwams, houses), their clothing, their jiimaanan or canoes, aagimag (snowshoes) and odaabaa'iganag (toboggan), their utensils (makakoon or storage boxes for corn and maple sugar, jiibaakwe-akikwag or cooking pots, dishes, cones, waaswaaganan or torches, and a host of other things), and their fine works of art (i.a. mazinashkwemaganjiganan or birch bark transparencies/dental pictographs on birch bark). Also, the ancestors used birch bark in dyes and medicines.

Throughout the past until this day, the usage of birch bark as a means of recording the creation stories, songs, history, symbolic images, and world view of the People, has been of great importance in passing along history and stories to succeeding generations. Wiigwaasabakoon or birch bark scrolls carry all kinds of complex geometrical patterns and shapes etched on the soft surface of the bark. These bark sheets, which are an amazingly time-resistant material and can remain intact for many centuries (some date back to a 1000 years or more!), convey traditional teachings, for example about the origins of the Midewiwin, or songs and details of Mide rituals). Many writings include astronomy, rituals, family lineage, songs, and migration routes. The recordings of the up to 1000-year-old canoe routes followed by Anishinaabe migrants and traders are probably the oldest known geographical maps of Turtle Island (North America)!

Waaginogaan wiigiwaam, a domed wigwam covered in birch bark sleets

Anishinaabe harvesters, who are aware of the fact that the bark of the Paper Birch is a winter staple for their relative the Moose, are very respectful of wiigwaasaatig, often putting down asemaa (tobacco) in respect and thanksgiving, before stripping the bark. Because of its value, they harvest birch bark carefully  – by cutting only through the outer layer of the bark - , so that serious damage to the tree is avoided and the continued life and growth of the tree is insured. There’s a period of time in the spring, usually in May or in June, when the outer bark of the tree more or less spontaneously loosens from the tree’s trunk. This is when Anishninaabeg strip the bark away from the tree. Some people who know birch well can tell when the bark is loose just by looking at the tree’s leaves!

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But there is more to the birch tree then its practical applications or what is available from surface information. Wiigwaasatig also has a metaphorical-side of meaning, which I will try to explain by the following stories and illustrations.

At the end of the Flowering Moon, some Anishinaabe communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin hold an annual ceremony that reconnects humans to Wiigwaasatigoog, the birch trees:

 The Ojibwe Birch Tree Ceremony

“This is a place of birches. The Hungry Winter is over. The Anisinaabeg have come here for the sacrifice. They have guided their canoes through rapids roaring the frenzy of Spring to reach this quiet, sacred grove.”

“Many of the trunks are so thick that two men could not join hands around them. The sap flows late in the big trees. Now, when the moon of flowers has slimmed to a narrow curve, the bark will peel in broad, heavy sheets needed for canoes. It is time for the annual ceremony that again connects humans to trees. The Wiigwaasaatig will gladly give their tough, pliable skin to Winaboozhoo’s People.”

“Now the oldest man of the group stands before the oldest tree in the grove. In a quavering but determined voice, he speaks the ancient words of gratitude and asks forgiveness of the trees that he would cut. He goes on speaking, very softly now as he places asemaa (tobacco) at the foot of each birch. When he has finished his intimate prayer, he offers the smoking pipe to the East, South, West, North, Sky and Earth.”

“Early the next day they walk through the grove, admiring and honoring the marked trees. These had been selected, after a custom, in such a pattern that their removal will provide light and space for promising saplings. At each tree chosen, the sacred asemaa is offered again to the six points, and a little is placed in the Earth between the roots.”

“The first axe-man speaks softly to his birch, explaining the necessity of cutting it and thanking it for the gift it is about to make. He chops from one side only so the but remains attached to the stump after felling. His son has placed poles across the fall area to avoid damaging the bark and to keep the trunk off the ground for peeling. He watches in reverence as his father swings the axe. The great tree crashes down, its branches waving like desperate arms of a fallen man! It shudders for a moment, than lies still. Did it hear the prayers and accept the offerings?”

“The father makes the first cut. He holds the knife blade at an angle so that the knife and bark will be comfortable together. Two men pry off the bark with sticks, carefully, so that it will not split. They roll it tightly but gently into compact bundles after which they are tied with basswood strips and carried back to camp.”

- The above story is freely adapted from THE BIRCH ‘Bright Tree of Life and Legend’ by John Peyton.

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Wiigwaasaatig, the birch tree, is so extremely powerful, that once he provided Wenaboozhoo with a safe shelter against the wrath of Animikii-Binesiwag, the Thunderbirds, who allegedly regard the birch as their own child!

An Ojibwe Tale Of Wenaboozhoo And The Birch Tree

Drawing by the author. The birch  is depicted in the center of Anishinaabe Universe.

“Once there was a spirit-boy, who was named Nanaboozhoo or Trembling Tail by his grandmother Nookomis, and who taught the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg how to live in the natural world.” 


“One day Wenaboozhoo (for this is how he is called when talked about from the storyteller’s perspective) asked Nookomis what was the biggest fish in the lake. She replied that there was an enormous fish that lived by a rock ledge but it was very powerful and would 
harm Wenaboozhoo. No one could kill the fish because no one could get down there where it lived.”


“Wenaboozhoo thought about how to hunt this fish, so he got some wood to make a bow and arrows. Then he asked his grandmother if there were any birds whose feathers could be put on the arrows to make them effective. She told Wenaboozhoo the only feathers strong enough come from a bird that lives in the sky, at the opening of the clouds. One would have to go there to get these feathers.”


“Wenaboozhoo climbed to the highest cliff and discovered a nest of the Thunderbirds and saw their babies. Winabojo turned into a rabbit so the Thunderbirds would bring him to their nest for their babies to play with. Wenaboozhoo stayed in the nest for a long time; the babies were cruel to him and tossed him around. Eventually Thunderbirds went away to hunt for more food for their babies. Wenaboozhoo turned back to a boy; he clubbed the baby Thunderbirds and pulled out their feathers Before their parents could return, Winabojo jumped from the high nest with the bundle of feathers but he was knocked out, but he was not killed because he was manidoo (a spirit).”


“When they returned to their nest, the angered Thunderbirds flew after Wenaboozhoo!! Thunder rolled from their beaks and lightning flashed from their eyes. Wenaboozhoo ran for his life clutching his bundle of feathers, but soon grew so tired he began to fear he would be caught. As the Thunderbirds reached for him with their claws, Wenaboozhoo saw an old fallen birch that was hollow inside. Wenaboozhoo crept into the hollow in the nick of time. The Thunderbirds ended their attack because they knew they could not reach Wenaboozhoo through the birch bark. Wenaboozhoo was safe. After the Thunderbirds went away, Wenaboozhoo came out and proclaimed that the birch tree would forever protect and benefit the human race.” 

“You can still see the short marks on the birch tree to made by Wenaboozhoo to commemorate the sharp claws of the Thunderbirds which almost killed him. The Thunderbird parents put "pictures" of their baby birds with out-stretched wings into the birch bark so the sacrifice of their children would always be remembered.”


“Wenaboozhoo fixed his arrows and went home. With these arrows he was able to kill the great fish that lived under the rock ledge.”


“Wenaboozhoo has blessed the birch tree for the good of the human race. And this is why lightning never strikes the birch tree, and why anything wrapped in the bark will not decay. Birch bark is useful for house coverings, canoes, containers, utensils, tinder and in many other ways. The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg traditionally honor the wiigwaasaatig by offering a gift, such as tobacco, when they use this tree.” 

-  The above aadizookaan (sacred Ojibwe story) is freely adapted from The Legend of Winabojo and the Birch Tree, in How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine and Crafts, by Frances Densmore. Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1974.

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The  two-prong ring shown above – consisting of a two-wire shank - I made from sterling silver. Although the ring design is reminiscent of the classic Navajo-style, its symbolic theme is based on Anishinaabe tradition. The elegantly stylized silver leaf symbolizes Wiigwaas, the king-child of the Thunder Beings. The blue color of the free-form Kingman turquoise I cut to match the silver leaf stands for Zhaawan, the warm south, the dwelling place of Wiigwaas’s winged Fathers, while the red in the coral depicts the blood relationship between Birch Tree and the Thunderbirds.

About me and my sources of inspiration:

My name is Zhaawano Giizhik.  I am an American currently living in the Netherlands. As an artist and jewelry designer, I like to draw on the oral and pictorial traditions of my Ojibwe Anishinaabe ancestors from the American Great Lakes area. For this I call on my manidoo-minjimandamowin, or 'Spirit Memory'; which means I try to remember the knowledge and the lessons of my ancestors.

The MAZINAAJIM or ‘pictorial spirit writings’ - which are rich with  symbolism and have been painted throughout history on rocks and etched on other sacred items such as copper and slate, birch bark and animal hide - were a form of spiritual as well as educational communication that gave structure and meaning to the cosmos. Many of these sacred pictographs or petroforms – some of which are many, many  generations old - hide in sacred locations where the manidoog (spirits) reside, particularly in those mystic places near the coastline where the sky, the earth, the water, the underground and the underwater meet.