Gitche Manitou

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Gitchi Manitou in more recent Anishinaabe culture, is God, the Creator of all things and the Giver of Life. "Manitou" is an Anishinaabe word for spirit, or deity. Historically, Anishinabe people believed in a variety of deities, in whose images idols were carved and placed near doorways for protection. Although no one can prove this is true for thousands of years, for all Anishinaabe people. With the coming of Christian missionaries and their need to translate the idea of monotheism, "Gitche Manitou" meaning "Great Deity" was coined. In other Algonquian languages such as Iynu the word manituw originally referred to underwater creatures to whom hunters offered tobacco in order to appease them when travelling through their territories. The Province of Manitoba, in Canada is partly named from the word "Manitou."

Contents 1 Gitche Manitou 2 Manitou as mystical term 3 See also 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Gitche Manitou

Gitche Manitou is often treated as those cultures' analogue to the Christian God. When early Christian missionaries preached the Gospel to the Algonquian peoples, they absorbed Gitche Manitou as a name for God through the process of syncretism. This can be seen, for example, in the words of the "Huron Carol". Other related names for God incorporated through the process of syncretism are Gizhe-manidoo ("venerable Manidoo"), Wenizhishid-manidoo ("Fair Manidoo") and Gichi-ojichaag ("Great Spirit"). While Gichi-manidoo and Gichi-ojichaag both mean "Great Spirit", Gichi-manidoo carried the idea of the greater spiritual connectivity while Gichi-ojichaag carried the idea of individual's soul's connectivity to the Gichi-manidoo. Consequently, Christian missionaries often used the term Gichi-ojichaag to refer to the Christian idea of a Holy Spirit.

[edit] Manitou as mystical term

Main article: Manitou

The term Manitou itself refers to the concept of one aspect of the interconnection and balance of nature/life, similar to the East Asian concept of qi; in simpler terms it can refer to a spirit. This spirit is seen as a (contactable) person as well as a concept. Everything has its own manitou—every plant, every stone and even machines. These Manitous do not exist in a hierarchy like European gods/goddesses, but are more akin to one part of the body interacting with another and the spirit of everything; namely the collective is named Gitche Manitou.

[edit] See also

• Manitoba
• The Song of Hiawatha

[edit] External links

• Mackinac Island
• Wisconsin History
• Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians

[edit] References

• Densmore, Frances. Chippewa Customs. (1979, Minnesota Historical Press).
• Hoffman, Walter James, M.D. The Mide'wiwin: Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibway. (2005, Lightning Source Inc.)
• Johnston, Basil. Ojibway Ceremonies. (1990, University of Nebraska Press).
• Johnston, Basil. The Manitous: the spiritual world of the Ojibway. (2001, Minnesota Historical Society Press).
• Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm. A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. (1995, University of Minnesota Press).
• Cuoq, Jean André. Lexique de la Langue Algonquine. (1886, J. Chapleau & Fils).
• Rhodes, Richard A. Eastern Ojibwa-Chippewa-Ottawa Dictionary. (1985, Mouton de Gruyter).