Band Member Voices
September Culture Column - WHAT THE SPIRITS SEE
By Nazhike, Mille Lacs Band Member
As Anishinaabe, we rely on the Manidoog for wellness, health and life. We should wonder what they see and how they see it. That would set guidance and a beacon of which we can use to live our lives. Let’s imagine what they have seen throughout our existence as Anishinaabe and what they can see for our future:
We have watched you since the beginning, and we will continue to see all of the possible futures. Time is not a line to us, but a circle. We see the past, the present, and the future all at once. What we tell you now comes from what we have already witnessed so far, and what you still have the power to shape.
We remember when you recently walked from the East, following the prophecy of the Miigis, to find the place where food grows on water. We watched you honor the lakes, the rivers, and the rice beds. You offered tobacco, you sang your gratitude, and you raised your children with the language we gifted you through Aginjibagwesi. Those were times of balance in search of safety from impending doom.
We also remember when the balance shifted. We saw the arrival of the French ships, the English forts, the agents with papers and pens. We saw your children taken, land claimed and the restriction of access to resources. Still, you sought to honor the people, spirits and animals. The language and knowledge never left you, it lives in your spirits, waiting to be used again.
Now we look at your current time, and we see two paths. One is filled with distractions: glowing screens, endless work hours spent on things that do not feed your spirit. You say you are too busy, yet the truth is your time has been stolen by things that matter very little. The other path is slower, quieter. It is filled with the opportunity of your people to be speaking Anishinaabemowin, the smell of manoomin roasting, the sounding of the drum, the connection to your ceremonies. Which path you choose depends on how you invest your time and your energy to nourish your spirit within.
If you continue to ignore your knowledge holders, your ceremonies will become like echoes reverberating through time until the last of its blessings are counted. Language not spoken will become like a fire not tended, smoldering until nothing remains. We have already seen this in parts of your circle: in families where the words are forgotten, in communities where teachings are spoken of but no longer lived. That is one future.
But we also see another. In this vision, you take what time you give to America’s distractions and return even part of it to your own way of life. We see youth participating in ceremonies, hearing the stories, carrying the wood, asking their questions. We see parents speaking even simple words of Ojibwe to their children each morning, planting seeds that will grow into fluency for the next generation. We see ceremonies filled with laughter, humility, and prayer, not because they were staged for others to watch, but because people chose to live their teachings daily.
This is what we suggest: 1) Give your time first to what feeds your spirit, not what drains it. 2) Invest time in those who carry teachings now, before they walk on. 3) Teach your children with patience, for they are the next fire.
We, the manidoog, are not gone. We walk beside you everyday, waiting to hear the language again, waiting to see you choose balance. If you listen, if you act, then in the future we see, your children’s children will still be Anishinaabe; strong, balanced, and connected. The circle has not yet closed. There is still time. Miigwech.
