Gitche Manitou
Gitche Manitou (Gitchi Manitou, Kitchi Manitou, etc.) means "
Manitou is a common Algonquian term for spirit, mystery, or deity. Native American Churches in Mexico, United States and Canada often use this term.
Anishinaabe
In more recent
According to Anishinaabeg tradition, Michilimackinac, later named by European settlers as Mackinac Island, in Michigan, was the home of Gitche Manitou, and some Anishinaabeg tribes would make pilgrimages there for rituals devoted to the spirit.[1]
In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, Gitche Manitou is spelled Gitche Manito.
Other Anishinaabe 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 soul's connection to the Gichi-manidoo. Consequently, Christian missionaries often used the term Gichi-ojichaag to refer to the Christian idea of a Holy Spirit.
Other tribes
In addition to the Algonquian Anishinaabeg, many other tribes believed in Gitche Manitou. References to the Great Manitou by the
Cognate terms recorded in other Algonquian languages include:
- Manitou
- Sauk Fox: Mannittoo, God
- Narragensett: Manitoo, God
- Gitche Manitou
- Ojibwe: Gichi-manidoo[2]
- Ottawa: Gchi-mnidoo
- Swampy Cree: Kihci-manitô
- Miami: Kihci Manetoowa
- Lenape:
- Nanticoke (spoken in Maryland): Gichtschi Manitto
- Kishe Manitou
- Ojibwe: Gizhe-manidoo
- Ottawa: Gzhe-mnidoo
- Swampy Cree: Kise-manitô
- Plains Cree: kisê-manitow[4]
- Naskapi: Chisa-manitu
- Illinois: Kisseh Manetou
- Other
- Lenape:
- Narragansett: Cautantowwit
- Shawnee: Wishemenetou
Gitche Manitou has been seen as those cultures' analogue to the Christian God. When early Christian (especially French Catholic) missionaries preached the Gospel to the Algonquian peoples, they adopted Gitche Manitou as a name for God in the Algonquian languages. This can be seen, for example, in the English translation of the "Huron Carol".
Related spirits
Spirits who were either aspects of Gitche Manitou or lesser spirits under Gitche Manitou include:
- Hobomok, who was deemed more approachable than Gitche Manitou, and more likely to listen to pleas,[6] but who was also mischievous and interpreted by Englishmen as being the devil,[7] or an evil deity.[8]
Manitou as mystical term
Manitou is the spiritual and fundamental
See also
Notes
- ^ "The Americas: International Dictionary of Historic Places; editors:Trudy Ring, Noelle Watson and Paul Schellinger. Routledge, Taylor & Francis; 1996; pg. 349.
- ^ "The Ojibwe People's Dictionary". Retrieved 2018-06-29.
- ISBN 978-1-889758-31-2.
- ^ "itwêwina: Plains Cree Dictionary". Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ "Kètanëtuwit". Lenape Talking Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
- ISBN 0-9625774-2-1
- OCLC 1301913
- ISBN 1-880684-05-5
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).
External links
- Mackinac Island
- Wisconsin History Archived 2007-08-25 at the Wayback Machine
- Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians