Today the Anishinaabe-Ojibwe people
constitute the second largest tribe in North America. With
reservations and communities living on our ancestral homelands the
Ojibwe are spread out across five American States and three Canadian
Provinces- a geographical area unmatched by any other tribe.
The fundamental essence of Anishinaabe life is unity. The oneness of
all things. In our view history is expressed in the way that life is
lived each day. Key to this is the belief that harmony with all
created things has been achieved. The people cannot be separated
from the land with its cycle of seasons or from the other mysterious
cycles of living things - of birth and growth and death and new
birth. The people know where they come from. The story is deep in
their hearts. It has been told in legends and dances, in dreams and
in symbols. It is in the songs a grandmother sings to the child in
her arms and in the web of family names, stories, and memories that
the child learns as he or she grows older. This is a story of the
spirit - individual and collective.
In the language of the Ojibway, "Anishinaabe"
means "one of the people," "original people," or "original man." "Anishinabe"
is how the Ojibway people identified themselves. The meaning or
origin of the name "Ojibway," by which they are known to others, is
uncertain. Two distinct meanings have been generally attributed to
the origin of the word. One theory has it translating from the
Ojibway word for "puckered up," referring to the puckered style of
their moccasins. The other theory suggests that the translation
stems from the early history of warfare between the Anishinaabe and
their enemies such as the Eastern Dakota. The Ojibway allegedly had
a reputation for roasting their enemy captives until they "puckered
up." Since European contact many spellings of "Ojibway" have
occurred. Depending on how it sounded to the ears of French and
English speaking people, it has been written as "Otchipwe," "Ojibewa,"
"Ojibwe," "Chippeway," or "Chippewa."
