WHO ARE THE ANISHINABEG?
The common religion of the Ojibway was “Medawewin” [pronounced Me-Day-Wee-Win]. The Medawe even had their own written language, as evidenced by preserved birch bark scrolls and rock formations. The Medawewin religion consisted of four degrees or levels wherein initiates learned to use their spiritual abilities for spiritual healing. Herbalists and surgeons also belonged to the Medawewin. This may have been the origin of the term “medicine man”, since “Medawewin” sounds very similar to the English words “medicine man”.
The “Megis” was one of the primary symbols that represents the Medawewin religion. The Megis is a little shell called a cowry shell. The word “cowry” was derived from a Hindu word and is defined as “Any of various tropical marine mollusks of the family Cypraeidae, having glossy, often brightly marked shells, some of which are used as money in the South Pacific and Africa.”
* What is not mentioned in the foregoing megis definition is that megis shells were also used as money, or “wampum,” in North America before the European invasion of this continent.
What is most intriguing about the cowry shells used by the Anishinabeg is that these particular shells were not indigenous to America. “The money-cowry (Cypraea moneta) is, and has been for centuries, a sacred object among the Ojibwa and Menomini Indians of North America, and is employed in initiation ceremonies of the Grand Medicine Society [Medawewin]. The use of this particular cowry by these Indians is of peculiar interest; in the first place; owing to it being alien to the American continent, and in the second place, in view of its intimate association with so many remarkable and fantastic beliefs and practices in different parts of the Old World.”
* Cypraea moneta shells come from the South Pacific. Other shells which are native only to Asian and South Pacific seas have been found in pre-Columbian North American aboriginal sites, indicating that trans-oceanic trade was occurring prior to the European invasion.
http://www.healthfreedom.info/who_are_the_anishinabeg.htm
The common religion of the Ojibway was “Medawewin” [pronounced Me-Day-Wee-Win]. The Medawe even had their own written language, as evidenced by preserved birch bark scrolls and rock formations. The Medawewin religion consisted of four degrees or levels wherein initiates learned to use their spiritual abilities for spiritual healing. Herbalists and surgeons also belonged to the Medawewin. This may have been the origin of the term “medicine man”, since “Medawewin” sounds very similar to the English words “medicine man”.
The “Megis” was one of the primary symbols that represents the Medawewin religion. The Megis is a little shell called a cowry shell. The word “cowry” was derived from a Hindu word and is defined as “Any of various tropical marine mollusks of the family Cypraeidae, having glossy, often brightly marked shells, some of which are used as money in the South Pacific and Africa.”
* What is not mentioned in the foregoing megis definition is that megis shells were also used as money, or “wampum,” in North America before the European invasion of this continent.
What is most intriguing about the cowry shells used by the Anishinabeg is that these particular shells were not indigenous to America. “The money-cowry (Cypraea moneta) is, and has been for centuries, a sacred object among the Ojibwa and Menomini Indians of North America, and is employed in initiation ceremonies of the Grand Medicine Society [Medawewin]. The use of this particular cowry by these Indians is of peculiar interest; in the first place; owing to it being alien to the American continent, and in the second place, in view of its intimate association with so many remarkable and fantastic beliefs and practices in different parts of the Old World.”
* Cypraea moneta shells come from the South Pacific. Other shells which are native only to Asian and South Pacific seas have been found in pre-Columbian North American aboriginal sites, indicating that trans-oceanic trade was occurring prior to the European invasion.
http://www.healthfreedom.info/who_are_the_anishinabeg.htm
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