Reflections of the Great Lakes, part 10: Copper, Gift From the Lake
- zhaawano
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Waawaaskone-giizis (Flower Moon) - May 13, 2025
"Watch the sunset; it will foretell the morrow."
(Principle of Waabanoowiwin, the Anishinaabe Lodge of the Dawn Medicine People.)
Boozhoo, aaniin, biindigen!
Welcome to the tenth episode of the blog series called "Reflections of the Great Lakes."
The series showcases my narrative jewelry and artworks, sometimes accompanied by images of paintings from like-minded artists.
The narratives honor the essence, captivating beauty, and grandeur of GICHIGAMIIN, the Great Lakes of Turtle Island (North America). They thematically link the exhibited jewelry and artwork with the Seven Grandfather teachings of the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg People, who have lived near the Lakes' shores for many generations to sustain themselves.
In the story today, I showcase a set of hand-crafted gold and silver overlay rings made in my studio, along with a painting I recently completed. These rings and the painting are used purely as storytelling elements and are not for sale.
Such is the rhythm of life...
This set of overlay rings, named Bangishimon Gichigamiing ("There is a sunset at the Great Lake"), tell a story that is quintessential Anishinaabe. The rings feature a unique graphic overlay design that mirrors the landscape of expansive forests and lakes long inhabited by my distant ancestors, the Baawitigo-Ojibwe-Anishinaabeg from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The design in white and red gold, with its bold, hard-edged outlines beautifully contrasting with the rings' sterling silver interiors, exemplifies the “pictographic outline” drawing style typical of the Canadian Medicine painters, artists who create within the Native Woodland School of Art tradition.
The rings display a stylized depiction of the waves of Anishinaabewi-gichigami, also known as the Anishinaabe Sea, which is the great lake now referred to as Lake Superior.
Another name that the Anishinaabeg use for Lake Superior is Gichi-ogimaa-gami, derived from Anishinaabemowin (the Ojibwe language). This translates to "it is a great chief lake," signifying it as the largest of Nayaano-wiishkbiwii-nibiimaang gichigamiin (the five Great Freshwater Lakes). Today, however, the lake is often simply referred to as Gichigami, which means "it is a sea, or great lake."
For over six centuries, Gichi-ogimaa-gami, with its plentiful waters that ebb and flow with the seasons and feed into the larger Great Lakes basin—and from there into numerous rivers and waterways that eventually drain into Wiisagiwi-gichigami, the Atlantic Ocean—has been the homeland of my Native ancestors. These People, direct descendants of the great Waabanaki Nation of the Eastern seaboard have lived close to the lake's edge for generations to survive. Since the time when these Algonkian-speaking immigrants first came to this region of bountiful freshwater lakes and islands and rivers and forests, its waters have sustained many generations of the People, both physically and spiritually.
The vast expanses of the lakes are not just a food source; they are also considered a MANIDOO (spirit), a revered source of many life forms. Consequently, whenever an individual or a group encounters a notable or perilous spot on the Great Lakes, it is customary to offer a prayer, along with a gift of asemaa (tobacco). Always offer tobacco to the water when crossing a lake...
The waters of Gichigami are not merely a source of sustenance and spiritual beliefs! In addition to bawaajiganan and naagwi'idizowinan, dreams and visions, they offer our Peoples an endless reservoir of aadizookaanan, the sacred stories handed down through countless generations of storytellers. Along with the water, various fish species, turtle spirits, snakes, muskrats, water birds, mermen and mermaids, underwater serpents and lynx, as well as numerous other water creatures, play a pivotal role in our traditional narratives and creation stories.
Copper, a treasured offering from the Underwater Spirits
The red gold used in making the ring set is a reference to both the setting sun behind Gichigami and to copper, the sacred metal of the Ojibwe Peoples. The offshore island named Miinoong (“the beautiful place,” present-day Isle Royal, Michigan) as well as the nearby Gakiiwe-onigamiing (Place of the Portage: present-day Keweenaw Peninsula) used to be a common hunting ground for Native Peoples from nearby Minnesota and Ontario. Both the island and the peninsula lie in Thunder Bay, as does Nibaad Misaabe - the Sleeping Giant, according to Ojibwe tradition the sleeping body of a petrified manidoo (spirit). (The above image shows its intriguing silhouette in the background.)
The red gold used in crafting the ring set symbolizes both the setting sun behind Gichigami and copper, the sacred metal of the Ojibwe Peoples. The offshore island known as Miinoong (“the beautiful place,” present-day Isle Royal, Michigan) and the nearby Gakiiwe-onigamiing (Place of the Portage: present-day Keweenaw Peninsula) were once common hunting grounds for Native Peoples from nearby Minnesota and Ontario. Both the island and the peninsula are located in Thunder Bay, as is Nibaad Misaabe - the Sleeping Giant, according to Ojibwe tradition, the sleeping body of a petrified manidoo (spirit). (The above image shows its intriguing silhouette in the background.)
This area has been inhabited by Ojibweg for at least 400 hundreds of years (it is said that the Grandfather Water Drum of the Midewiwin Lodge sounded its voice there too) yet it is also a fact that large quantities of ozaawaabiko-zhooniya (copper) were mined on the islands by many generations of Native Peoples over a time period of at least six thousand years. For the Anishinaabeg, who believed it was a sacred gift of the Underwater Spirits, copper was known to hold extraordinary healing powers as it possesses the best energies of the earth. In recent times (since the 19th or 20th century) copper is directly related to the powerful Mishi-bizhiw (the Horned Underwater Lynx) and Animkiig (Thunderbirds). The Midewiwin, the Grand Medicine Lodge of the Ojibweg, use miskwaabikoon (pieces of copper) in their ceremonies and the copper deposits were often frequented by Medicine People who came there to dream and have visions.
What is noteworthy in this context is that the Anishinaabe name of our People's all-time most prominent artist, Norval Morriseau, is Miskwaabik Animikii: it means "Copper Thunderbird." Needless to say that in our culture it is a name of great power...
The sun and the waves as metaphors of life
The white gold of the surfaces of both rings depicts the light of Gimishoomisinaan Giizis, the grandfather of all Life on earth as he rises each morning in the east to perform his ritual dance across the southern sky; the red color of the waves represents his warm glow coloring the Great Lake red as he sinks in the water at the end of each day. The outlined waves of the Lake and the beams of the setting sun – the bottom layer of silver that shows through the cutouts in the surface of the rings – have been oxidized (blackened) in order to accentuate the (picto)graphic character of the ring designs.
The symbolism of these storytelling rings refers to the opposing and complementing forces that not only exist in nature, but also in human life – and, in particularly, in wiidigendiwin, the sacred bond between two partners for life. What goes for nature – the daily rhythm of sunup and sundown, ebb and flood, day and night, etcetera – also goes for the lives that we share with our partners; after all, don’t relationships ebb and flow like the waves of Gichigami, and don’t they, like the seasons, have cycles? Up and down, back and forth, give and take, push and pull. Such is the nature of marriage, and such is the rhythm of life…
So the story goes...
Giiwenh. So goes the Teaching Story about the Sunset at the Great Lake... such is the story of the story rings. Miigwech gibizindaw noongom mii dash gidaadizookoon. Thank you for listening to my storytelling today. Giga-waabamin wayiiba, I hope to see you again soon.
Click here to read the first episode in the Spirit of the Great Lakes series, which centers around the incredible story of the courageous Mother Earth Water Walkers and showcases several paintings by Simone McLeod, artwork by Leland Bell, and a pen-and-ink drawing and a gold pendant by myself.
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