Teaching Stories, part 23: We Are All Related
- zhaawano
- Oct 21, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 8
Binaakwe-giizis (Falling Leaves Moon), October 21, 2019
The title and the minimalistic wolf paw design of these storytelling rings, which I constructed by hand of palladium white gold (the outsides) and red gold (the insides) not only symbolize the social and moral relation between two life partners but also their connection with, and their responsibility toward, living nature and the future generations...
The bands feature two parallel lines - a long one for the earth and a shorter one for the sky - and two dots symbolizing the celestial bodies. The earth line is connected by a stylized wolf paw representing the physical/spiritual world of the animals.
It is a simple design referring to the all-comprehensive concepts of inawendin (which is an Ojibwe Anishinaabe word expressing that everything in life is interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent on one another) and gakina-awiiya, We Are All Related, literally: “Someone is everyone.”
The ring design is an artistic reference to the social and moral relationship that exists between two life partners. But it also emphasizes the kinship that the couple has with all life forms – plants, animals, natural phenomena of earth, waters, and sky, the ancestors, and the beings of the spirit world - and their sacred and lifelong responsibility to pass on the spiritual gifts and heritage of past generations to the future generations of their offspring...
Miigwech for reading and listening and bi-waabamishinaang miinawaa daga: please come see me again!
> Read the first episode of the Teaching Stories blog series: Footsteps of Our Ancestors.
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