What's Your Doodem, part 5: Dance of the Otter

Zaagibagaa-giizis (Budding Moon)/Namebine-giizis (Suckerfish Moon), May 10, 2022

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Boozhoo, aaniin, hello, biindigen miinawaa, welcome again!

Zhaawano-giizhik nindanishinaabewinikaazowin. Waabizheshi niin indoodem ("I am Zhaawano Giizhik and I am part of the marten clan.") I am an artist who focuses on non-commercial work, crafting jewelry and graphic art that I incorporate as illustrations for my blog stories.

This blog entry is the fifth installment in the series titled What's Your Doodem, showcasing my artwork, occasionally alongside that of fellow artists. My narratives and art aim to offer an understanding of the distinct izhinamowin (worldview) of the Anishinaabeg Peoples of Turtle Island.

Today's story centers on Nigig, the Otter, represented as a yellow gold inlay within a white gold storytelling ring, as shown above. I created the ring using the overlay technique.

Historically, Nigig the Otter is one of the at least 17 odoodemag (clans) that are part of the Wawaazisii (Brown Bullhead) clan group. The odoodemag in this group are responsible for Teaching and Medicine (Healing).

The Otter holds significant importance as a clan because the Anishinaabeg recognize their deep debt to him. Nigig once rescued our ancestors from annihilation by retrieving a healing plant (ginebig-washk or “snake root”) from the depths of the waters. Consequently, he, along with Mikinaak the turtle, was chosen as the symbol of Healing.

As per tradition, Wenabozho, the kind messenger appointed by GICHI-MANIDOO (the Great Mystery) to assist the People, observed their dire state—marked by poverty, illness, and even starvation, which had driven them into deep misery and despair—and selected the otter to instruct them on various remedies and rituals for healing the sick. Consequently, the People of both Midewiwin (Society of the Sacred, or Unseen Ones) and Waabanoowiwin (Society of Dawn, a counterpart of the Midewiwin) chose Nigig as the first and foremost patron of their powerful Medicine Lodges.

“As Nanabozho (whom his grandmother Nookomis called Wenabozho) was thoughtfully drifting across the heart of Aki (the Earth), he heard distant laughter. Approaching the sound, he noticed a dark, slender, swiftly moving object on the surface of the Big Lake to the west, and then in all four directions. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, these directions converged into what seemed to be a madoodiswan (purification, or sweat lodge) at the center of Aki. In this sacred place, where sky, water, and land unite, Nanabozho encountered Nigig, the Otter. Recognizing and valuing the magical event he had just witnessed, Nanabozho instructed the Otter in the mysteries of the Midewiwin. He presented him with a Midewewe’igan (Ceremonial Drum) and the Miigis (cowrie shell), explaining their use during sacred feasts and initiation ceremonies. He also gave him a Zhiishiigwan (Ceremonial Rattle) for healing the sick and asemaa (tobacco) to be used in invoking the Spirits and making peace with adversaries.”

Nigig provided these sacred teachings and items, including the sacred Snake Root, to the famished Anishinaabeg, thereby saving them from extinction. In gratitude, they chose him as the symbol of Healing and appointed him as the patron of their Lodge. Nigig plays multiple ceremonial roles in the Midewiwin Lodge, and it is said that his image is depicted in several origin-migration birch-bark scrolls, no fewer than seven scrolls with mnemonics of Mide songs, and at least two sacred rock paintings near a body of water, where Otter can be seen with power lines radiating from his body. He provides his skin for the Midewiyaan (Medicine Bag) that holds the medicinal herbs, charms, and miigisag (cowry shells) used for symbolically "shooting" novices during their initiation into the Mide Lodge. Additionally, in the past, his power was enhanced by the Anishinaabekweg (women) who depicted his abstract, patterned image on various ornaments, costumes, utensils, weapons, and sacred objects.

Due to his tendency to emerge at night and then submerge again, Nigig is symbolically connected to the moon, and consequently linked to various initiation rites. As a result, the Mideg (Mide People) store their Mide-miigisaag (sacred Cowry shells) in a Nigig-midewiyaan, which is a bag made of otter skin.

Members of my clan, the Waabizheshi or Marten doodem, sometimes portrayed Otter as a hunter and strategist/warrior. Even today, his traits, such as playfulness, craftiness, adaptability, industriousness, and his adventurous and independent nature, remain fundamental to the teachings and leadership of the Midewiwin Lodge. Otter represents new life, and all life is viewed as an extension of Otter’s magical power. Just as the Anishinaabeg have relied on land and water resources for survival since time immemorial, Otter, as a crucial mediator between the physical and spirit worlds, inhabits both realms. The Anishinaabeg as a whole, and particularly those of the Otter clan, have always sought to emulate his ability to navigate both worlds with ease, playfulness, and humor.

Primarily, Nigig is honored and esteemed for delivering the Gift of Medicine to the Anishinaabeg, along with the sacred water drum, whose resonating sound extends widely and aligns with the voices and heartbeat of the universe...

> Read part 6 in the series: Shells, Cranes & Clans - A Story of the Origin of Our Clans

> To read more on the topic of the water drum, see The Way of the Heartbeat, part 1

>Read part 1 in the series.