splash page icon Kiiwedinong (North)

Wiigwaasi-Jiimaan

These Canoes Carry Culture Project 2013-

Medicine Wheel

The canoe was constructed over the course of four seasons. Different materials were available at different times of the year. In Western cultures, the different seasons are recognized as a way of understanding time and life. Ojibwe people understand the four seasons in relation to the four cardinal directions, north, east, south, and west. In the medicine wheel, these directions are specifically linked to further aspects of human and natural life. The top quadrant of the Ojibwe medicine wheel is associated with the North (Giiwedinong), elders (Gete-aya'aag), winter (Biboon), and the color white (Waabishkaa). It is associated in this website with Giizhik, the cedar.

Read Here about:

Harvesting and processing giizhik, white cedar, for the canoe;

stack of newly split cedar logs makes nice place to sit for two students

The ancient history of the Ojibwe people to the nineteenth century

 

back to top