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 bottom quadrant of the Ojibwe medicine wheel is associated with the South (Zhaawanong), children (Aabinoojiiyag), summer (Niibin), and the color red (Miskwaa). It is associated in this website with Waatabiig, spruce roots.

Read Here about:

Harvesting and processing the waatabiig, spruce roots, for the canoe;

History of Ojibwe and Other Tribes during the Twentieth Century

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