Studying the Ojibwa Creation Story

copyright © 2009 Gabe Vadas. All rights reserved.

Every journey has a beginning, so I thought it would be best if I started from the beginning.

What do I beleive about creation?

I believe that by Gods magnificent creative power and command he created everything. The universe, earth, trees, rocks...everything. By His creative power he put it all together and made it all work. He made us in His image and gave us the breath of life. We are no accident. We were created. We were not monkeys and I nor any of my ancestors were monkeys. All things in heaven and on earth are under the dominion of one God.

What do the Anishnaabe believe about creation?

I will find other creation stories, but this one really intrigued me. It is from a great Ojibwa painter by the name of Nokomis. She has a website that tells stories of her childhood and she also explains some religious and cultural concepts. You can visit her website at http://www.native-art-in-canada.com/creationstory.html

"Kitchi-Manitou had a vision. He saw in his mind all the suns and the moons that we know and all that we don't know. To our sun he gave the power to heat and light the earth. To our earth he gave the power of growth and healing. To the water on the earth he gave the twin powers of purity and renewal. To the wind he gave the power of the breath of life itself.

Kitchi-Manitou saw that on this world there would be seasons and patterns of existence. There would be life and death. There would be joy and sorrow. Some creatures would walk, some would fly, some would swim. He perceived their feelings and their needs, now and forever, and he envisioned how making one life interdependent on the next could provide for those needs.

And then from nothing, Kitchi-Manitou created this world, the universe and everything in it that we know and everything that we don't know.

And because you and I and all others things - both animate and inanimate were created by Kitchi Manitou from nothing but his knowing that it was possible- we will always be part of his spiritual essence.

That is how I was told the universe came to be. It was created because Kitchi Manitou knew it was possible that it could be."

Thank you Nokomis for helping me understand and see.

When we asked God who He was ,he said "I am". If thats not a mystery, I dont know what is. His name was so Holy early people dared not to even speak it. I fully understand why He would be called Gitchi Manito. Gitchi Manito means "great mystery" I fully see why we could only experience Him through His creation. It is said in the Bible that we could not even look upon Him. Moses had to look at a bush instead. He also had to take his shoes off for even the soil under his feet was Holy.

We see that the Ojibwa believe in one creator. We call Him God and the Anishnaabe call Him Gitchie Manito. It is the same God. In a very real sense, it is the same story. It is the same truth, expressed by two distinct cultures, seperated by continents and separated by thousands of years. I find the implication of this to be astounding.