Table Of Contents\¥m =serti ml e)alarixeya
Commissioned by Zagamok Wes agygankaan Nal tialiatetel ey-\el(e(-\tala
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2022 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/livinginharmonymOO000john
Living in
Harmony
Mino-nawae-
indawaewin
BASIL JOHNSTON
O.Ont., LLD, B.A.
Living in Harmony © 2011 Basil H. Johnston Kegedonce Press gratefully acknowledges the
generous support of:
Commissioned by: Zagamok Wasseyaankaan
Private donation to this series by
Anishinaabebigewin
“A Grandmother Keeper of Souls”
Grade One Be
Canada Council Conseil des Arts
Published by Kegedonce Press for the Arts du Canada
Cape Croker First Nation, RR#5 We acknowledge the support of the Canada
Wiarton, ON Canada NOH 2T0 Council for the Arts which last year invested
www.kegedonce.com $20.1 million in writing and publishing
throughout Canada.
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Cover design & cover illustration: Adrian Nadjiwon CONSEIL DES ARTS DE L'ONTARIO
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Johnston, Basil, 1929-
Living in harmony : Mino-nawae-indauwaewin / Basil H. Johnston
(The Anishinaubaemowin series)
Text in English and Ojibwa.
ISBN 978-0-9868740-0-0
1. Ojibwa Indians—Folklore. 2. Ojibwa Indians—Religion. 3. Conduct of life. 4. Ecology.
I. Title. II. Title: Mino-nawae-indauwaewin. III. Series: Anishinaubaemowin series
E99.C6J68165 2011 398.2089'97333 C2011-905936-3
When our people speak of “living in harmony” they mean that people
should live in good will and peace as men and women of the same blood
ought to work and live together in friendship.
They used “mino-inawau-daumoowin” or “mino-nawaemaugaewin” to
express this special kinship with other beings. Among our peoples, man-
itous (the mysteries), cheebyuk (ghosts of the department) had a special
place in their hearts. These manitous were appointed to be custodians of
various parts of the earth, sky and seas of the plants and the various
species of life; they could grant or deny the petitions of men and women
or punish them for abusing one of their co-tenants.
No higher tribute could be paid to anyone or anything than was paid
to the land than compare it to a woman by calling her Mother Earth. She
gives birth, sustenance, guidance, medication, affection, dreams, visions
of beauty to all living creatures and revelation to man.
After the earth was formed into seas, mountains, forests, plains,
marshes, Kitchi-Manitou planted trees and all sorts of growing things
upon the land. There, all living beings found a time and a place to perform
their services for Mother Earth and for each other.
The earth goes through four seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter.
In the spring, in harmony with the change in the air, little flowers spear
through the snow to draw in the breath of life from the wind. Within a scant
few days, blossoms bloom on fruit trees. Flowers of every shade and
LIVING IN HARMONY
colour and scent bespeckled the orchards and the meadows. About the
same time countless millions of bees, ants large and small, and other
insects crawl out of their hives and underground passages where they
have spent the winter in sleep and awaked by the land to pollinate the
blossoms and flowers and drive nectars from roses, clover, lilacs. Bees
and ants “live in harmony” with plants and trees and shrubs to produce
‘food for all and make honey for themselves. ee
Among the first plants to bear fruit are strawberries. Other plants
follow in order until late fall when potatoes, melons, and squashes
grow forth from seed to flower, to vegetable or fruit. Transformation
has taken place, a miracle worked by the insects, the plants and the ele-
ments. There is harmony in the sequence, never is the sequence or the
other reversed.
When plants begin to yield their fruits and vegetables and berries,
many birds change their eating diets, forgoing worms in favour of insects
and seeds. Birds and animals make adjustments to the availability of food.
Around the third week in July, robins and many other birds stop
warbling or singing; within two weeks it is the dance of insects and their
drumming that echoes across the meadows and the forests. They have
adapted to the change, living in harmony with the come and go seasons.
In late August the birds that migrate for the winter begin to gather in
flocks. How soon or late they gather will reflect how soon or late winter
will set in, but it will always take place in conjunctiwointh the setting of
autumn. It is the voice of Mother Earth pulsating through the plants to
the insects, birds, and animals, letting them know that it is time to go. What
insects, birds and animals do in answer to Mother Earth’s beckoning
is nothing more nor nothing less than it is time to do this because this is
taking place.
Basil Johnston
Yet there are conflicts between insects, birds, animals. Wolves stalk
and maul deer for their meals; sparrow hawks knock smaller birds in mid-
flight out of the air. Yes, there are fights between our co-tenants on this
land, but these skirmishes are usually short, ending when one of the con-
testants has been driven off. Among them there is no spirit of revenge.
After their skirmish, the opponents return to live in harmony.
“Living in harmony” isthe first of laws; it advocates get along, love
one anotHer as brothers ought to love one another. Be of good will to all
men and all things; all such expressions that convey the notion of respect
and affection for all things.
Despite their intelligence or need in their lives, and though they talked
about it and gave expression to “living in harmony”, humans have not
adopted the principle in their lives.
From our stories, we believe that if right it is the makeup of our beings
that makes “living in harmony” difficult to adopt. The native language
refers to the parts of the human body as “weeyoowih”, the body, flesh;
“checkauk”, soul or vital principle, “cheboam or cheebaum”, spirit;
“inaendumoowin”, the mind, and “odae’”, the heart.
Each of these parts has a need. When a need is indulged, it becomes a
want which can become a form of gluttony, another word for selfishness.
Besides “living in harmony”, our ancestors urged “walking in balance”
for the individual. A person’s wants are not to exceed his needs. When
the physical wants of a person get the better of his heart and his spirit
and mind, there is turmoil within a person, no inner peace.
So long as men indulge their appetites to the point that they become
dominant, so long will there be turmoil in the world about them.
By walking in balance, it will be easier to “live” in harmony.
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Basil Johnston
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