Gitche Manitou

Gitche Manitou (Gitchi Manitou, Kitchi Manitou, etc.) means "Great Spirit" in several Algonquian languages. Christian missionaries have translated ''God in Christianity, God'' as ''Gitche Manitou'' in scriptures and prayers in the Algonquian languages.

''Manitou'' is a common Algonquian term for spirit, mystery, or deity. Native American Churches in Mexico, United States and Canada often use this term.

Anishinaabe

In more recent Anishinaabe culture, the Anishinaabe language word ''Gichi-manidoo'' means Great Spirit, the Creator of all things and the Giver of Life, and is sometimes translated as the "Great Mystery". Historically, Anishinaabe people believed in a variety of spirits, whose images were placed near doorways for protection.

According to Anishinaabe, Anishinaabeg tradition, ''Michilimackinac'', later named by European settlers as Mackinac Island, in Michigan, was the home of Gitche Manitou, and some Anishinaabeg tribes would make pilgrimages there for rituals devoted to the spirit.

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's ''The Song of Hiawatha'', Gitche Manitou is spelled ''Gitche Manito''.

Other Anishinaabe names for God incorporated through the process of syncretism are ''Gizhe-manidoo'' ("venerable ''Manidoo''"), ''Wenizhishid-manidoo'' ("Fair ''Manidoo''") and ''Gichi-ojichaag'' ("Great Spirit"). While ''Gichi-manidoo'' and ''Gichi-ojichaag'' both mean "Great Spirit", ''Gichi-manidoo'' carried the idea of the greater spiritual connectivity while ''Gichi-ojichaag'' carried the idea of individual soul's connection to the ''Gichi-manidoo''. Consequently, Christian missionaries often used the term ''Gichi-ojichaag'' to refer to the Christian idea of a Holy Spirit.

Other tribes

In addition to the Algonquian Anishinaabeg, many other tribes believed in ''Gitche Manitou''. References to the Great Manitou by the Cheyenne and the Oglala Sioux (notably in the recollections of Black Elk), indicate that belief in this deity extended into the Great Plains, fully across the wider group of Algonquian peoples.

Cognate terms recorded in other Algonquian languages include:
; Manitou

*Sauk Fox: Mannittoo, God
*Narragensett: Manitoo, God

; Gitche Manitou
*Ojibwe language, Ojibwe: ''Gichi-manidoo''
*Ottawa dialect, Ottawa: ''Gchi-mnidoo''
*Swampy Cree language, Swampy Cree: ''Kihci-manitô''
*Miami: ''Kihci Manetoowa''
*Delaware language, Lenape:
**Munsee language, Minsi: Kitschimanitto
**Unami language, Unami: Ketanëtuwit (<''ket''- 'great'+''(m)anətu'' 'spirit'+-''wi-t'' 'the one who is'; the initial ''m''- in ''manətu'' is elided in this compound)
*Nanticoke language, Nanticoke (spoken in Maryland): Gichtschi Manitto

; Kishe Manitou
*Ojibwe language, Ojibwe: ''Gizhe-manidoo''
*Ottawa dialect, Ottawa: ''Gzhe-mnidoo''
*Swampy Cree language, Swampy Cree: ''Kise-manitô''
*Naskapi language, Naskapi: ''Chisa-manitu''
*Illinois: Kisseh Manetou

; Other
*Shawnee language, Shawnee: Wishemenetou

''Gitche Manitou'' has been seen as those cultures' analogue to the Christian God. When early Christian (especially French Catholic) missionary, missionaries preached the Gospel to the Algonquian peoples, they adopted ''Gitche Manitou'' as a name for God in the Algonquian languages. This can be seen, for example, in the English translation of the "Huron Carol".

Related spirits

Spirits who were either aspects of Gitche Manitou or lesser spirits under Gitche Manitou include:
*Hobomok, who was deemed more approachable than Gitche Manitou, and more likely to listen to pleas, but who was also mischievous and interpreted by Englishmen as being the devil, or an evil deity.Philips, David E. (1992) ''Legendary Connecticut: Traditional Tales from the Nutmeg State'' (2nd edition) Curbstone Books, Willimantic, Connecticut, page ?,

Manitou as mystical term

Manitou is the spiritual and fundamental life force among Algonquian people, Algonquian groups in the Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American mythology. Manitou is one aspect of the interconnection and balance of nature and life, similar to the East Asian concept of ''qi.'' In simpler terms it can refer to a spirit. This spirit is seen as a person as well as a concept. Everything has its own manitou—every plant, every stone and, since their invention, even machines. These manitous do not exist in a hierarchy like European gods/goddesses, but are more akin to one part of the body interacting with another and the spirit of everything; the collective is named ''Gitche Manitou''.

See also

*Ahone
*Manitoba
*Manitoulin Island
*Names of God
*Supreme Being
*Wakan Tanka

Notes

{{Reflist

References

* Densmore, Frances. ''Chippewa Customs''. (1979, Minnesota Historical Press).
* Hoffman, Walter James, M.D. ''The Mide'wiwin: Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibway''. (2005, Lightning Source Inc.)
* Johnston, Basil. ''Ojibway Ceremonies''. (1990, University of Nebraska Press).
* Johnston, Basil. The Manitous: the spiritual world of the Ojibway. (2001, Minnesota Historical Society Press).
* Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm. ''A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe''. (1995, University of Minnesota Press).
* Cuoq, Jean André. ''Lexique de la Langue Algonquine''. (1886, J. Chapleau & Fils).
* Rhodes, Richard A. ''Eastern Ojibwa-Chippewa-Ottawa Dictionary''. (1985, Mouton de Gruyter).

External links

Mackinac Island

Wisconsin History

Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians

Anishinaabe mythology
Gods of the indigenous peoples of North America
Creator gods
Names of God
Nature gods