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Petroforms
Petroforms, also known as boulder outlines or boulder mosaics, are human-made shapes and patterns made by lining up large rocks on the open ground, often on quite level areas. Petroforms in North America were originally made by various Native American and First Nation tribes, who used various terms to describe them. Petroforms can also include a rock cairn or inukshuk, an upright monolith slab, a medicine wheel, a fire pit, a desert kite, sculpted boulders, or simply rocks lined up or stacked for various reasons. Old World petroforms include the Carnac stones and many other megalithic monuments. Definition Petroforms are shapes and geometrical patterns made from arranging large rocks and boulders, often over large areas of open ground, unlike the smaller petroglyphs and graphs which are inscribed on rock surfaces. They were originally made in North America by native peoples for astronomical, religious, sacred, healing, mnemonic devices, and teaching purposes. The specific na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medicine Wheel
Medicine wheels are petroforms or circular formations of rocks on the land. Historically, most medicine wheels followed a similar pattern of a central circle or cluster of stones, surrounded by an outer ring of stones, along with spokes radiating from the center out to the surrounding ring. Often, but not always, the spokes may be aligned to the cardinal directions (East, South, West, and North). In other cases, some stones may be aligned with astronomical phenomena. These stone structures may be called "medicine wheels" by the Indigenous nation which built them, or by more specific names in that nation's language. Physical medicine wheels made of stone have been constructed by many different Indigenous cultures in North America, notably many of the Plains nations. The structures are associated with Native American and Indigenous Canadian religious ceremonies. Nomenclature The Royal Alberta Museum (2005) holds that the term "medicine wheel" was first applied to the Medi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, northern plains, extending into the subarctic and throughout the northeastern woodlands. The Ojibwe, being Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and of Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic, the subarctic, are known by several names, including Ojibway or Chippewa. As a large ethnic group, several distinct nations also consider themselves Ojibwe, including the Saulteaux, Nipissings, and Oji-Cree. According to the U.S. census, Ojibwe people are one of the largest tribal populations among Native Americans in the United States, Native American peoples in the U.S. In Canada, they are the second-largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations population, surpassed only by the Cree. They are one of the most numerous Indigenous peoples of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mound
A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topography, topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including habitation (see Tell (archaeology), Tell and Terp), ceremonial (platform mound), burial (tumulus), and commemorative purposes (e.g. Kościuszko Mound). Archaeology North American archaeology In the archaeology of the United States and Canada, a mound is a deliberately constructed elevated earthen structure or earthworks (engineering), earthwork, intended for a range of potential uses. In European and Asian archaeology, the word "tumulus" may be used as a synonym for an artificial hill, particularly if the hill is related to particular burial customs. While the term "mound" may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweat Lodge
A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The structure is the ''lodge'', and the ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply a sweat. Traditionally the structure is simple, constructed of saplings covered with blankets and sometimes animal skins. The induction of sweating is a spiritual ceremony – it is for prayer and healing, and it is only to be led by Indigenous Elders who know the language, songs, traditions, and safety protocols of their culture's inherited tradition. Otherwise, the ceremony can be dangerous if performed improperly. The ceremony is traditional to some Indigenous peoples of the Americas, predominantly those from the Plains cultures, but with the rise of pan-Indianism, numerous nations that did not originally have the sweat lodge ceremony have learned the ceremony from other Nations. Sweat lodges have also been imitated by many non-na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midewiwin
The Midewiwin (in Ojibwe syllabics, syllabics: , also spelled ''Midewin'' and ''Medewiwin'') or the Grand Medicine Society is a religious society of some of the Indigenous peoples of the Maritimes, New England and Great Lakes regions in North America. Its practitioners are called ''Midew'', and the practices of ''Midewiwin'' are referred to as ''Mide''. Occasionally, male ''Midew'' is called ''Midewinini'', which is sometimes translated into English as "medicine man". Etymology Due to the body-part medial ''de meaning 'heart' in the Anishinaabe language, ''Midewiwin'' is sometimes translated as 'The Way of the Heart'. Minnesota archaeologist Fred K. Blessing shares a definition he received from Thomas Shingobe, a ''Mida'' (a ''Midewiwin'' person) of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation in 1969, who told him that "the only thing that would be acceptable in any way as an interpretation of 'Mide' would be 'Spiritual Mystery'." Fluent speakers of Anishinaabemowin often caution that man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population of 1,342,153 as of 2021. Manitoba has a widely varied landscape, from arctic tundra and the Hudson Bay coastline in the Northern Region, Manitoba, north to dense Boreal forest of Canada, boreal forest, large freshwater List of lakes of Manitoba, lakes, and prairie grassland in the central and Southern Manitoba, southern regions. Indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now Manitoba for thousands of years. In the early 17th century, English and French North American fur trade, fur traders began arriving in the area and establishing settlements. The Kingdom of England secured control of the region in 1673 and created a territory named Rupert's Land, which was placed under the administration of the Hudson's Bay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anishinaabe
The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, Mississaugas, Nipissing First Nation, Nipissing, and Algonquin peoples. The Anishinaabe speak , or Anishinaabe languages that belong to the Algonquian languages, Algonquian language family. At the time of first contact (anthropology), first contact with Europeans they lived in the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeast Woodlands and the Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic, Subarctic, and some have since spread to the Plains Indians, Great Plains. The word means . Another definition is , meaning those who are on the right road or path given to them by the Creator deity, Creator Gitche Manitou, or Great Spirit. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horizon
The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whether it intersects the relevant body's surface or not. The ''true horizon'' is a theoretical line, which can only be observed to any degree of accuracy when it lies along a relatively smooth surface such as that of Earth's oceans. At many locations, this line is obscured by terrain, and on Earth it can also be obscured by life forms such as trees and/or human constructs such as buildings. The resulting intersection of such obstructions with the sky is called the ''visible horizon''. On Earth, when looking at a sea from a shore, the part of the sea closest to the horizon is called the offing. Pronounced, "Hor-I-zon". The true horizon surrounds the observer and it is typically assumed to be a circle, drawn on the surface of a perfectly sph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birch Bark Scrolls
A ''wiigwaasabak'' (in Anishinaabe syllabics: , plural: ''wiigwaasabakoon'' ) is a birch bark scroll, on which the Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) people of North America wrote with a written language composed of complex geometrical patterns and shapes. When used specifically for Midewiwin ceremonial use, these scrolls are called ''mide-wiigwaas'' (in syllabics: ). These enabled the memorization of complex ideas, and passing along history and stories to succeeding generations. Several such scrolls are in museums, including one on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. Copper and slate may have also been used, along with hides, pottery, and other artifacts. Some archaeologists are presently trying to determine the exact origins, dates, and locations of their use. Many scrolls were hidden away in caves and man-made pits. Construct The bark of the paper birch tree provides an excellent writing material. Usually, a stylus of either bone, metal or wood is used to inscribe th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
