Bgosendmoowin/Gbosendmoowin - Ceremony/Asking for Help: PART 2
The following describe specific ceremonies and practices that have traditionally grounded those in the womb and newborn Anishinaabe children in their culture and worldview.
Prenatal Care
The Manidoog gives Anishinaabe life that is where it comes from. That is why Anishinaabe should take care of his life and to live a good life while he or she is here on Earth. Everyone living has Manidoog that watch over them and takes care of them while on Earth. That is why we are told to respect our fellow Anishinaabe. If we treat our fellow man with disrespect, we are disrespecting those Manidoog that have compassion for him as well as the ones that gave him life (Lee Obizaan Staples & Chato Ombishkebines Gonzalez).
Brenda Rivers of Sagamok stated that honourable governance starts in the womb. It is in the womb where child raising practices instill values and ways of being that contribute to the development of good leadership before a child takes their first breath. Similarly, healthy parenting skills begin in the womb where learning to be a parent begins. All experiences gained during the pregnancy journey teaches one how to parent. And, importantly, children learn how to parent by how they are parented To give children the best possible start, time spent in the womb should be a time of peace, comfort, serenity, security, and joy. A baby’s existence at this time is in both the physical and the spiritual realm.
In the past, pregnant women were expected to follow strict protocols, with many having to do with protecting and enhancing the emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health of the child. The vigilance that a pregnant woman was expected to observe during pregnancy was part of the training and discipline that both she and her baby would need to live a long and healthy life. Some examples of pregnancy protocols included women singing to their babies while in the womb, or when pregnant women would ask someone to speak for tobacco and food they wanted to offer to the Manidoog to help them so their baby would be delivered safely. These practices are designed to ensure and enhance the health and wellbeing of the child while in the womb.
Both parents are responsible for the wellbeing of an infant during pregnancy. Partners of expectant mothers contribute to their wellbeing by treating them with care and respect. In the past, the partner of an expecting mother was strictly forbidden to strike his wife or to speak roughly to her. In some communities, men were once required to restrict their hunting activity or stop altogether while their wives were pregnant. During this time, the community typically pitched in to help with what was necessary for the family. The regulations around hunting were based on an understanding that the partner of an expectant mother was carrying life and so another life could not be taken. Anishinaabe people understand that the actions taken throughout their lives, and particularly during the period where a child is developing inside their mother may affect that child and future generations.
Family and community members can contribute to the wellbeing of expectant mothers including by taking care to speak quietly around pregnant women and ensure that they are nurtured and protected, as the child is also affected by a woman’s emotions. Family members, and knowledgeable community members can provide expectant mothers with teachings on how to care for themselves and their children. These Grandmother Teachings pass on traditional information about prenatal child development. Parents learn that their child is always growing, develop, and learning, even before birth.
On a practical level, pregnant women should be provided with healthy foods. The foods that expecting mothers consume contribute to both her own and the baby’s wellbeing. For many Anishinaabe women, wild foods were essential to increasing milk supply without draining the mother of essential nutrients. For example, white fish soup was a critical component of women’s diets and at times a substitute for breast milk.
Niigi (Birth)
…we would want to start with…the conception of a child between two – the mom and dad – and the celebrations we have after that child is born. We celebrate with bringing the child home into the community, and the community celebrates the birth of the child. Sometimes a baby is passed from community member to community member so everyone can look at and talk to the child in Anishinaabemowin. As the child grows, there’s other places or things that will come to nurse their bodies and their minds and their hearts, and it’s by the mom and the dad, the grandparents, the aunties, and the grandparents – Focus group participant from Atikameksheng
Babies hold an important role in Anishinaabe families and communities. They teach us about the gift of joy. The family and community celebrate the birth of a spirit as a sacred time. Traditionally, the whole community would celebrate and give thanks to the Creator for honouring them with a gift of a newborn. Birth itself is considered to be a form of ceremony. While all community members have a role to play in caring for and nurturing this new life, parents, grandparents, and other close family members have duties to uphold in relation to the newborn. Grandparents often have the honour of announcing the birth of the grandchild. Family members and community members often take part in celebrations and feast. Because there is joy and celebration throughout the community, babies are born with an immediate sense of belonging and acceptance. Often a welcoming feast or gathering was held after the baby was born that gave their relatives an entry point to accept the child and support the parents as they enter the life stage of parenthood.
Babies can also take part in ceremonies with a rattle or shaker. This encourages emotional bonding between baby and caregiver when used together. It also promotes the development of the spirit and body in babies. The baby can take part in singing family clan songs and songs of their people. These songs strengthen the baby’s spiritual connection to the Creator and Mother Earth.
Waawindaswinon (Naming ceremonies)
It is from the sacrifices that Original Man made in naming all of the Creation that our Naming Ceremonies today are taken. For this ceremony, a medicine person is asked by the father and mother of a child to see a name for their young one. This seeking can be done through fasting, meditation, prayer, or dreaming. The Spirit World might speak to the medicine person and give a name for the young child.
At a gathering of family and friends the medicine person burns an offering of Tobacco and pronounces the new name to each of nikeying. All those present repeat the name each time it is called out.
In this way the Spirit World comes to accept and recognize the young child with the new name. It is said that prior to the Naming Ceremony, the spirits are not able to see the face of the child. It is through this naming act that they look into the face of the child and recognize him as a living being. Thereafter, the Spirit World and all past relatives watch over and protect this child. They also prepare a place in the Spirit World that this living being can occup when his life on Earth is at an end.
At this ceremony the parents of the child ask four women and four men to be sponsors for this child. It is a great honor to be asked to fill this position. After the child is given a name, each of the sponsors stand and proclaim a vow to support and guide this child in his development. In this way a provision is made by which the child will always be cared for.
- Edward Banton-Banai, The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway
Waawindaswinon or Naming ceremonies are often one of the first ceremonies a child takes part in. Naming provides an opportunity to announce the baby and to introduce he or she to all things around them, to Mother Earth, to the animals, plants and the medicines. Waawindaswinon can also be a means of extending kinship relations and expanding one’s community. Naming is also a means of providing an individual with a doodem identity. Waawindaswinon provides a chance to welcome a new member into the community and provide them with a sense of connection and belonging. Kim Anderson stated that naming fostered a connection between elders and infants, those who were closest to the doorways of the spirit world in terms of coming into this world and preparing to leave it. Within this life, the giving of a spirit name by an elder to an infant created bonds along the continuum of life. Earl Commanda of Serpent River stated that the naming ceremony, or naming circle, usually fell on an Elder in the community. Oftentimes, the parents would bring that child for that name. Waawindaswinon often includes feasting and giving of tobacco. Historically, naming typically involved a feast that was attended by family and community, occurring close to the birth or sometime later, and ranging from casual events to much more formal ceremonies. Names come with connections to specific beings that may infer obligations or limitations on the individual who carries the name. In other cases, names may refer to particular skills or abilities that individual possesses.