The Midiwiwin

A secret society or exclusive association of the Ojibway Indians of North America. The myth of the foundation of this society is as follows: "Michabo, the Creator, looking down to earth saw that the forefathers of the Ojibway were very helpless…. Espying a black object floating on the surface of a lake he drew near to it and saw that it was an otter [now one of the sacred animals of the Midiwiwin ]. He instructed it in the mysteries of that caste, and provided it with a sacred rattle, a sacred drum, and tobacco. He built a Midiwigan, or Sacred House of Midi, to which he took the otter and confided to it the mysteries of the Midiwiwin. "

The society was one of the "medicine" or magical associations so common among the North American Indians (see America, United States of ). When a candidate was admitted to a grade and prepared to pass on to the next, he gave three feasts and sang three prayers to the Bear Spirit in order to be permitted to enter that grade.

His progress through the various grades was assisted by several snake-spirits. At a later stage, by the power of certain prayers or invocations, a larger snake appeared and raised its body, thus forming an arch under which the candidate made his way to the higher grade.

When the Indian achieved the second grade, he was supposed to receive supernatural power to be able to see into the future, to hear what came from far off, to touch friends and foes no matter how far away, and so on. In higher grades he could assume the form of any animal. The third grade conferred the ability to perform extraordinary exploits and have power over the entire invisible world. The fourth was still more exalted.

When an Indian was ready to undergo initiation, he erected a wigwam in which he took steambaths for four days, one on each day. On the evening of the day before initiation he visited his teachers in order to obtain from them instructions for the following day. Next morning the priests approached with the candidate at their head, entered the Midiwigan, and the proceedings commenced.

The publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology contain several good accounts of the ritual of this society.