Miskomini-giizis (Raspberry Moon)/Manoominike-giizis (Ricing Moon) (August 29, 2024)
Boozhoo! Hello! Biindigen miinawaa, welcome back in my Storytelling Lodge, where there is love and learning!
Let's talk space music today.
It is a popular misconception that there is no sound in space, which originates from the fact that space is a vacuum, and there is no medium in space for soundwaves to move through. A galaxy cluster, on the other hand, has copious amounts of gas that envelop the hundreds or even thousands of galaxies within it, providing a medium for the sound waves to travel.
One of these clusters is the Bizhiki, or Bison. NASA recently "discovered" that there is "mysterious, eerie-sounding music" coming from within the makade-waanikaan (black hole).* This black hole sits at the center of the Mashkode Bizhiki.
But it is no mystery at all. It is the Buffalo grandfathers sharing their songs with us.
Bizhiki, or Mashkode-bizhiki, is translated into English as the Bison. This is the constellation in the northern sky known as Perseus on the Western sky charts. In the winter, the Bison Star can be easily seen, but in the summer she is barely visible because she is on Earth, feeding and helping the Anishinaabeg – who, by the way, do not have a bison clan.
How are the different star formations connected in our perception of the star world? Did our ancestors believe that there is a connection between, let's say, the bison and the sweat lodge on earth, and – as a consequence – the bison and the sweat lodge in the night sky? If so, how are they related to the Bagonegiizhik, that hole in the sky called "Pleiades" on Western star maps?
To find out, let's first take a look at the the Madoodoowasiniig , or "Stones of the Sweat Lodge" – which, in our cosmology, are part of the Madoodiswan, the Sweat Lodge star formation called Corona Borealis on Western star maps. These stars can be viewed in a circular pattern with the door of the sweat lodge opening to the north/northeast. Madoodoowasiniig rise in the northeast sky in March, are directly overhead during the early evenings of June, and disappear on the horizon in September. The Madoodiswan (Corona Borealis) and Bagonegiizhig (Pleiades) constellations trade places in the sky after about 12 hours' time.
But how then, you may wonder, are the Shaking Tent, the Hole in the Sky, and the Bison related? The answer lies in the ancient Anishinaabe belief that the seven stars of the Sweat Lodge constellation represent the seven poles used in the construction of the lodge that hosts our Shaking Tent ceremony. A long, long time ago, the medicine men and women of the Shaking Tent appointed the bison as their guardian. In the same context, the shaking tent acts as a spiritual doorway, similar to the spiritual doorway that is the Bagonegiizhig.
This moon, the Perseid meteor shower is extremely active. The Perseid meteor shower, commonly known as the Perseids but called mashkode bizhiki jiingwanan in our language, is visible annually from mid-July to late August. The mashkode bizhiki jiingwanan peaked on August 11/12 but remains active until late August. The mashkode bizhiki jiingwanan’s radiant is somewhat north on the sky’s dome, making it more visible from the Northern Hemisphere – even at aabitawaabikizi (half-moon) – but it can be seen as far south as the southern mid-latitudes. Look toward the Mashkode Bizhiki constellation, since the radiant of this shower is beside this constellation.
It is my wish that the flaming tail tips of the mashkode bizhikiwag that, if we are lucky, can still be seen flashing by at night, will nourish and protect the Anishinaabeg and all other Turtle Island Peoples during the remainder of this summer season and prepare them physically and mentally for the cold seasons that are ahead of us. Tonight, if the sky lights up with fiery streaks of shooting stars, I will think of my People in a good way and quietly sing a mashkode bizhiki song…
Onjida gibizindaw noongom. Thank you for listening today. Giga-waabamin wayiiba, I hope to see you again soon!
NOTE:
*Makade-waanikaan literally means "black pit." Another Ojibwe word for this phenomenon is made-makadedanoo-bagonegiizhig ("Distant-keeps-dark-in-place-makes a-hole-in-the-Sky").
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