Anung at the Museum of Ojibwa Culture

Anung at the Museum of Ojibwa Culture

What a gift. It seems almost too good to be true. The second novel of mine that Light Messages is publishing this year is Anung’s Journey and the Museum of Ojibwa Culture wants us to launch the book there, in St. Ignace, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula side of the Straights of Mackinac, during a two day event, August 21st and 22nd.

This book tells the story of the Ojibwa orphan Anung and his vision quest to find the greatest chief of all the people, a journey that takes place “in the days before the white man came to Turtle Island”. As he travels east he meets other Indian tribes–he is outfitted for winter by Oddawa traders and he participates in the Wyandot Huron Festival of the Dead. He lives with squirrels and bears and is threatened by the cannibal Windigo.

Anung’s traveling companion, Turtle, tells him the oldest Ojibwa stories including how after the flood the earth was rebuilt on the back of Mi-zhee-kay, the great sea turtle that rose from the depths to offer itself for this purpose. Many Ojibwa believe the Straights of Mackinac is where Mi-zhee-kay surfaced and waited until lowly muskrat retrieved the bit of mud from the bottom of the flood waters that Sky Woman needed to create Turtle Island.

Mackinac (pronounced Mack in aw) is an English interpretation of the French interpretation of Mi-zhee-kay.

So the Museum sits at the center of the Ojibwa universe and this is where Anung’s Journey begins. I am grateful, and delighted that Shirley Sorrell, the Museum’s Director, is eager for this book launch to be a celebration of the book’s celebration of the culture of the First North Americans.

Shirley and I are shaping the first plans for the two days; she is actively recruiting a young male dancer Anung’s age, and an elder master drum maker, and it seems they are excited about demonstrating their crafts. We are still looking at other public activities. I look forward to keeping you updated and I invite you to join us.