One dance in particular was brought back from Oklahoma by Anawabi. It is called the “Squaw Dance.” In it men and women dance together, as shown in figure 20 of the Museum’s Yearbook for 1923. Anawabi, the medicine man, was credited with powers of witchcraft as well as healing. A young Ojibwe boy sick with pneumonia, told his parents in a delirium that Anawabi had come and was taking his breath away. His parents believed him, and he eventually died, but before he did, some friend hastened to Anawabi and Anawabi stood not on the order of his going, but left at once for Oklahoma where he stayed two years. He probably witnessed the modern two step among the Oklahoma Indians, which they called the “Squaw Dance.” It is distinctly opposed to the Indian way of dancing. It has always been the custom for women to remain in the background at any of the old time dances, dancing by themselves, outside and back of the circle or group of the men. For them to take an equal part in a dance seems out of place. This caused a rift in the tribe, and the older residents at the old Flambeau village will have nothing to do with such dances.
The participants in the dream dance usually dress in all of their native finery and nowadays wear many ornaments that are not of Ojibwe origin. While under the spell of the singing and drumming, the dancers assume a smiling face and are usually oblivious to the presence of any spectators.
The Ojibwe use two types of drums. One is the large dream-dance drum, about two feet in diameter and fourteen inches deep. The other is a tambourine-shaped drum of rawhide only a couple of inches thick and possibly ten inches in diameter, suspended by a loop of sinew, decorated with human figures, and beaten with the hands or a smaller bone drum stick. This drum is used in games and the songs differ considerably for the various games. La Crosse, the woman’s shinny game, the bowl and dice game, the moccasin game and others are all announced by preliminary songs from the chief, who accompanies himself on the game drum.
In writing this bulletin, the system adopted in previous bulletins will be followed. Plants not found to be of use are included in this list, as other investigators may find that they were used. The listing of each plant will be by family and English names, followed by the Latin binomial according to Gray’s Manual of Botany, then the Ojibwe name and its literal translation, if that be known. Following this will be the uses, methods of use, supposed properties, its value as an official or eclectic drug by the whites, and any known myth connected with it. The same procedure will be followed in the other subheadings under investigation, viz.: foods, fibers, dyes, and plants of miscellaneous uses such as utility, good luck charms, love potions and so on.
OJIBWE MEDICINES
The Ojibwe are probably the best informed and the strictest observers of the medicine lodge ceremonies in the country. Their knowledge of plants both in their own environment and far away is probably the best of any group of Indians. While their flora is not so rich in species as that of Indians farther south, they make trips far away from their home to obtain necessary plants.
As among the white people, one plant may bear several common names, according to different individuals in different sections of the country, and again, one name may be given to several plants, as in the case of plants used as “revivers”. Yet, there is an agreement in names of Lac du Flambeau and Leech Lake Ojibwe, that well checks information received. The name is usually descriptive, just as their names for animals usually are either descriptive or representative of the cry or note uttered by the animal, like “ko-ko-ko-o”, the hoot owl, or “ka-ka-ka”, the raven or crow. The medicine name usually tells what the plant looks like, where it may be found, some peculiar taste or property, or its chief use. Often a termination is added signifying the plural of a noun or the part of the plant used, such as the wood, the leaf, the flower, the root, or the berry or fruit.
It is worth noting that they understand the proper time to gather the plant part. At times, the medicinal qualities are inert, undeveloped or dispersed by being too old. Much of the knowledge of white men originated from studying the Indian plant uses, in the early days. Eclectic practitioners sought the Indian herbs and observed carefully what parts of the plant were used. This mass of early information was sifted scientifically by the students of medicine, and finally tested physiologically on animals. Perhaps sixty-five per cent of their remedies were found to be potent and are included in our pharmacopoeas; the other thirty-five per cent were discovered to be valueless medicinally. All of the references to uses of the plants by white men were obtained from the 1916 edition of the National Standard Dispensatory, by Hare, Caspari & Rusby.