WhoMe

Most people agree that the Jingle "Medicine" Dress dance started with the Anishnabe (Ojibway/Chippewa).

However, there are different versions of how it began.

Does anyone know who the person was that started the jingle dress dance. Perhaps this is the child who was sick and was healed - in one story.

Some say it is Maggie White. True or False?

Did the story of the Medicine Dance originate with the Chippewa's of the U.S.A. or the Ojibway of Canada (vice-versa both are Anishnabe.) ????????

MayChe

I was taught that the sick child was Maggie White and that the dance orginated in Canada

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I think it was in White Fish Bay, Canada

native_flutterby

the dress goes back before maggie white, although visions have been known to reoccur to different people at the same time, gods way of mass communicating. i do belive there was another woman that was given the dress in the same manner, only from mille lacs. my grand mother was a little girl when she saw it, she remembers much of the ceremony, and later in life her her daughter clj had to go through in the same manner. in essence maggie white kept the dress alive and well, which is a very good thing for our people. the generation after her, well it was the rebirth of the dress. the dress may go through many changes, but keep in mind that creator is watching his gift that he has bestowed upon us...i know i do...i know that doesnt answer your question directly...i know in the states the dress was around before maggie.

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nimkiikwe_49

I know she's Anishnabe...US or Canadain there should be no difference... no country boundries

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Miigwetch

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WhoMe

Native_flutterby: For once, the truth is out there for so many to hear. Yes, this dance is a lot older than Maggie's time. And yes, she kept the medicine dress alive and well. In talking to your people I have heard that originally, the jingles were not even made of metal. Did you hear that too?

Nimkiikee_49: You're right. The US and Canadian borders should not make a difference. However, the Anishnabe of Mille Lacs and the Anishnabe of White Fish Bay have two different stories of how this dance began. Both are similar but also distinct.

This is the reason why I am asking the question. Do either of you have a relation who was the little girl of the origin story?

keeb_k

Every tribe has their own origin legends of the different dance styles. The most well known legend of the Jingle Dress comes from the Great Lakes Region. A Medicine Man was unable to cure his people of diseases that come west with the White man. In answer to his fasting and prayers, he was given a vision in which he saw his daughter and three of her friends dancing in dress adorned with "jingles". They danced in a "side-Step" fashion around the sick person. In the dream, he was taught the healing songs. Upon awakening he instructed his wife and daughter how to make the dresses. He was able to heal his people by conducting the jingle dress ceremony. Originally, the cones were carved out of wood. The jingles are now made of chewing tobacco lids. The jingle dress dance performed at a powwow is now considered one of the intertribal dance styles. However, the actual ceremonial dances are not performed in public.

The jingle dress dance outfit is comprised of the jingle dress, matching beadwork (cuffs, barrettes, leggings, moccasins, purses, belts), and a fan. The "old style" jingle dress dancers do not carry a fan or wear eagle plumes or feathers in their hair.

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JingleBelle

FYI: Most "chippewas" of the US don't like to be called chippewas (unless they are Chippewa-Cree, didn't grow up in the Ojibwe areas or are from Turtle Mountain) they prefer to be called Anishinabe or Ojibwe. Yes, they may be federally recognized as "Chippewa" but that doesn't mean that they like to be called that.

WhoMe

Jinglebelle: Thank you for this enlightenment. You are politically correct. But, only one generation ago many American Anishnabe referred to themselves as Chippewa. Today, like the Anishnabe, most tribes are taking a stand on correcting their tribal names (ie.
Sioux/Lakota-Dakota, Navaho/Dineh', Delaware/Lenape etc. etc.)

keeb_k: Thank you for the story of the Jingle dress. This is one of two versions that that are told by "Anishnabes." Again . . . one version is told by the people of White Fish Bay and the other by the people of Mille Lacs.

But this still doesn't answer the original question:

"Who was this sick child?"

Are either of you or is anybody in your bands related to this sick young girl who is a part of BOTH stories???

Do you know who's family she came from????????

nah

I think it was WhiteFish Bay........One of there grandmothers.......At least that what I was taught.....I'll ask my cousin....

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:flaming: Nah

Majii

Here is the link to the story told by Maggie White herself through an interpreter.

http://whitefishbay_singers.tripod.c...group/id9.html

This is her story:


Maggie White
(Ojibway - Whitefish Bay, Ontario, Canada)
Jingle Dress Dancer


"When I was a small girl, I was born sickly. I was always ill as a child, than when I was eight years old I was given this dress. This dress, I was told was special and it was made for me. I was given this dress by my grandfather, after this dress was given to me I began to feel better, I wasn't sickly anymore. This dress I was told was my "odih iziwin"."
Her Grandfather, Pinasse, had told her he made this dress for her. When he was a small boy he would have this vision that would be the same, but never did quite understood what it meant until his old age, by this time Maggie was around 7 or 8, when he knew what this Vision was.
The story of his vision is something he shared with his family, What is known about his vision is this: That he had seen this dress that made a certain distinctive sound, where shiny conical shapes hung from the dress. There were certain songs that came with the dress, certain dances and a ceremony.
Maggie's "odih iziwin" was made of colours that were representative of the world around her. What also came with the dress was what we call a "staff" that had a certain shape and colour. This staff was given to those that had recieved her "odih iziwin" through the proper ceremony. There are woman in the Lake of the Woods area that carry this staff, along with their "odih iziwin" or as their "odih iziwin". It's something uniquely given, especially for them.

Maggie shared her "odih iziwin" with the people she had met all over North America.
What is also interesting to point out is that this is her story, our peoples story from the Anishinabeg of Lake of the Woods.
She also shared her ( a repilca ) "odih iziwin" with the rest of the people when she made a dress that resembled the first dress she was given when she was 8 years old.

-translated by Rhonda White

native_jingle2001

people seek health and wellness and the jingle dress helps to keep our people healthy..i had the honor of dancing with Miss Maggie at powwows. She was a beautiful dancer, much beauty and grace..there were hardly any jingle dancers when i started dancing! course, i have no idea who the original dancer was..but i know the story behind the dress..yes, i probablly didn't listsen when my grandfather was telling that story..(who the original dancer was) so can't recall....