Night Flying Woman: An Ojibway Narrative

In the spring, Oona saw her mother’s angry, weeping face in a dream. Oona’s grandfather explained that her mother felt conflicted about accepting the new ways. Specifically, Oona’s mother was saddened to hear that the teacher at the village school was framing the old ways (including the Medicine People) as inferior. Oona and her parents were eventually baptized as Christians. Oona’s grandfather went on to explain that many of the tenets of Christianity, such as honoring one’s parents and loving one’s neighbors, were similar to the old teachings—and should not be cause of shame.

Both Oona and E-quay grew into women. Traditionally, when a “young girl has the physical signs of change” (95), she goes into the forest, builds a small lodge, and fasts for 10 days. Because the government agent did not approve of this practice, the period of time had to be shortened. This practice confirmed whether the girl in question was in fact a Dreamer or a Medicine Person.

Oona’s life was greatly impacted by the “intrusion of school and church” (95), yet she continued to pick herbs with her grandmother and perform other traditional tasks. Strangers from the east came to visit and purchased souvenirs made by the Ojibway. The Ojibway made little money from this trade, but it helped them remember the old ways.

In the summer, a party of strangers visited. Yet, only the few Ojibway men in the reservation could accept payments. Because of this rule, the men claimed widowed women and their children as their own. Oona observed that it was a good thing that the group still planted food in the forest, as they were not paid enough to live. After the party departed, the agent’s helper Dan came to Greenwood with an old woman and three of A-wa-sa-si’s great grandchildren. They joined Greenwood, their lodge being the final one from Oona’s dream. E-quay eventually married a farmer, a stranger named Walter, in a Christian church.

When Oona was 15, her mother died of the coughing sickness. Although devastated by the loss, Oona decided to help her grieving aunt, who had relied on Oona’s mother and felt lost without her. Oona’s father was deeply saddened and traveled to a lumber camp. Before the winter, one of A-wa-sa-si’s sons brought his body home and he was buried next to Oona’s mother in a Christian burial ground. Oona dreamed of her parents together in the rainy country, with a circle around them. She asked her grandfather about her mother’s past, and he revealed that she was originally found—“cold, shaken, and frightened” (106)—with a dead woman and child in the forest to the east. Oona’s mother spoke of her past only once, having been of the Muk-kwa clan. Oona slowly helped her grandparents adapt to the new ways, despite their distaste.

At 17, Oona married A-wa-sa-si-s or “Michael,” a man who was part Ojibway. She moved to his farm, taking her aunt, uncle, two of E-Quay’s children, and her grandparents with her. They farmed in the settlers’ way but retained their old practices and traditions. E-Quay and her four other children moved to the farm after her husband Walter died in a logging accident.

In the second year of their marriage (1879), Oona insisted on going trapping with her husband A-wa-sa-si-s. It was not a good time for the Ojibway to be far from their reservations, as the Dakota to the south had been scaring settlers and doing something to passing Ojibway (as they had not returned). Oona, her husband, and her husband’s younger brother decided to go south anyway and were captured by soldiers—who tied A-wa-sa-si-s’s brother to a horse (with the intention of having him dragged to death). Oona shouted a word to the horse, and it stayed still. To the soldiers’ amazement, her word stopped a second horse from running as well. Oona showed the soldiers a piece of birch bark, and one of them recognized her and her party as Ojibway, not Dakota. The soldiers did not let the party go, placing them in a tent under guard. Oona requested the mysterious Great Being’s help via a dream and received a heavy fog. The group escaped and hid in tall grass, deducing that the soldiers would search for them in the forest. They then traveled west, toward the setting sun, to further confuse the soldiers. After two days, they found an old Ojibway man’s lodge. The man had been expecting them, as his leg was broken and he knew a Dreamer would come to help. The group took him with them and made the journey back home.

Although Oona’s two sons and E-quay’s many children were of mixed blood, they were still taught the old ways. During the family’s early years on the farm, Oona’s uncle and grandparents died; the mourning period lasted a year. The family continued to grow their own food, such as corn and potatoes, and raised barley and wheat to sell. They also sold cow’s milk, which they themselves did not drink (114). The children learned both the settlers’ way of farming and the Ojibway way of utilizing the forest. Oona’s sons attended the village school and learned reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Oona left the farm “only to do what was necessary” (116)—which included gathering food and helping older Ojibway with mourning. She noticed that such rituals were a mixture of old and new traditions. Because many of the Ojibway families lived far from towns with schools, their children were often sent to board. As a result, they did not learn about their own culture. Laws restricting fishing, hunting, and trapping were passed, but the Ojibway continued to do so in secret (bar trapping); the laws also regulated ricing. The Ojibway considered these laws sacrilegious, as the first rice to ripen was traditionally offered to the Great Spirit, Gitchi Manito. The ensuing changes in diet led to a rise in sickness. They also estranged the Ojibway from traditional life, causing a spiritual sickness as well—with many turning to the settlers’ alcohol.

Given the settlers’ restrictions, many Ojibway men went to logging camps to work from the winter to spring—and proved talented loggers. When they returned, a communal celebration was held with dancing. Around 1910, the logging industry moved west and left many Ojibway unemployed. Oona highlighted the importance of self-sufficiency, and she took on many tasks to make money—including harvesting and selling snake root (for medicine). These were hard times for the Ojibway, and Oona’s farm did all it could to help others. In the 1930s, poorly paid work was made available: Ojibway men, women, and children “worked at peeling the pulpwood” (123) for lumber companies but were cheated in their wages.

The government built boarding schools hundreds of miles from villages. As all children were required to attend school, they could only come home for the summer. They were taught to forget their past, learning the history of the settlers and their rulers in its place.

In the 1930s, an older Oona and her husband A-wa-sa-si-s’s great-grandson was charged with the farm. When A-wa-sa-si-s was dying, his great-great-grandsons saw a new stump and a night-flying bird and knew to return home—as it was a spiritual message from Oona. A-wa-sa-si-s was able to “clasp the hands of his children and wish them well” (128), but he was buried as a Christian.

In her later years, Oona avoided Greenwood, as the people there seemed like white strangers. A saddened Oona wondered how the next generations would learn Ojibway culture. At that moment, a young girl came, with her eyes cast down in respect, and said her name was A-wa-sa-si (the same name as the elderly storyteller from Oona’s original home) and that she would like “to hear the stories of our people” (131). Oona felt joy and knew that the “Ojibway ways would forever be known in future years” (131).