Ojibway Heritage

Front Cover
Columbia University Press, 1976 - Canadian literature - 171 pages
Rarely accessible to the general public, Ojibway mythology is as rich in meaning, as broad, as deep, and as innately appealing as the mythologies of Greece, Rome, and other Western civilizations. In Ojibway Heritage Basil Johnston introduces his people's ceremonies, rituals, songs, dances, prayers, arid legends. Conveying the sense of wonder and mystery at the heart of the Ojibway experience, Johnston describes the creation of the universe, followed by that of plants and animals and human beings, and the paths taken by the latter. These stories are to be read, enjoyed, and freely interpreted. Their authorship is perhaps most properly attributed to the tribal storytellers who have carried on the oral tradition that Johnston records and preserves in this book.

Other editions - View all

About the author (1976)

Basil H. Johnston was born on the Parry Island Indian Reserves in Ontario, Canada on July 13, 1929. He was a member of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation in Ontario. He graduated from Loyola College, Montreal, Quebec in 1954. He was an author, storyteller and preserver of the Anishnaabe language. He was the author of 25 books and often wrote about Anishinaabe history. Five of his books were written in Anishinabemowin, the language of the Anishinaabe. He also worked at the Royal Ontario Museum in the Department of Ethnology for over two decades. He received several awards during his lifetime including the Order of Ontario and the 2004 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Heritage and Spirituality. He died on September 8, 2015 at the age of 86.

Bibliographic information