MOONINGWAANIKAANING (MADELINE ISLAND)

Inscription

Aaniin, visitors. Welcome to Mooningwaanikaaning, the homeland of the Ojibwe people. The Ojibwe name for Madeline Island means “home of the yellow-breasted flicker bird.” This island was the last-foretold stopping point on the Ojibwe migration from the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean. Hundreds of years ago, a prophet instructed the Anishinaabeg to move west until they found the food that grows on water and a sacred island. There, they could live mino-bimaadiziwin, which means to live in a good way with intention and to be in balance and at peace with yourself, others, and the environment. They brought with them the Water Drum, Sacred Scrolls, and the Sacred Fire, transported from location to location for over 500 years. Hundreds of miles were traveled via jiimaanan (canoes) following the Great Lakes. Oral tradition says a great miigis (shell) appeared in the sky to give Anishinaabeg guidance on the journey. Some Anishinaabeg remained at stopping places and created oodenawan (villages), while others continued the journey. When they reached Lake Superior, some took the northern route along the lake; others took the southern route. They eventually met near what is Duluth, Minnesota, today. Although many years had passed, they recognized each other because they had the same songs. Anishinaabeg who took the southern route along the lake told their relatives about an island they had passed. They felt drawn to it and believed they would find mino-bimaadiziwin there. The people traveled to Mooningwaanikaaning and placed tobacco on the shore, and the miigis rose up. This was the ancestral homeland for which they had been searching.

Erected 2023
Funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation
Wisconsin Historical Society

Wisconsin historical marker commemorating Mooningwaanikaaning (Madeline Island).