Essay On Anashinaabe People And The Clans

Different communities differ in terms of the clans in the areas. In most cases, the clans group themselves on the basis of the kinship. Nonetheless, the clans differ in terms of the cultural values and practices thereby making it easy for the other people to distinguish them due to the different characteristics. However, the same clans usually reside in the same geographical area hence easy to locate them. Most of the clans also differ in terms of the political affiliations and the politicians use the feature to their advantage. As a result, most politicians would befriend the clans with the most people in order to gunner the highest percentage of votes. Nonetheless, the anashinaabe clan emerged from North America. They based the clans on animals thereby marking their tradition and identity (Brenda 132).
The anashinaabe system was divided into several clans, which they named after the animal symbols. After the separation of the group into the many clans, each group had a governing council that consisted of the municipal leaders from within the clan. Each clan chose the community leaders from their clan because they would easily associate with the other members of the clan thereby ensuring a free flow of activities in the ruling system. In addition, the leaders would protect the values of the clans by emphasizing the need to uphold the cultural values that formed part of the clans’ identity. To Nonetheless, the clan leaders also promoted social cohesiveness across the clans in order to reduce the conflicts that hindered the peaceful coexistence of the people (Natalie 98).
Initially, the anashinaabe people had seven clans namely; the crane, loon, the fish, the bear, the deer, the bird and the martin clans. Nonetheless, the class had a collective responsibility to ensure the development of a holistic community without discrimination. For this reason, the leaders assigned the above clans with the different responsibilities to ensure that they meet all the social, political and economic needs and wants of the community members. The crane and the loon clans had the responsibility to lead the people. Therefore, they had to possess all the leadership styles in order to lead the people in the right direction. The clans consisted of the leaders and the chiefs who worked together for the well- being of the citizenry. On the other hand, the bear clan guarded the community members and provided the medicine for the sick (Natalie 397). The bear watched for any danger that faced the country thereby informing the relevant clan responsible for the defense, which was the martin clan.
The dear clan consisted of the peacemakers who ensured a peaceful coexistence among the members. They composed poems that contained the peace messages. The people had become fond of the poems hence easy to relate to them. For this reason, the dear class used the poems avenue to reach a great number of the community members in order to enhance harmony. On the other hand, the fish clan had the responsibility to harmonize the leaders and the chiefs. It is essential for the leaders to maintain a peaceful correlation for the development of the country. However, the fish clan had a leader with the name of a turtle, and the turtles implemented the moves to confront the crane and the loon clans when disputes arose (Brenda 106).
The martin clans consisted of the brave individuals who sacrificed their lives to protect the people. As a result, they attracted much respect from the people. The defended the people in cases of war due to their warrior feature. The anashinaabe people were not left behind in terms of the religion. Therefore, the birds’ clan had the responsibility to intervene in religious matters. The spiritual people composed the birds’ clan because they used to predict the future. Therefore, they would warn the people of any impending danger they would discover in their predictions thereby spiritually preparing them. The birds were visionary people who led the others in the religious world (Natalie 281).
The anashinaabe also practiced intermarriages thereby bringing the clans together due to the intertribal relations. Moreover, the different clans used the same greetings to establish the social relations among the clan members. The greetings helped the different clans develop a sense of belonging because they would constantly remind them that they were one community. Nonetheless, the most famous clans included; Algonquin clans (Al), Mississauga clans (Ms), Nipissing clans (Ns), Ojibwa clans (Oj), Odawa clans (Od) and Potawatomi clans (Po). The clans served as government system and system of labor division. As a result, the clans had disparities concerning the political systems and, on the other hand, it became easy to divide labor among the members thereby increasing the efficacy in the production. Therefore, the clans consisted of different groups, which the leaders would assign the specific task (Brenda 253).
The leaders had assigned the Bimaawidaasi group with hunting and gathering, and exploration. Therefore, the group would provide the foods and other supplements from the forests. They provided the food to their families. For this reason, the group had to possess the hunting skills and equipment. In the process of hunting, the group also gathered information relating to the security of the anashinaabe group. As a result, it became possible to shield themselves from any harm from the other communities. The other group in was the Giishkizhigwan group, which had the obligation to teach and help in the society. Therefore, it eradicated the illiteracy levels among the community members.
Illiteracy is a vice that every individual yearns to eradicate due to the negative effects it has on an individual. For instance, it promotes poverty because it becomes hard to secure a well-paying job without the necessary certifications. The groups had the responsibility to attend to the sick community members thereby promoting a healthy generation. Poor health leads to low living standards among the citizenry because it reduces the production rate hence the reduced profitability level. For this reason, the group would gather the traditional medicines hence relieving the pain from the patients.
However, the leaders obligated the Nooke group to defend the community and at the same time liaise with the Giishkizhigwan group to provide the healing to the community. As a result, the leaders ensured an equal division of labor because it avoided the exhaustion from some groups due to the long working hours. Nonetheless, the health of the individuals is a sensitive matter that needed a quick address for the free flow of the activities. To promote a healthy community, there was the need to provide adequate health care services to all the people without favor and discrimination. Therefore, it became easy for the two groups assigned with healing to divide the work among them thereby enabling the easy access of the healing services (Brenda 165).
On the other hand, the Baswenaazhi group was entitled to establish the social relations between the anashinaabe group and the other people in the country. They had the responsibility to create the international relations with the other people in order to enhance economic developments in the areas. It is essential to establish the international relations because it meant that all the people would pool the resources together when handling a disaster. International relations also made it easy to borrow the useful culture and technology advancements methods thereby promoting efficacy in the production activities. The relations also promoted social cohesion that promoted peace within the regions. In addition, the international relations made it possible for the different clans to intermarry due to social ties initiated between the members (Natalie 172).
The anashinaabe people wanted to become an all-rounded community hence looked into the social, political and the economic life. Therefore, the leaders of the Bemaangik group assigned the group with the task of maintaining peace and internal communications within the clan. Conversely, it became possible to settle disputes without engaging in fights because the groups helped in the mitigation process where the conflicting parties would bury their differences. The groups helped in the facilitation of dialog among all the people thereby promoting peace. No one can coexist without communication, thus the need to deploy a group to handle the communication processes within the clans (Brenda 108).
Some of the clan names given to the different groups depended on the intermarriages among the native and the non-native people. Therefore, it became easy to identify the people who had intermarried. In some cases, the members would from the clan on the basis of the blood relations. As a result, most of them related to the grandparents, the parents, and the siblings. For this reason, the blood relations helped the clans relate well with each other because blood is thicker than water.
The clans also integrated to form other clans thereby increasing the number of the clans from the original seven. Nonetheless, the clans collaborated with each other for the well-being of every individual in the country. They also worked together to achieve the set goals and objectives because unity is the strength. The clans also emphasized on equality of wealth and income distribution to ensure provision of equal development opportunities for the people. The legislators had formulated the law that cut across all the clan members. Therefore, there was no one above the law. The equal law provided an ample environment m for equal justice. However, due to the advancements in the social and the technological world, most of the clans have evolved thereby abandoning their old ways of life. The transformation led to the extinction of some cultural values in the clans (Brenda 304).
In summation, the topic about clans in the anashinaabe people increase awareness of the people on how the clans operated. Therefore, the equal distribution of labor gave no room for exploitation, unlike today where people enrich themselves at the expense of the poor. The insights from the different authors provided adequate information about how the anashinaabe people have evolved. There is also the need to abandon the backward habits, for instance, hunting and gathering. Nonetheless, the retention of some of the cultures provides some rich history about the people thereby informing of the young generation of how far the people have come from.

Works cited

Antonich, Brenda L. The 7 Clans of the Anishinaabe. , 2014. Print.
Rosinsky, Natalie M. The Ojibwe and Their History. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books,
2005. Print.