{"title":"Basil Johnston","description":"Basil Johnston (1929-2015) was a linguist and lecturer in the Department of Ethnology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. His other works include Ojibway Ceremonies, also a Bison Book.","products":[{"product_id":"the-manitous-supernatural-world-of-the-ojibway-the-paperback","title":"The Manitous: Supernatural World of the Ojibway, the - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eThese are the stories of the manitous--the spirits who inhabit the supernatural world of the Ojibway (the Native American tribe of the Great Lakes and central Canada region). Harvested by an eminent expert from an ancient oral tradition, these sacred stories introduce wily tricksters, fearsome giants, timorous tree spirits, seductive maidens, and wise grandmothers. Here, a coward masquerading as a hero becomes one; a powerful warrior is riled and routed by a younger sibling with a gift for dancing and disguises; and the ever-hungry evil weendigos--evil manitous--haunt the land. In spellbinding and hypnotic fashion, the creation and flood legends are told, and the origin stories of corn, spruce, and tobacco are revealed. Comic, erotic, dramatic, and tragic, these engrossing tales are a window into the heart of an ancient culture, an important contribution to Native American literature, and a fascinating source of spiritual guidance for the many followers of New Age mysticism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese are the stories of the manitous--the spirits who inhabit the supernatural world of the Ojibway (the Native American tribe of the Great Lakes and central Canada region). Harvested by an eminent expert from an ancient oral tradition, these sacred stories introduce wily tricksters, fearsome giants, timorous tree spirits, seductive maidens, and wise grandmothers. Here, a coward masquerading as a hero becomes one; a powerful warrior is riled and routed by a younger sibling with a gift for dancing and disguises; and the ever-hungry evil weendigos--evil manitous--haunt the land. In spellbinding and hypnotic fashion, the creation and flood legends are told, and the origin stories of corn, spruce, and tobacco are revealed. Comic, erotic, dramatic, and tragic, these engrossing tales are a window into the heart of an ancient culture, an important contribution to Native American literature, and a fascinating source of spiritual guidance for the many followers of New Age mysticism.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365564154079,"sku":"9780060927356","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/F6d1nhUHjC9780060927356.webp?v=1789066384"},{"product_id":"ojibway-heritage-paperback","title":"Ojibway Heritage - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A colorful, beautiful book which teaches us about ourselves as much as about one of North America's native peoples.\"\u003c\/b\u003e--\u003ci\u003eVancouver Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRarely 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 \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOjibway Heritage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e'A colorful, beautiful book which teaches us about ourselves as much as about one of North America's native peoples.' -Vancouver Sun This compilation of the basic beliefs, ideals, values, and ceremonies of a North American native group is a beautiful and sacred document.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51366138511583,"sku":"9780803275720","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/XasogjBjSz9780803275720.webp?v=1789084374"},{"product_id":"ojibway-ceremonies-paperback","title":"Ojibway Ceremonies - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Ojibway Indians were first encountered by the French early in the seventeenth century along the northern shores of Lakes Huron and Superior. By the time Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized them in The Song of Hiawatha, they had dispersed over large areas of Canada and the United States, becoming known as the Chippewas in the latter. A rare and fascinating glimpse of Ojibway culture before its disruption by the Europeans is provided in \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOjibway Ceremonies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e by Basil Johnston, himself an Ojibway who was born on the Parry Island Indian Reserve.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohnston focuses on a young member of the tribe and his development through participation in the many rituals so important to the Ojibway way of life, from the Naming Ceremony and the Vision Quest to the War Path, and from the Marriage Ceremony to the Ritual of the Dead. In the style of a tribal storyteller, Johnston preserves the attitudes and beliefs of forest dwellers and hunters whose lives were vitalized by a sense of the supernatural and of mystery. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51370090758367,"sku":"9780803275737","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/QDobVbf3dT9780803275737.webp?v=1789150338"},{"product_id":"ojibway-tales-paperback","title":"Ojibway Tales - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Ojibway Indians' sense of humor sparkles through these stories set on the fictional Moose Meat Point Indian Reserve, connected by a dirt road to the town of Blunder Bay. If some of them seem \"farfetched and even implausible,\" Basil L. Johnston writes, \"it is simply because human beings very often act and conduct their affairs and those of others in an absurd manner.\" These twenty-two stories were originally collected under the title \u003ci\u003eMoose Meat and Wild Rice\u003c\/i\u003e. Among the most memorable of the stories is \"They Don't Want No Indians,\" in which all attempts are made to circumvent bureaucratic red tape and transport a dead Indian to his home for burial. One of the funniest is \"Indian Smart: Moose Smart,\" which pits a moose in a lake against six Moose Meaters in two canoes. \"If You Want to Play\" and \"Secular Revenge\" are the result of misunderstanding or imperfect communication. Still other stories, like \"What Is Sin?\" and \"The Kiss and the Moonshine,\" reveal the clash of different cultural approaches. All show the warm-heartedness and good will of the Ojibway Indians. If they are gently satirized, so are the whites who would change them, and with good reason. Government ineptitude and rigid piety are foisted on the Moose Meaters, who have only thirty thousand acres to move around in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Ojibway Indians' sense of humor sparkles through these stories set on the fictional Moose Meat Point Indian Reserve, connected by a dirt road to the town of Blunder Bay. If some of them seem \"far-fetched and even implausible\", Basil L. Johnston writes, \"it is simply because human beings very often act and conduct their affairs and those of others in an absurd manner\". These twenty-two stories were originally collected under the title Moose Meat and Wild Rice. Among the most memorable of the stories is \"They Don't Want No Indians\", in which all attempts are made to circumvent bureaucratic red tape and transport a dead Indian to his home for burial. One of the funniest is \"Indian Smart: Moose Smart\", which pits a moose in a lake against six Moose Meaters in two canoes. \"If You Want to Play\" and \"Secular Revenge\" are the result of misunderstanding or imperfect communication. Still other stories, like \"What Is Sin?\" and \"The Kiss and the Moonshine\", reveal the clash of different cultural approaches. All show the warm-heartedness and good will of the Ojibway Indians. If they are gently satirized, so are the whites who would change them, and with good reason. Government ineptitude and rigid piety foisted on the Moose Meaters, who have only thirty thousand acres to move around in.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51370092134623,"sku":"9780803275782","price":18.31,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/4NR3Nao8hp9780803275782.webp?v=1789150340"},{"product_id":"honour-earth-mother-paperback","title":"Honour Earth Mother - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHonour Earth Mother\u003c\/i\u003e is an inspiring reminder of the affection and reverence that the Native peoples of North America have had for the land. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor Native peoples the earth was special, the dwelling place of manitous and spirits and the repository of the bones of generations of ancestors. And the earth remains today a deep wellspring of revelations and unveiled mysteries for those who take time to watch, listen, and reflect.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCelebrated Ojibwa writer Basil Johnston invites us to go into the woods and meadows, mountains, valleys, and seashores to watch miracles still unfolding, to listen to nature's symphonies, to feel the pulse of the earth, to take in the fragrances, and to sense the awesome. His stories of the creatures, seasons, and landscape of the earth reveal a land that has never stopped brimming with beauty, song, and dance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51378339283167,"sku":"9780803276222","price":16.15,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/oV7iZN9zlV9780803276222.webp?v=1789254439"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/basil-johnston.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}