“You will know the future of our people by what face the Light-skinned Race wears. If they come wearing the face of nee-kon’-nis-i-win’ (brotherhood), then there will come a time of wonderful change for generations to come. […] If they come carrying a weapon… beware. If they come in suffering…”
More than 1,000 years ago, along the Atlantic Ocean on the northeast coast of today’s Canada and United States, lived a collective group of First-Nations-people called the Anishinaabe. Though commonly translated as “Original Man” or the “Good Humans,” the word Anishinaabe can also mean “Spontaneous Beings.” Oral storytellers claim that in those days the Anishinaabeg were “so many and powerful that if one were to climb to the highest mountain and look in all directions, they would not be able to see the end of the nation.”
Living harmoniously in a close-knit and organized clan system, all citizens had assignments or duties to fulfill that contributed to the greater good of the Nation. They were berry pickers, stone carvers, canoe makers, and more. Planters who raised food from Mother Earth had a poetic name – “keepers of the Creator’s garden.” There was active communication among all groups of people.
The Anishinaabeg adhered to “The Seven Grandfather Teachings,” which are Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Truth. They also believed that each species of living being has a manitou, or spirit, that oversees their movements and presence on Earth.
The Anishinaabe First Nation is comprised of several subgroups, including the Ojibwe (Chippewa, Saulteaux, Nipissing, Mississauga), Odawa, and Potawatomi. They share a common language and cultural heritage. Additionally, the Anishinaabe people have intermarried with other indigenous nations over time, resulting in groups like the Oji-Cree and Métis.
For at least 600 years, a prophecy has been passed down through a lineage of the Anishinaabe keepers that predicts the future of their own people as well as the fate of the “light-skinned race,” leading all the way to the End of the World and the possible emergence of a New World. It’s called “The Seven Fires Prophecy.”
The prophecy is depicted on a traditional Wampum Belt, a “document” created by First-Nations-people to record historical events and treaty agreements among themselves and with European settlers.
The Honorable Edward Benton-Banai, also known as Bawdwaywidun, a spiritual teacher of the Ojibway First Nation, is often credited with bringing forth the Prophecy through his publication of “The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway” in 1988. “Mishomis” is an Ojibwe word for grandfather. Since then, the message has been gaining increased interest, because all of the seven prophecies appear to have been fulfilled in one way or another.
According to “The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway,” the prophecy came in a time of peace and abundance, when one day seven prophets appeared out of the Atlantic Ocean and visited the Anishinaabe, instructing them to prepare for a great calamity that would befall their land and people. Each prophet gave them a “fire” or a prophecy, pertaining to an event that would happen at a particular time in the future. Thus, the messages of the seven prophets are called “The Seven Fires.”
The first three prophets told the Anishinaabe that they must migrate West, away from their home on the northeastern coast, to a new land where “food grows on water.” If they did not, they would face destruction. The prophets told the people to follow their sacred Miigis, a shell used in spiritual ceremonies, and it would lead them to the chosen ground.
Heeding their advice, around 900 AD, some of the Anishinaabeg began moving west, an event known as the Great Migration. Along their journey, the sacred Miigis shell guided them to seven stopping places, which included present day Montreal, Quebec, Niagara Falls, the Detroit River in Michigan, Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, Sault Ste. Marie, Spirit Island in Duluth, Minnesota, and Madeline Island in Lake Superior.
Once the Anishinaabeg discovered “Manoomin,” or wild rice, an edible grain that grows out of the Great Lakes and surrounding freshwater sources, they knew instinctively that they had found the food that grows on water as foretold by the prophecy. It’s said that it took them 500 years to complete the journey and settle in the Great Lakes region of North America. Madeline Island became the spiritual and economic center of the Anishinaabe nation. At its peak, an estimated 10,000 First-Nations-people are said to have resided on the island.
On the other hand, the Anishinaabeg who chose not to migrate were the first to encounter European colonists who sailed to the shores of the Northeastern coastline in the 1500s and 1600s. In less than 200 years, the indigenous population in the area suffered great traumas and their numbers fell from approximately 30,000 to around 300 due to diseases, violence, and conflicts. Sadly, their fate also fulfilled the prophecy.
The Fourth Fire was given to the Anishinaabeg by two prophets who came together.
The first one said, “You will know the future of our people by what face the Light-skinned Race wears. If they come wearing the face of nee-kon’-nis-i-win’ (brotherhood), then there will come a time of wonderful change for generations to come. They will bring new knowledge and articles that can be joined with the knowledge of this country. In this way two nations will join to make a mighty nation. This new nation will be joined by two more so that the four will form the mightiest nation of all. You will know the face of brotherhood if the Light-skinned Race comes carrying no weapons. If they come bearing only their knowledge and a handshake.”
It’s commonly understood that the “four” races refer to the red (Indian), white (European), black (African), and yellow (Asian).
The other prophet said, “Beware if the Light-skinned Race comes wearing the face of ni-boo-win’ (death). You must be careful because the face of brotherhood and the face of death look very much alike. If they come carrying a weapon… beware. If they come in suffering… they could fool you. Their hearts may be filled with the greed of the riches of this land… Do not accept them in total trust. You shall know that the face they wear is one of death if the rivers run with poison…”
History shows that both of these prophecies have materialized to a greater or lesser degree. The “light-skinned race” did come, some wearing the face of brotherhood, and others wearing the face of death.
In the Great Lakes Region during the early 1600s, French explorers, such as Samuel de Champlain, made contact with the Anishinaabeg. They sought only trade, and brought many gifts, including metal knives, axes, kettles, and pots, woven cloth, coats, and colored glass beads. These people came in Brotherhood and were welcomed by the First-Nations-people. The Anishinaabeg incorporated the French into their society through peace rituals and marriage, which birthed part of the Métis Indigenous Community.
However, the Anishinaabe on the Northeast Coast met new settlers wearing a completely different face. As the prophecy foretold, their rivers did run with “poison” with what experts now believe to be leptospirosis, a zoonotic disease that arrived with the ships. The “poison” claimed countless indigenous lives. Many First-Nations-people’s villages were destroyed, along with the garden paradise the Anishinaabeg had tended for thousands of years.
Thus, both sides of the fourth prophecy were fulfilled.
The fifth prophet said, “In the time of the Fifth Fire there will come a time of great struggle that will grip the lives of all Native people. At the waning of this Fire there will come among the people, one who holds a promise of great joy and salvation. If the people accept this promise of a new way and abandon the old teachings, then the struggle of the Fifth Fire will be with the people for many generations. The promise that comes will prove to be a false promise. All those who accept this promise will cause the near destruction of the people.”
As it turned out, the French and English explorers brought missionaries, who managed to convert many Anishinaabeg away from the teachings of their elders with promises of eternal salvation through their own belief system.
European traders enticed the First-Nations-people to abandon their traditional way of life for economic development and prosperity through largescale trade. As more and more challenging measures were imposed upon the Anishinaabe people, their traditional way of life quickly declined.
Thus, the struggle of the Fifth Fire was with the people for many generations, and the time of the Sixth Fire had come. We’ll examine the remaining prophecies of the Seven Fires in the next episode.
