Information AboutKeewaydinoquay Peschel |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT KEEWAYDINOQUAY PESCHEL | |
| 1919 births | |
| peschel, keewaydinoquay | |
| herbalists | |
| ethnobotanist | |
| year of birth missing | |
| 1999 deaths | |
| medicine woman | |
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According to her biography she was born in a fishing boat en route to the hospital from Garden Island, which capsized shortly thereafter, and her survival was interpreted as miraculous. Some believe that this story of her birth at sea is probably a myth. Her childhood name, meaning Walks with Bears, derived from an incident where as a toddler she was left on a blanket as her parents gathered blueberries, returning to see her standing by bears, eating blueberries off the bushes. Her adult name means "Woman of the Northwest Wind" and came from her vision quest. Giblin, Nan J. Keewaydinoquay, Woman-of-the-Northwest-Wind: The Life and Philosophy of a Native American Teacher.1998 She apprenticed with the noted Anishinaabeg medicine woman Nodjimahkwe from the age of 9 and worked for many years as a medicine woman, at a time when her people had little access to conventional medical care, and when conventional medical care failed to cure them reportedly healing more than several patients deemed to be terminally ill. At the age of 57 she decided to study anthropology, realizing that people would listen to her more if she had a degree. http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1978-09-01/Profiles.aspx She received a Master of Education Degree from where she was a professor in the 1980s, and lectured at herbal conferences. She lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan , in a house located on the site of an old Indian village where bones and relics were unearthed in a 1952 excavation, which she dreamed as becoming a center for Native Americans living in the Ann Arbor area and which she hoped to see designated as a historic site. She also spent much of her time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the home of her dear friend Martha Best, professor of French at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She also owned a house in Leland, Michigan. http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1978-09-01/Profiles.aspx She was the author of several books on herbs, Native American medicine and Native American stories for children and adults. Nkomis (Grandmother) Keewaydinoquay founded the Miniss Kitigan Drum, a non-profit organization supporting the preservation and evolution of Great Lakes Native American traditions with due accordance and respect for Anishinabeg and Midewiwin rites. Some have said that the organization functioned somewhat like a cult under the charismatic leadership of Keewaydinoquay. Nkomis "stood West" for (Initiated) many members of the Minis Kitigan Drum, undergoing the sacred rite of Visionquest after the Midewiwin tradition, and also performed legal marriages, led sweat lodges and performed healing ceremonies. It has been observed that there was a fair amount of attrition in the membership of the Minis Kitigan Drum. Some attributed this to the large number of people for whom Keewaydinoquay performed visionquests, claiming she was unable to provide the proper life-long guidance that an elder traditionally would have given individuals he or she guided through such a ceremony. The group did not have strong ties with any established or recognized tribes in the area, and attracted mostly members of non-native descent. Some former members have said that because of this, they questioned the authenticity of Keewaydinoquay's teachings. Despite her many achievements, she was the subject of a fair amount of controversy. She was secretive about her age, refusing to divulge it to members of the Minis Kitigan Drum. The history of her home in Leland was debated among occupants of the building and local residents. It was said to be a former parsonage and it was also said to be a former funeral home. A large, dark paneled room on the first floor housed a large taxidermy collection of animals of various sizes. A former resident reported that a human skeleton was kept in the attic for years, waiting to be repatriated from a university collection to a proper burial ground. Some claim the house was located on the site of an ancient Native American burial ground. She died on July 21, 1999 and was honored with a traditional Midewiwin ceremony on Garden Island. In March 2002, the Holly Hill Trust of Leland received a $11,520 Public Humanities Development grant for The Lifestory of Keewaydinoquay, Woman Between Worlds. The project includes researching the journals, work, letters, audio tapes, and oral teaching of Keewaydinoquay. The goal is to create a volume that shares the stories of her working life as a teacher, including her photos, drawing, and poetry. The project will create a biography of Keewaydinoquay and offer a lecture series in the region.http://michiganhumanities.org/grants/2002-keewaydinoquay.htm PUBLICATIONS
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