Bineseewug: The relationship of thunderbeings and thunderbirds to the Anishinaabek Great Lakes Native American people

In the Great Lakes Anishinaabek culture, the species boundaries between human beings, known as Anishinaabek (the man that was hence lowered down to earth from the skyworld), and Bineseewug (Ojibwe word for thunderbeings) are intertwined and culturally interrelated. This presentation will explore who the thunderbeings are, how they gave cultural fertilization to the humans that identify today as Anishinaabek, and what relationships exist and how they are maintained in today’s multicultural, multi-religious North American ecosystem.  Both field research and personal cultural experiential knowledge will inform this discussion. The gifts, medicines, and songs of the thunderbeings will be explored in an effort to help us understand these complex relationships across these species boundaries.