Boundary Waters Canoe Area Pictographs Depict Ojibwe Constellations

Summary: Boundary Waters Canoe Area pictographs depict Ojibwe constellations that occupy familiar places in the nighttime sky over northeastern Minnesota.

North Hegram Lake pictographs may depict Ojibwe constellations of Wintermaker, Curly Tail the Great Panther and Mooz the Moose; Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), Saint Louis County, northeastern Minnesota; Tuesday, July 15, 2003, 15:10: Etphonehome, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Boundary Waters Canoe Area pictographs depict Ojibwe constellations that correspond with placements of such dominant constellations as Orion and Pegasus the Winged Horse in the night sky over northeastern Minnesota.

The U.S. Forest Service administers Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), also known as Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), as one of 803 wilderness areas in the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS), according to Wilderness Connect website. BWCAW is located within the United States National Forest System's Superior National Forest, which lies in northeastern Minnesota's Arrowhead Region. These federal lands fall within the Boundary Waters region, also known as Quetico-Superior Country, that straddles the United States-Canada border between Minnesota and Ontario. Boundary Waters Canoe Area's northern boundary stretches along Quetico Provincial Park's southern boundary.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is included in Ojibwe homelands. The Ojibwe (pronounce: Oh-jib-way) are a nation within the Anishinaabe (pronounced: uh-NISH-ih-NAH-bay) cultural and linguistic group of indigenous peoples. Their homelands stretch from southern Canada to the northern Midwestern United States.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness sprawls across Minnesota's three northeastern counties of Cook, Lake and Saint Louis. North Hegman Lake lies within Saint Louis County, the westernmost of BWCAW's three counties, north of Ely. Well-preserved Ojibwe painted figures that decorate one of the lake's granite cliffs number among the almost hundred pictographs that nearly align from northeastern Minnesota to northeastern Canada's Hudson Bay, according to MPR News reporter Dan Olson's Sept. 18, 2015, interview with Carl Gawboy.

Carl Gawboy (born May 21, 1942), muralist and painter of Bois Forte Ojibwe and Finnish descent, connects the North Hegman Lake pictographs with Ojibwe constellations. The three most noticeable figures represent a human with outstretched arms above a long-tailed, four-legged animal and a moose.

Gawboy associates the human with the Ojibwe Biboonkeonini ("Wintermaker") constellation, which occupies Orion the Hunter's place in the night sky. Amateur astronomer Robert "Bob" P. King (born Aug. 9, 1953), known as Astrobob, describes Wintermaker as a powerful canoeist in his Nov. 12, 2014, Sky & Telescope post. He notes that Wintermaker's arms extend beyond Orion the Hunter's constellation's boundaries. Wintermaker touches Taurus the Bull constellation's brightest star, Aldebaran (α Tauri, Alpha Tauri; Alpha Tau, α Tau), with his left hand. His right hand reaches Canis Minor the Lesser Dog constellation's brightest star, Procyon (α Canis Minoris, Alpha Canis Minoris; α CMi, Alpha CMi).

Gawboy identifies the curvy-tailed, four-legged creature to Wintermaker's lower left as Ojibwe constellation Mishi Bizhiw ("underwater panther"). Astrobob's article references the creature as Mishi Bizhiw the Mountain Lion or Great Panther. Dakota Sioux artist, astrophysicist and Native Skywatchers founder Annette S. Lee and co-authors Carl Gawboy, Ojibwe Knowledge Keeper (elder) William Wilson and Ojibwe artist Jeff Tibbetts designate the constellation as Mishi Bizhiw the Great Panther in Ojibwe Constellation Guide - Ojibwe Giizhig Anung Masinaaigan Ojibwe Sky Star Map (2014). They explain that the figure represents Minnesota's once abundant "mountain lion/cougar/puma." Mishi Bizhiew is known as Curly Tail and rules spring in an overhead placement.

Astrobob points out that Curly Tail's borders stretch to Leo the Lion and Cancer the Crab constellations. The Great Panther's curly tail "re-purposes" Leo's Sickle asterism. Curly Tail's back receives definition from stars in Cancer the Crab. Anishinaabe educator and writer Michael Wassegijig Price notes that Curly Tail's head overlaps with the head of Hydra the Water Snake constellation.

Gawboy finds the Ojibwe constellation of Mooz the Moose overlapping with Pegasus the Winged Horse constellation. Mooz the Moose constellation's upright stance in Ojibwe astronomy contrasts with Pegasus the Winged Horse constellation's upside down outline in Northern Hemisphere skies.

Lacerta the Lizard constellation also contributes to Mooz the Moose's composition, according to Ojibwe Constellation Guide - Ojibwe Giizhig Anung Masinaaigan Ojibwe Sky Star Map (2014). Lacerta's zigzag of stars forms Mooz the Moose's palmate antler.

The Ojibwe Constellation Guide places Mooz the Moose with autumn's stars. Dan Malerbo, education and program development coordinator of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium, identifies the moose's overlapping IAU (International Astronomical Union) modern constellation, Pegasus the Winged Horse, as one of autumn's two dominant constellations. Pegasus shares rule of autumnal skies with Andromeda the Chained Woman.

Carl Gawboy relates in Talking Sky: Ojibwe Constellations as a Reflection of Life on the Land, which he co-authored with University of Minnesota-Duluth Geology Professor Ron Morton in 2014, that the pictographs at North Hegman Lake enlightened him as to the relevance of astronomy to annual cycles for the Ojibwe. North Hegman Lake's Wintermaker, Curly Tail and Mooz convey the seasonality of their constellations as respective rulers of winter, spring and autumn.

The takeaways for Boundary Waters Canoe Area pictographs depicting Ojibwe constellations are that Ojibwe-Finnish artist and author Carl Gawboy links three figures in the federal wilderness area's North Hegman Lake to Wintermaker, Curly Tail and Mooz constellations; that the three constellations convey seasonality by their respective dominances in winter, spring and autumn; and that Wintermaker and Mooz primarily overlap with two IAU constellations (Orion the Hunter, Pegasus the Winged Horse).

Contact details:
Superior National Forest
8901 Grand Ave Place
Duluth, MN 55808

Direct questions to:(218) 626-4300

website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/superior/specialplaces/?cid=fseprd555184

Mooz the Moose (lower right, near February), Ojiig the Fisher (center left) and Maang the Loon (center) of Ojibwe astronomy coincide, respectively, with Perseus the Winged Horse, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor of the IAU's 88 modern constellations; Mishi Bizhiw the Great Panther, called Curly Tail (upper left), borrows from Leo the Lion, Cancer the Crab and Hydra the Water Snake: Nikki Rajala @NikkiRajalaAuthor, via Facebook Sept. 7, 2020

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

North Hegram Lake pictographs may depict Ojibwe constellations of Wintermaker, Curly Tail the Great Panther and Mooz the Moose; Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), Saint Louis County, northeastern Minnesota; Tuesday, July 15, 2003, 15:10: Etphonehome, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hegman_Lake_Pictographs.jpg

Mooz the Moose (lower right, near February), Ojiig the Fisher (center left) and Maang the Loon (center) of Ojibwe astronomy coincide, respectively, with Perseus the Winged Horse, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor of the IAU's 88 modern constellations; Mishi Bizhiw the Great Panther, called Curly Tail (upper left), borrows from Leo the Lion, Cancer the Crab and Hydra the Water Snake: Nikki Rajala @NikkiRajalaAuthor, via Facebook Sept. 7, 2020, @ https://www.facebook.com/NikkiRajalaAuthor/posts/4262938017110219?__tn__=-R

For further information:

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