Originally Posted by
gazhekwe
The First Fire
The first prophet said to the people, "In the time of the First Fire, the Anishinaabe nation will rise up and follow the sacred shell [[Megis) of the Midewiwin Lodge. The Midewiwin Lodge will serve as a rallying point for the people and its traditional ways will be the source of much strength. The Sacred Megis will lead the way to the chosen ground of the Anishinabe. You are to look for a turtle shaped island that is linked to the purification of the earth. You will find such an island at the beginning and at the end of your journey. There will be seven stopping places along the way. You will know the chosen ground has been reached when you come to a land where food grows on water. If you do not move you will be destroyed."
This interpretation is from Lindala, working with Benay:
The move from the east took over five hundred years, taking the Anishinaabe through what is now New York, lower Michigan, Ontario and eventually to Moningwunakauning – place of the golden-breasted woodpecker – what is understood today to be near the Red Cliff reservation in Wisconsin. ....
“At the time of these predictions,” Benton-Banai shares, “many people scoffed at the prophets. They then had mush-kee-ki-wi-nun [[medicine) to keep away sickness. These were the people who chose to stay behind on the great migration. These people were the first to have contact. They would suffer the most.”
Interpretation from what I heard as a child
It is said the First Prophecy foretells a great disease that would kill everyone unless they moved from their place on the Atlantic near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. Their quest lasted many generations. Some say the Island shaped like a turtle was in the St. Lawrence River, some say it is Mackinac [[Turtle) Island, some say it is Madeline Island at the western end of Lake Superior. Although in our area of the eastern UP we believe it was Michilimackinac, the Great Turtle, Madeline is regarded as the center of the Midewiwin [[Medicine Way).
Some went even farther west, as far as north central Montana, where now there is a reservation of Ojibwe and Cree, Rocky Boy's Reservation.
The Sacred Shell is generally represented as a cowry shell.