Medicine bag
Encyclopedia
Medicine man
"Medicine man" or "Medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples...
, or shaman, of a tribe who would carry one. As something that holds supernatural items, the medicine bag must also have some power of its own.
Medicine bag proper
Medicine items attributed with various supernatural abilities for the bag would often be procured in a tribal custom known as a vision questVision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures.In many Native American groups, the vision quest is a turning point in life taken before puberty to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. When an older child is ready, he or she will go on a personal,...
. This ceremony includes personal sacrifice: fasting and prayer over several days in a location isolated from the rest of the community. Though some tribes and their lodges may often involve hallucinogens, the Midewiwin
Midewiwin
The Midewiwin or the Grand Medicine Society is a secretive religion of the aboriginal groups of the Maritimes, New England and Great Lakes regions in North America. Its practitioners are called Midew and the practices of Midewiwin referred to as Mide...
do not. In Midewiwin, the medicine bag is used to store items of fetishism
Fetishism
A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
. The purpose is to make contact with natural spiritual forces that help or guide people to reach their potential. The spirits, or totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
s, would aid the individual to gather magical items, increase knowledge and aid personal growth.
Typical powers ascribed to medicine bags and their items include increasing hunting abilities, aiding fighting skills, healing allies, hindering enemies and altering the weather.
Many warriors carried a bag around the neck. They contained items that would remind the warrior of home, of where he came from.
Bandolier bag
Bandolier
A bandolier or a bandoleer is a pocketed belt for holding ammunition. It was usually slung over the chest. In its original form, it was common issue to soldiers from the 16th to 18th centuries. This was very useful for quickly reloading a musket....
bag is a bag with a wide strap, often ornately decorated with beadwork, presented to represent honors given to a worthy man. Though bandolier bags are closely associated with the Anishinaabe
Anishinaabe
Anishinaabe or Anishinabe—or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek, which is the plural form of the word—is the autonym often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin peoples. They all speak closely related Anishinaabemowin/Anishinaabe languages, of the Algonquian language family.The meaning...
g, they are not exclusively found among them as many bandolier bags have identifiable stylistic tribal and regional differences. Unlike a medicine bag made from the whole skin of an animal, a bandolier bag can be either pieced leather or fabric. Unlike a medicine bag that is always worn across the shoulder, a bandolier bag may be worn either across the shoulder to the side or in front like an apron. In the Anishinaabe language, "bandolier bag(s)" is aazhooningwa'igan(ag), literally meaning "worn across the shoulder" contributing to the confusion between it and a medicine bag.