Interesting Facts of The Algonquin Tribes
The leader of each Algonquin Tribe is called Ogima or Ogema, which is translated as “Chief” in English. The Ogima used to be chosen by their tribal council members, often from their last Chief’s sons, nephews or sons-in-law. Today Ogimas are elected by the Algonquins, just like governors or mayors. They were scared to reveal their real names because they were firm believers in witchcraft and thought people with spiritual powers would use them for evil.
Some bands are English speaking and others are French Speaking. Some of the Algonquin population also speak their native Algonquin language. Algonquin is a musical language that has complicated verbs with many parts. If you’d like to learn a few easy Algonquin words “Kwey” rhymes with the word “day” which is a friendly greeting like “ Hello” and “Megwetch” means “Thank you”. It is also spelled a number of other ways such as Mìgwetch, Migwetc, Miigwetc, Mìgwech, Miigwech, and so on. Algonquin was not traditionally a written language, so the spellings of Algonquin words in English sometimes can vary a lot.
The Algonquin Traditional Territory includes parts of western Quebec and Ontario, centering mainly on the Ottawa River and its tributaries. They became allies to the Iroquois tribes and they did a great deal of trading with them.
Dance and music makes up a large part of the Algonquin celebrations.
What did the Algonquin Tribes use for weapons and tools?
hat did the Algonquin Tribes live in?
The Algonquins didn’t live in Teepees. For most of the year they lived in settled villages of birchbark houses called Waginogans or Wigwams.
What did the Algonquin Tribes do with the animals they hunted?
Early hunting Buffalo not only provided meat for their families, they made good use of every animal part and no part of any animal was ever wasted.
You can see in the nearby photo the complete description for the use of the buffalo. Later on when hunting other animals, they also made similar use of every part of moose, deer, elk, caribou, bears, wolves and beavers. They not only hunted for food but they found a very important use for every part of any animal they hunted.
