Regional Nunnehi Family: Nigigwayaan
Author's notes: I am not a speaker of Ojibwe and I apologize for mangling things. Corrections are welcomed. Nigigwayaan Regional Family of Yunwi Amai’yine’hi A small, but wide ranging, family of Nunnehi, the Nigigwayaan live along the shore, islands, and rivers of Lake Superior. Those born Nigigwayaan are the river otter children of the woman-who-had-enough-of-people. These children manifest their first Gift, the power to take off their skin and become a human. Like the Selkies and the Yunwi Amai’yine’hi they have a powerful affinity for the sea -- specifically the great lake and its system of rivers and lakes. In the time since the Nigigwayaan were created some have passed their otter skins on to humans, creating a second sort of otters who were born human but became Nigigwayaan later in life. These are often groomed for their Nigigwayaan “parent”’s gift of the skin, bringing them into very close contact with the manidoo-aki, the Ojibwe Dreaming. The “parent” giving up th...