Okibwe Story: Jingle Dress Origin

The term Ojibwe comes from Utchibou, name given to the XVIIe century to a group who lived north of what is now Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.Here is one of their tales: Jingle Dress Origin.

The Ojibway were part of a series of very close, but distinct groups, occupying a territory located between the northeast of the bay Georgian and eastern Lake Superior. These peoples who gathered near present-day Sault Ste. Mary are also called Saulteaux, a term that today refers primarily to the Ojibway peoples of northwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba.

Ojibwe Jingle Dress Origin

Jingle Dress Origin

This story was passed on from generation in the Ojibway Nation
and it came as a vision.

An elderly man had a daughter who was very sick. He prayed and
offered tobacco to his creator for his daughter to get well. A vision
came to him to make his daughter a dress (a jingle dress) made of
jingles.She was to wear this dress to make her well.

In the Ojibway Tribe from the Lake of the Woods area this is called
“Odiizeoon.” That means it is something given through
a vision for a particular person from the spirit world. They were
instructed to prepare a feast for the dress to give thanks to the creator.

This jingle dress is held very highly in the Ojibway Nation. It
is very sacred because of its origin and the purpose it was given.
Because it was given in this manner it is to be treated with respect.