Nimkiik—The Thunders

The “thunder beings” (nimkiik) were a strong spiritual part of the world of the Ojibwe. Francis Pegahmagabow’s great-great-grandfather Bebagamigaabaw, a Muskoka band chief from whom the family surname originated, was named in part for the power of both thunder and wind spirits. So too was Francis’s great-grandfather James Pegahmagabow Sr. (Beskinekwam or “The Thunder That Sets Things on Fire”), also named from the thunder spirits. As Francis related to Diamond Jenness in 1929, “When my great-grandfather was a baby his father joined a war-party against the Indians to the south. One day when the sky was almost cloudless a bolt of lightning set fire to a tree near the home camp. Then the people knew that the party was engaged in battle, and they named my great-grandfather Beskinekwam, ‘the thunder that sets things on fire.’” Thunder is animate in the Ojibwe language and a respected part of the natural world. Its presence inspired offerings of tobacco and the quiet attention of the people while its cleansing and healing energy was brought to the earth...http://indigenouswarhero.org/nimkiik-the-thunders/