Metaphors
On occasion, instead of referring to the totem by the actual being's name, a clan is identified instead by a metaphor describing the characteristic of the clan's totem. The metaphors that survive to today include:
- Baswenaazhi "Echo-maker" = Ajijaak(we) "Crane"
- Nooke "Tender" = Makwa "Bear"
- Bimaawidaasi "Carrier" = Amik(we) "Beaver"
- Giishkizhigwan "Cut-tail" = Maanameg "Catfish"
- Bemaangik "Pass-by Sounder" = Owewe "Wild Goose"
Read more about this topic: Anishinaabe Clan System
Famous quotes containing the word metaphors:
“This fellow mixes his metaphors the way a toper does his drinks and, I daresay, gets just as tipsy on them.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“Life, as the most ancient of all metaphors insists, is a journey; and the travel book, in its deceptive simulation of the journey’s fits and starts, rehearses life’s own fragmentation. More even than the novel, it embraces the contingency of things.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)