Grandmother of Nanabozho in Ojibwe mythology
Nokomis is the name ofNanabozho's grandmother in theOjibwe traditional stories and was the name ofHiawatha's grandmother inHenry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem,The Song of Hiawatha, which is a re-telling of the Nanabozho stories. Nokomis is an important character in the poem, mentioned in the familiar lines:
- By the shores ofGitche Gumee,
- By the shining Big-Seawater
- Stood the wigwam of Nokomis
- Daughter of the moon Nokomis.
- Dark behind it rose the forest
- Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees
- Rose the firs with cones upon them
- Bright before it beat the water
- Beat the clear and sunny water
- Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
According to the poem,From the full moon fell Nokomis/Fell the beautiful Nokomis. She bears a daughter, Wenonah. Despite Nokomis' warnings, Wenonah allows herself to be seduced by the West-Wind,Mudjekeewis,Till she bore a son in sorrow/Bore a son of love and sorrow/Thus was born my Hiawatha.
Abandoned by the heartless Mudjekeewis, Wenonah dies in childbirth, leaving Hiawatha to be raised by Nokomis.The wrinkled old Nokomis/Nursed the little Hiawatha and educates him.
In theOjibwe language,nookomis means "my grandmother,"[1] thus portraying Nokomis of the poem and theaadizookaan (Ojibwe traditional stories) from a more personal point of view, akin to the traditional Ojibwa narrative styles.
Things named after Nokomis
[edit]- United States
- Nokomis Avenue, a broad road inChicago andLincolnwood, Illinois.
- Nokomis Avenue, a street inMinneapolis.
- Camp Nokomis, all girls sleepaway camp run by the Merrimack ValleyYMCA. Camp Lawrence is the boys camp that is on the same island and run by the same YMCA.
- Nokomis, Alabama, a community inEscambia County, Alabama which was a railroad stop
- Nokomis,Escambia County, Florida, a community in northwest Florida adjoiningNokomis, Escambia County, Alabama. While not a census designated place, the name reference is in local use.
- Nokomis,Sarasota County,Florida, acensus-designated place.
- Nokomis Township, Buena Vista County, Iowa
- Nokomis, Illinois, a city
- Nokomis, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a neighborhood
- Lake Nokomis, part of a chain of lakes connected byMinnehaha Creek inMinneapolis, Minnesota
- Nokomis Regional High School, inNewport, Maine
- The Nokomis Native American Cultural Learning Center inOkemos, Michigan
- Nokomis Elementary School, inUkiah, California
- Nokomis Park inCheektowaga (town), New York
- Nokomis Groves, a landmark.
- Nokomis Pond, town reservoir of Newport, Maine[2]
- Lake Nokomis, created in 1911 by a dam that is now called Harry Reasoner dam in Humboldt, Iowa.
- Lake Nokomis, in Oneida and Lincoln counties, Wisconsin
- Lake Nokomis, a reservoir in the vicinity ofRed Feather Lakes Village inLarimer County,Colorado
- Nokomis Township, Oneida County, Wisconsin
- Lake Nokomis (Rice Reservoir on Tomahawk River) in Lincoln/Oneida counties in Wisconsin
- Nokomis Inc. Small privately owned business located inCharleroi, Pennsylvania.
- Nokomis Elementary School, Sachem CSD, Ronkonkoma, New York. (Sachem also includes a Hiawatha & Wenonah elementary schools).
- Nokomis Road,Sudbury, Massachusetts.
- Nokomis Road,Wilbraham, Massachusetts.
- Nokomis Road,Apple Valley, California.
- Nokomis Way,Natick, Massachusetts.
- Nokomis Elementary,Medford Lakes, New Jersey
- Canada
Nokomis is also a character in Richard Adams' fantasy novelMaia. She has a son called Anda Nokomis.
- USS Nokomis (YT-142) was a fleet tug that was in the Yard Craft Dock of the Navy Yard at the beginning of the Japanese attack onPearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. She provided assistance to other ships and survived the attack.
Nokomis Pottery Red Wing Minnesota
[edit]Red Wing Potteries Inc. produced Nokomis glazed pottery from 1929 to 1934.[4]
