Book Summary: Night Flying Woman

Book Summary Night Flying Woman is a story about a young girl who had to make a lot of changes during her life. In the beginning of this story Oona(Ni-bo-wi-se-gwe) was a young child who observed from her elders. Her own story is reflected from the hardships she had to go through as a child and how she had to grow as a Native American Woman during the time in which they were being contained and assimilated. It is a story based on the Ojibwe culture.
Birth
Ni-bo-wi-se-gwe was born after the blueberry harvesting and before the wild rice harvesting. 3 weeks after her birth was the time in which she was to be named. Her mother and father decided to have A-wa-sa-si be the namer. A-wa-sa-si was wise, old, and good. There ceremony and feast were held in the autumn season. The baby’s first learning experience is by observing.
Young Girl During the spring season, there was feast held for a clansman. The Ojibway listened to him speak of a new stranger. The clansmen described the strangers as pale and who’s eyes were blue, green, or grey. He did not leave a good feeling for the Ojibway people as he said that these strangers were having Ojibway people mark papers to rule over where they can stay. The threats of the strangers soon became a real turn for the Ojibway.

She had to leave everything that belonged to her behind. Oona contributed in a huge way by passing down the stories in which she learned and experienced. The Ojibway contributed though story telling. In each generation of Ojibway there will be a person who will hear the si-si-gwa-d, who will listen and remember and pass it on to their children. The Ojibway people worked as a team by harvesting rice and storing food. They respected the earth and the animal people. A huge custom of the Ojibway people was when they would get assigned an animal. Even when Oona became a woman and started working on a farm they still practiced the old customs and the old way of