The Importance of Water for Neshnabék

The Importance of Water for Neshnabék. . Neshnabék, or "the true humans" as Potawatomi refer to themselves, maintain a special relationship to water. Recognizing its importance for all living beings, Neshnabék continue to honor water through ceremonies and prayers. More recently, they have also become involved in women's water walks to protect this sacred resource for generations to come. Historically the waterways surrounding this site were known as "Pottowottomee Lake", but are now a fraction of the size that they were in antiquity. Like many of the waterways in the Great Lakes region, it was dredged and drained to make way for American settlement and farming as well as the modern day development of harbors and marinas. These actions not only impacted the lives of the local Potawatomi, they also contributed to the name of the state of Michigan whose name derives from an Algonquian word: Mzhigénak (Potawatomi) or mzhigénêng (Odawa). They both mean "the place that has been clear cut." This refers to Michigan's changing landscape in the early years of the United States as large amounts of clear-cutting for farmland and development were underway. These practices had many negative environmental effects such as the extinction of marine species and the near annihilation of wild rice paddies - a traditional food source for Neshnabék that grows on water. Today. the Pokagon Band is in the process of revitalizing wild rice in Southwest Michigan to improve the health of their water, lands, and community.