Manitou is a term used to designate the spirits among many Algonquian groups. This article is about the large number of peoples speaking Algonquian languages. It refers to the concept of one aspect of the interconnection and balance of nature/life, similar to the East Asian concept of qi; in simpler terms it can refer to a spirit. In traditional Chinese culture, qi (zh [[wikt氣 氣]] Pinyin qì, Wade-Giles ch'i Jyutping The English word " spirit " comes from the Latin " spiritus " (breath This spirit is seen as a (contactable) person as well as a concept. Everything has its own manitou—every plant, every stone and even machines. In the shamanistic traditions the manitous (or manidoog or manidoowag) are connected to achieve a desired effect, like plant manitous for healing or the buffalo manitou for a good hunt. In the Anishinaabeg tradition manidoowag are one aspect of the Great Connection. Anishinaabe or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek (which is the plural form of the word is a self-description often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe Related terms used by the Anishinaabeg are manidoowish for small animal manidoowag and manidoons for insects; both terms mean "little spirit".

These Manitous do not exist in a hierarchy like European gods/goddesses, but are more akin to one part of the body interacting with another and the spirit of everything.

The name of the Canadian Province of Manitoba is etymologically related to the word "manitou", and likely meant something like "narrows of the Manitou" or "strait of the Manitou" in Cree or Ojibwe. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Manitoba (English ˌmænɨˈtoʊbə French /manitoba/ is a province of Canada, spanning 647797 square kilometres (250116  sq mi of North America Cree (also known as Cree-Montagnais Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi is the name for a group of closely-related Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117000 people across ^[1] Also Manitoulin Island means "spirit island". Manitoulin Island is a Canadian island in Lake Huron, in the province of Ontario.

Popular culture

In the first season X-Files episode 'Shapes,' Mulder and Scully find themselves investigating a case involving a creature identified as a manitou. The X-Files is a Peabody, Golden Globe and Emmy Award -winning American Science fiction television series created by Chris Carter " Shapes " is the nineteenth episode of the first season of The X-Files science-fiction television series created by Chris Special Agent Fox William Mulder, nicknamed "Spooky" Mulder is a Fictional character played by David Duchovny on the 1993 - 2002 Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully MD is a Fictional character on the Fox Broadcasting Co The episode erroneously portrays the manitou in a destructive and negative manner, similar in nature to a wendigo, werewolf or skin-walker. The Wendigo (also Windigo, Weendigo, Windago, Windiga, Witiko, Wihtikow, and numerous other variants is a mythical creature See also Lycanthropy (disambiguation Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to In some Native American legends a skin-walker is a person with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal he or she desires

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