Mooningwaanikaaning, the Ojibwe homeland on Madeline Island, means “home of the yellow-breasted flicker bird” and was the last-foretold stopping point on the Ojibwe migration from the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean. Hundreds of years ago, a prophet instructed the Anishinaabeg to move west until they found the food that grows on water and a sacred island, where they could live mino-bimaadiziwin, to live in a good way with intention and to be in balance and at peace with yourself, others, and the environment. They carried the Water Drum, Sacred Scrolls, and the Sacred Fire from place to place for over 500 years, traveling hundreds of miles by jiimaanan along the Great Lakes. Oral tradition says a great miigis appeared in the sky to guide the Anishinaabeg on the journey. Some remained at stopping places and formed oodenawan, while others continued on. After reaching Lake Superior, some followed the northern route and others the southern route, and they later met near what is now Duluth, Minnesota, recognizing one another by sharing the same songs. Those who had taken the southern route told their relatives about an island they had passed, and the people felt drawn to it and believed they would find mino-bimaadiziwin there. They traveled to Mooningwaanikaaning, placed tobacco on the shore, and the miigis rose up, confirming that this was the ancestral homeland they had been seeking.