Nokomis is the name of Nanabozho's grandmother in the Ojibwe traditional stories and was the name of Hiawatha's grandmother in Henry 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 of Gitche 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 the Ojibwe language, nookomis means "my grandmother," thus portraying Nokomis of the poem and the aadizookaan (Ojibwe traditional stories) from a more personal point of view, akin to the traditional Ojibwa narrative styles.
Things named after Nokomis
Places
- United States
- Nokomis Avenue, a broad road in Chicago and Lincolnwood, Illinois.
- Nokomis Avenue, a street in Minneapolis.
- Camp Nokomis, all girls sleepaway camp run by the Merrimack Valley YMCA. Camp Lawrence is the boys camp that is on the same island and run by the same YMCA.
- Nokomis, Alabama, a community in Escambia County, Alabama which was a railroad stop
- Nokomis, Escambia County, Florida, a community in northwest Florida adjoining Nokomis, Escambia County, Alabama. While not a census designated place, the name reference is in local use.
- Nokomis, Sarasota County, Florida, a census-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 by Minnehaha Creek in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Nokomis Regional High School, in Newport, Maine
- The Nokomis Native American Cultural Learning Center in Okemos, Michigan
- Nokomis Elementary School, in Ukiah, California
- Nokomis Park in Cheektowaga (town), New York
- Nokomis Groves, a landmark.
- Nokomis Pond, town reservoir of Newport, Maine
- 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 of Red Feather Lakes Village in Larimer 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 in Charleroi, 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, Saskatchewan
- Nokomis Trail, part of Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario
- Nokomis Park, part of Larose Forest in Limoges, Ontario, Limoges Village, Prescott-Russell counties, Ontario
In fiction
Nokomis is also a character in Richard Adams' fantasy novel Maia. She has a son called Anda Nokomis.
Vessels
- 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 on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. She provided assistance to other ships and survived the attack.
- SS Delphine (1921) was originally named Nomokis.
Nokomis Pottery Red Wing Minnesota
Red Wing Potteries Inc. produced Nokomis glazed pottery from 1929 to 1934.
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