Gitche Manitou

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Gitche Manitou (or Gichi-Manidoo, Gitchi Manitou, Gitchie Manitou, Gitchee Manitou, or Kitche Manitou), in traditional Algonquian First Nations culture, is the Great Spirit, the Creator of all things and the Giver of Life. "Manitou" is an Algonquin word for "spirit", and "Gitche Manitou" means "Great Spirit". French explorers reported the name as "Grand Manitou".

The name of the Province of Manitoba, or Manitou-abah, in Canada, is obviously related to this Algonquian or Ojibway word for Spirit, Creator, or even Great Spirit.

In addition to the Algonquin proper, Gitche Manitou was known to the related Odawa and Ojibwe tribes. Furthermore, references to the Great Manitou by the Cheyenne and the Oglala (notably in the recollections of Black Elk), indicate that belief in this deity extended into the Great Plains and possibly across the wider group of Algonquian peoples.

Gitche Manitou is often treated as those cultures' analogue to the Christian God. When early Christian missionaries preached the Gospel to the Algonquian peoples, they absorbed Gitche Manitou as a name for God through the process of syncretism. This can be seen, for example, in the words of the "Huron Carol".

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