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The demiurge of the cosmologic traditions of the Algonquian tribes,
known among the various peoples by several unrelated names, based on
some marked characteristic or dominant function of this personage. Among
these names are Jamurn, Kloskap (Gloskap), Manabozho, Messou, Michabo, M
inahuzho, 1isahos, Napiw, Nontchozho, Wieska, Winakedjak, and their
dialectic. variants. 'I'll(! etymologies proposed for these several
names are must probably incorrect, wholly or in material parts.
Namtbozho is apparently the impersonation of life, the active quickening
power of life of life manifested and embodied in the myriad forms of
sentient and physical nature. lie is therefore reputed to possess not
only the power to live, but also the correlative power of renewing his
own life and of quickening and therefore of creating life in others. lie
impersonates life in an unlimited series of diverse personalities which
represent various phases and conditions of life, and the histories of
the life and acts of these separate individualities fort an entire cycle
of traditions and myths which, when compared one with another, are
sometimes apparently contradictory and incongruous, relating, as these
stories do, to the unrelated objects and subjects in nature.
The
conception named Nanabozho exercises the diverse functions of many
persons, and he likewise suffers their pains and needs. He is this life
struggling with the ninny forms of want, misfortune, and death flint
come to the bodies and beings of nature.
The true character of the concept embodied in the
personality called Nanabozho has been misconceived. Horatio Hale, for
example, calls the Chippewa Nanabozho a fantastic deity, declaring him
to have no relation to the Iroquois Te'lioro"`hiawa'k'hol", whereas lie
is in everything but minor details identical with the Iroquoian
conception embodied in the latter personality. Few, if any, of the
characteristic acts and functions of the one may not safely and
correctly be predicated of the other, and it is a remarkable parallel if
the one is not a concept borrowed by the people of one linguistic family
from the thought of the other. If independent creations, they agree in
so many points that it is more than probable that the one suggested the
other.
Even the play of popular interpretation and etymologic analysis
have made like errors in the events connected with the life history of
each. In the Iroquois legend the brother of Te`horo"hiawa'k'ho" is
reputed to have been embodied in cliert or flint, a statement based on a
misconception arising from the common origin of some terms denotive of
ice on the one hand and of chert on the other. A like error gave rise to
the Chippewa name for chert or flint (, dl ie/v(rnn), which signifies
`ice-stone,' and the connection between audsnnt, `wolf,' and tiu%'ha&;,
`a flint or chert,' also a name of Chakekenapok, the brother of
Nanabozho. The confusion is that the ruler of winter, the ruler clothed
in frost, ice, and snow, is identified with chert or flint, in Iroquois
too, bocause.of the identity of origin between the terms fur crystal or
sparkling ice and the smooth glistening surface of chert or flint.
In Potawatouni and cognate tradition Nanabozho is the
eldest of male quadruplets, the beloved Chipiapoos being tine second,
Wabosbo the third, and Chakekenapok the fourth. They were begotten by a
great primal being, who had come to earth, and were born of a reputed
daughter of the children of uncut. Nanabozho was the professed and
active friend of the human race. The mild and gentle but unfortunate
Chipiapoos became the warder of the (lead, the ruler of the country of
the manes, after this transformation. Wahosso ('Maker of White'), seeing
tile sunlight, went to the northland, where, assuming the form of a
white hare, he is regarded as possessing most potent manito or orenda
(q. v.). Lastly, Chakekenapok, named from chert, flint, or firestone
(?fire), was the impersonation originally of winter, and in coining into
the world ruthlessly caused the death of his mother.
Having attained the age of manhood, Nanabozho, still
feeling deep resentment for the death of his mother, resolved to avenge
it by the destruction of his brother Chakekenapok. The two brothers soon
grappled with each other. Chakekenapok finally turned and fled, but
Nanabozho pursued him over the world, finally overtaking and striking
him with a deerhorn or a chert, fracturing or chipping pieces from
various parts of his body, and destroying him by tearing out his
entrails. The fragments from Chakekenapok's body became huge rocks, and
the masses of flint or cliert found in various parts of the world show
where the conflicts between the two brothers took place, while his
entrails became vines. Before the Indians knew the art of lire-making
Nanabozho taught them the art of making hatchets, lances, and
arrowpoints.
Nanabozho and Chipiapoos dwelt together in a land far
removed from the haunts of mankind. They were noted for excellence of
body and beneficence of mind, and for the supreme character of the magic
power they possessed. These qualities and attributes excited the bitter
antagonism of the evil manitos of the air, earth, and waters, who
plotted to destroy these two brothers. Nanabozho, who was immune to the
effects of adverse orenda and from whose knowledge nothing was barred,
knew their snares and devices and hence eluded and avoided them.
He,
however, warned Chipiapoos, his less-gifted brother, not to leave their
lodge or to separate from him even for a moment. But, disregarding this
aduconition, one day Chipiapoos ventured out of the lodge and went on
the ice of a great lake, probably L.MOil gan. Thisteiuerity was the
opportunity sought by the manitos, who broke the ice, causing Chipiapoos
to sink to the bottom of the lake, where his body was hidden by the
manitos. Upon returning to the lodge, Nanabozho, missing Chipiaplncs and
surmising his fate; became inconsolable. Everywhere over the face of the
earth ae sought for hint in vain. Then he became enraged and waged
relentless war against all manitos, wreaking vengeance by precipitating
a multitude of them into the abyss of the world. I le next declared a
truce in order to mourn for his brother, disfiguring his person and
covering his head to indicate grief, bitterly weeping, and uttering from
time to time the name of the lost and unhappy Chipiapoos. It is said
Nanabozho secluded himself for six years in his lodge of mourning.
During this truce the evil manitos, knowing the unlimited powers of
Nanabozho and recollecting the destruction of the vast numbers of
manitos by their metamorphosis to gratify his anger, consulted together
to devise means for pacifying Nanabozho's wrath; but through fear of
their great adversary their plans came to naught.
At last four of the manitos, hoary with age and ripe in experience and wisdom, and who had
not been parties to the death of Chipiapoos, undertook a mission of
pacification. Having built a lodge of condolence near that of Nanabozho,
they prepared a feast of welcome, filling with tobacco a pipe the stem
of which was a calumet, and then silently and ceremoniously moved toward
their antagonist. The four ambassadors severally carried a bag made from
the entire skin of an otter, a lynx, a beaver, or of sonne other animal,
which contained magically potent medicines and powerful fetishes.
Arriving at the lodge of Nanabozho, they chanted to him with ceremonial
formality their good intentions and kind greetings, and asked him to be
pleased to accompany them to their lodge.
Moved by these greetings, Nanabozho uncovered his head, and, arising, washed himself and then
accompanied them. On his entering the lodge the manitos offered him a
cup of purification medicine preparatory to his initiation into the Mide,
or Grand Medicine Society. Nanabozho partook of the draft, and at once
found himself completely freed from feelings of resentment and
melancholy. Then the prescribed ritual was performed by the manitos. The
proper dances and the chants of the Mide were chanted, and the four
manitos, humanized primal beings, gently applied to Nanahozho their
pind-ikosn.ii, or magically potent medicine-bags, which, after
eerenionially blowing their orenda or magie power into him, they east
Out he ground.
At every fall of the medicine-bags Nanabozh became aware
that the melancholy, sadness, hatred, and anger that oppressed him
gradually left, and that beneficent affection and feelings of joy arose
in his heart. On the completion of his initiation he joined if' the
dances and in the chanting; then they all ate and smoked together, and
Nanabozho expressed thanks to his hosts for initiating him into the
mysteries of the grand medicine.
To further show their good will, the manitos, by the
exercise of their magic powers, brought back the missing Chipiapoos,
but, owing to his metamorphosis, lie was forbidden to enter the lodge.
Having received a lighted torch through a chink in the walls of the
lodge, he was required to go to rule the country of the manes, where,
with the lighted torch he carried, lie should kindle a fire that should
De-er be extinguished, for the pleasure his uncles and aunts-namely, all
men and women-who would repair thither. Subsequently, Nanabozho again
descended upon the earth, and at once initiated all his family in the
mysteries of the grand medicine.
He provided each of them with a
medicine-bag, well supplied with potent medicines, charms, and fetishes.
He also strictly enjoined upon them the need of perpetuating the
accompanying ceremonies among their descendants, explaining to them that
these practices faithfully observed would cure their diseases, obtain
for them abundance in fishing and hunting, and gain for them complete
victory over their enemies.
Some hold to the doctrine that Nanabozho created the
animals for the food and raiment of man; that be caused those plants and
roots to grow whose virtues cure disease and enable the hunter to kill
wild animals in order to drive away famine. These plants he confided to
the watchful care of his grandmother, the great-grandmother of the human
race, Mesakkummikokwi, and lest man should invoke her in vain she was
strictly forbidden ever to leave her lodge. So, when collecting plants,
roots, and herbs for their natural and magic virtues, an Algonquian
Indian faithfully leaves on the ground hard by the place whence he has
taken the root or plant a small offering to Mesakkmnmikokwi.
It is said that Nanabozho in his many journeys over the
earth destroyed many ferocious monsters of land and water whose
continued existence would have placed in jeopardy the fate of mankind.
It is believed by the faithful that Nanabozho, resting from his toils,
dwells on a great island of ice floating on a large sea in the
northland, where the seraphim of auroral light keep nightly vigil. It is
also believed that should he set foot on the land the world would at
once take fire and every living being would share with it a n nini(n
destruction. As a perversion of an earlier tradition, it is said that
Nanabozho has placed four beneficent humanized beings, one at each of
the four cardinal points or world-quarters, to aid in promoting the
welfare of the human race-the one at the a. supplies light and starts
the sun on his daily journey over the sky; the one at the s. supplies
warmth, heat, and the refreshing dews that cause the growth of the
soothing tobacco plant, and of corn, beans, squashes, and all the herbs
and shrubs that bear fruit; the one at the w. supplies cooling and
life-giving showers; lastly, the one at the N. supplies snow and ice,
enabling the tracking and successful pursuit of wild animals, and who
causes them to hibernate, to seek places of concealment from the cold of
winter.
Under the care of the man-being of the s. Nanabozho placed
lesser humanized beings, dominantly bird-like in form, whose voices are
the thunder and the flashing of whose eyes is the lightning, and to whom
offerings of tobacco are made when their voices are loud and menacing.
Like the Iroquois and Huron sages, the Algonquian
philosophers taught that the disembodied souls of the (lead, on their
journey to the great meadow in which is situated the village of their
deceased ancestors, must cross a swift stream precariously bridged by a
tree trunk, which was in continual motion. Over this the manes of the
justified pass in safety, while the shades of the vicious, overcome by
the magic power of adverse fate, fail at this ordeal, and, falling into
the abyss below, are lost.
Another and equally credited tradition is to the effect
that a man to or primal man-being formed a world which he peopled with
man-beings having the form but not the benevolent attributes of man, and
that these primal man-beings, doing nothing but evil, finally caused the
destruction of the world and themselves by a flood; that having thus
satisfied his displeasure the primal man being brought the world again
out of the waters and formed anew a fine looking young man, but, being
alone, the latter seemed disconsolate and weary of life. Then, pitying
him, the primal man-being brought him as lie slept a sister for a
companion. Awaking, the young man was rejoiced to see his sister, and
the two dwelt together for many years in mutual amusement and agreeable
discourse.
Finally the young man dreamed for the first time, and he
related his dream to his sister, saying that, it had been royt-aled to
him that, live young ruin-beings would that night visit their lodge, and
that she was forbidden to speak to or in ally manner recognize any of
the first four would seek admission to the lodge, but that she should
welcome the fifth when he would seek admission. This advice she
followed. After their metamorphosis these four primal young man-beings
became respectively Santa or Tobacco, who, receiving no answer from the
sister, died of chagrin; Wapekone or Squash; Eshketanmok or melon, and
Kojees or Bean, who shared the fate of the first. But Mlaudaniin or
Corn, the fifth, was answered and welcomed by the sister, and he entered
the lodge and became her husband. Then Alandamin buried his four
comrades, and soon from their graves sprang up respectively tobacco,
squashes, nucleus, and beans in such quantity as to supply them for the
year, and tobacco enough to enable them to make offerings to the
principal man-beings and to smoke in council. From this union sprang the
Indian race.
In one version of the prevailing Algonquian cosumogonic
story it is said that before the formation of the earth there was only
water; that on the surface of this vast expanse of water floated a large
raft on which were the animals of the various kinds which are on the
earth and of which the Great flare was the chief. They sought a fit and
firm place on which to disembark; but as there were in sight only swans
and other waterfowl, they began to lose hope, and, having no other, they
requested the beaver to dive for the purpose of bringing up some earth
from the bottom of the water, assuring him in the name of all the
animals present that, should he return with only a single particle, it
would produce an earth sufficiently spacious to contain and nourish all.
But the beaver sought an excuse for refusal, saying that he had already
dived around the raft and had failed to reach the bottom. He was pressed
so strongly to make anew so worthy an attempt, however, that he took the
hazard and dived. He remained without returning for so long a time that
the supplicants believed him drowned. Finally they saw him appear nearly
dead and motionless. Then all the animals, seeing that he was in no
condition to remount the raft, at once interested themselves to take him
into it. After examining carefully his paws and tail, they found
nothing. But the little hope left them of being able to save their lives
compelled them to address themselves to the otter to ask that he make an
attempt to find earth at the bottom of the waters. It was told him that
his own safety, as well as theirs, depended en the result of his effort.
So the otter yielded to their urging and dived. He remained in t he dept
his of the waters a longer time then like the beaver, he came to the
surface without success. The impossibility of finding a place to dwell
where they could subsist left them nothing more to hope, when the
muskrat offered to attempt to find the bottom, and he flattered himself
that he would bring back ,,and. Although the beaver and the otter, much
stronger than he, had not been able to accomplish the task, they
encouraged him, promising even that, if he succeeded in his attempt, he
should be the ruler of the whole world. The muskrat then cast himself
into the waters and bravely dived into the depths. After remaining
therein nearly an entire (lay and night lie appeared emotionless at the
side of the raft, belly uppermost and paws closed. The other animals
carefully took him out of the water, opened one of his paws, then a
second, then a third, and finally the fourth, where there was a small
grain of sad between his claws.
The Great Hare, who was encouraged to
form a vast and spacious earth, took this grain of sand and let it fall
on the raft, which became larger. He took a part and scattered it, which
caused the amass to increase more and more. When it was of the size of a
mountain he willed it to turn, ail as it turned the mass still increased
in size. As soon as it appeared quite large he gave orders to the fox to
examine his work with power to enlarge it. He obeyed. The fox, having
learned that the earth was of such size that he could easily take his
prey, returned to the Great Mare to inform him that the earth was large
enough to contain and nourish all the animals.
After this report the
Great Hare went over his work, and, on going around it, found it
imperfect. He has since not been disposed to trust any one of all the
other animals, and ever keeps on enlarging the earth by ceaselessly
going around it. The rumblings heard in the caverns of mountains confirm
the Indians in the belief that the Great Hare continues the work of
enlarging the earth. He is honored by them, and they regard him as the
god who has formed the land.
Such is what the Algonquians teach regarding the
formation of the earth, which they believe is borne on a raft.
Concerning the sea and the firmament, they assert that they have existed
for all time. After the formation of the earth all the other animals
withdrew into the places most fitted to them, where they could feed and
find their prey. The first of these having died, the Great Hare caused
men to be born from their cadavers, even front those of tho tieh which
were found along the banks of rivers which he had made in fo ruling the
earth, and gave each a different language or dialect. Because sonne
ascribed their origin to the bear, others to the elk, and thus to all
the different animals, they believed that they had their being front
these creatures.
Handbook of American Indians, Frederick W. Hodge,1906
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/history/nanabozho.htm
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