Wendigo
Cannibalism in Native American Folklore
Connor Downie
EN156-01: Mythology
Professor Quinn
30March13
Lurking in the deep woods of the Northern United States and Southern Canada lies a mysterious and fearsome Native American monster, the Wendigo. The Wendigo is by far one of the most mysterious and feared monsters in not only in the Algonquian folklore which it is attributed to, but also other indigenous populations all over the world. Although this creature goes by many names in the Native American Tribes, including Wechuge (Athapaskan Beaver), Windigo (Algonkian), Witiko (Sekani), Wittikow (Cree), Wintuc (Lenape), Wintiko (Objibwa), and others, it is represented in the folklore of many cultures. For the sake of simplicity, the
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There are two kinds of Wendigos, Non-Human and Human. The first human Wendigo is sometimes said to have been a man who, driven mad by hunger and snow blindness, mistook his family for a group of beavers, killed and ate them (Smith 68). Human Wendigos do not always take on the traditional described appearance unless they are exposed to the severe isolation required to drive the person mad. Most human Wendigos mostly retain their human features, and instead only experience the desire for loneliness and a craving for human flesh. Also common to stories, both in legend and those recorded by persons studying native tribes, was the belief that a person transforming into a Wendigo had lost permanent control over their own actions and that the only possible solution is death (Ridington 108). Many people, fearing that they would bring harm to their family, begged for death rather than face a full transformation. Human Wendigos, although powerful, can be killed by dismemberment and the burning the remains to prevent the evil spirit from ever returning to the earth (Atwood 85). In the majority of stories that result in the death of a Wendigo, that Wendigo was at one time a human. Other traditional cures involved the consumption of copious amounts of hot grease from sources such as bear fat, melted deer tallow, and sturgeon oil
The woodcut image reveals multiple taboos that the Europeans held as, it depicts, uncultured savages, in contrast their own culture. For instance, if you look at the picture, you will see human body parts tied and hung up. Now, this may seem irrelevant, but if you look at the way they are hung, you will notice that it is similar to the way Europeans’ hung their hams, when they hung them in the smoke for flavoring. Of course, cannibalism was a fear for Europeans as they arrived in the New World, but they made it a much bigger deal than it actually was. In the background of the image, there are also European ships making their way to land. This might signify Europeans
Have you ever wonder how the world was created from another culture’s perspective? Native Americans used creation myths to explained to their people how the world was developed overtime. Creation myths are a big part of the Native American culture. they have been passed down from generation to generation. In the creation myths, harmony with nature, rituals, and strong social values are shown in each myths. The purpose of having strong social value in these myths is to teach younger Native Americans valuable lesson if they ever do something bad. These myths reveals how the rituals were created and their intentions for doing it. Creation myths has harmony with nature in it to show a very close kinship between them
Kind and selfish, deep and shallow, male and female, and foolish and wise aren’t always words that are associated with each other, quite the opposite in fact. However, when it comes to the trickster tales of Native Americans, each word is associated with the other and describes more or less the same person or animal. To Native American people a trickster affects the world for an infinite number of reasons, including instruction and enjoyment. A trickster, like the name implies, is a cunning deception. A trickster can be a hero. However, at the same time he could introduce death. How is that heroic? Why would a group of people want to remember a person that brings punishments such as death? The function the trickster tales have/ had on
“Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.-Native American proverb” This is a Native American proverb that shows how important storytelling and stories are to the Native Americans and their culture. Storytelling was a big way of teaching their lifestyle to their younger generation. Storytelling is very important to the Native American culture because it helps explain their way of life, faith, and helps teach life lessons to the younger generation.
The article "Of the Cannibals" from Michel Eyquem de Montaigne speaks about two major problems. The first one is the problem of men telling stories subjectively instead of objectively. This problem is dealt with only in very short and there is no real solution presented in the essay. The other problem is men calling others barbarous just because they are different. The essay also deals with the word "barbarism" and what can be meant by that.
Trickster tales have been an important part of the Native American culture for hundreds of years. Trickster tales are an oral storytelling tradition and are continuously passed down from generation to generation of Native American Indians. American Indians enjoy listening and telling trickster tales because it is a fun and interesting way to tell a story with a valuable lesson. In many tales, the trickster has a name associated with an animal, and a majority of listeners assume they are animals; however, in some tales, characteristics may appear more human-like. Trickster tales allow Native American cultures to use their imagination and thoroughly understand the moral lessons presented in the tales, and therefore may help with one’s
The author, Basil Johnston, is trying to portray the connection between a mythical story from the Aboriginals and the way we are destroying the environment today, from his article Modern Cannibals of the Wilds, written in 1991. Johnston begins his article by telling a story about a habitat filled with many different species such as: fish, birds, insects and other wildlife. Then, Johnston continues to introduce a cannibalistic mythical creature called weendigoes, who feed on human flesh to try to satisfy his never-ending hunger. After Johnston introduces the mythical weendigoes, he transitions into introducing the modern weendigoes who care reincarnated as humans, depicted as industries, corporations and multinationals who dwells on wealth
The Native Americans, at the time of the first encounter, were still very culturally and socially primitive compared to the Europeans. They moved a lot, lived mainly of fishing and hunting, spent their time cultivating and used primitive tools and equipment in their daily activities.
In this paper, we will discuss the different death rituals performed in different cultures. We view death rituals from Native Americans, Africans, those of the Chinese decent, and endocannibalism from the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea. Death is universal to all people in every culture. Responses to how one deals with death and dying differ greatly. Death rituals are usually based on beliefs. This can come from religion, history, language, and art.
Born on 5 March 1883, in Sainte-Marie-de-Bauce, Charles Marius Barbeau is widely seen as the first Canadian educated anthropologist. He graduated from Université Laval in Québec, from his studies of law, in 1907; he never practised law. Upon graduating, Marius was awarded – as the first French-Canadian recipient – the Cecil Rhodes scholarship which allowed him to study at Oxford University where he was introduced to the emerging field of Anthropology. « Je [voulais] savoir comment l’homme a été créé » he later explained to Marcel Rioux. (Benoît 1959a) During his stay in Europe, Marius also attended classes at the Sorbonne’s École des Hautes Études and at the École
Native American culture originated in some parts North America. These countries are known as the United States of America and some parts of Canada. In the United States, there are 6.6 million Native Americans, which form about 2.0 percent of the population (Bureau, 2016). Europe had realized there were about 50 million people already living the “new world” and these people were called Native Americans. Native Americans were originally called Indians, but later through history they formed a new name. These people were called this because of them being native to the “new world” and the American part came after the colonist named the United States. Throughout history, Native Americans believed that using raw material in nature was the best way to provide for their people. Their culture thought no part of an animal should go to waste. They would eat the meat, use the skin for clothing, and make jewelry from the bones. Over the years a lot of their culture and customs were lost due to conforming with society. Their languages were referred to as “Indigenous Languages” because of them being extremely complicated and diverse. Some important factors that help understand the foundation of Native American culture are their rituals/practices, death ceremonies, holidays, family, and stereotypes.
Like a coin dropped between the cushions of a couch, traditional oral storytelling is a custom fading away in current American culture. For Native Americans, however, the practice of oral storytelling is still a tradition that carries culture and rich history over the course of generations. Three examples of traditional oral stories, “How Men and Women Got Together”, “Coyote’s Rabbit Chase”, and “Corn Mother”, demonstrate key differences in perspectives and values among diverse native tribes in America.
The first beginning we had hunter and gatherers, and that became something that everybody started doing. People would use resources around them, and they would not stay in permanent settlements. Than a new life began and it was called Emergence of Agriculture. People know started having permanent settlements, the population has became bigger, and their health might be becoming shaky. These changes might have been better or worse.
In Algonquian folklore, the wendigo or wendigo is a cannibal monster or evil spirit native to the northern forests of the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of both the United States and Canada/ Manitoba and are unable to kill but you can slow them down for a while.
Throughout history, and all over the world, mythology has been developed as a way of explaining the unknown and coping with one’s existence. Why does the sun shine? Well, seemingly, to generations past, something is controlling the universe, so there must be a god in charge of the sun and many other natural phenomenon. During the creation of Native American myths, “there was much in the way of free-range food, but hunting wasn't as easy as getting up in the morning, taking a stroll and shooting a few passing bison with your bow” (Godchecker). Times were tough, “even Plains societies who lived off the prolific buffalo fell under the threat of starvation at times” (Godchecker). Finally, “when herds were found, the people were grateful and