Nanabozho - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In Anishinaabe mythology, particularly among the Ojibwa

Ojibwa

The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...

, Nanabozho is a spirit, and figures prominently in their storytelling, including the story of the world's creation. Nanabozho is the Ojibwe trickster

Trickster

In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this...

figure and culture hero

Culture hero

A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group who changes the world through invention or discovery...

(these two archetypes are often combined into a single figure in First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

mythologies). He plays a similar role as the Saulteaux Wiisagejaak (Cree Wisakedjak

Wisakedjak

Wisakedjak is the Crane Manitou found in northern Algonquian mythology, similar to the trickster god Nanabozho in Ojibwa aadizookaanan and Inktonme in Assiniboine myth...

). The Algonquin had a similar figure called Ganoozhigaabe (Abenaki Gluskabe).
Among the eastern Algonquian peoples located north of the Abenaki areas, a similar character to Nanabozho existed, called Tshakapesh in the Innu language, Tcikapec in Attikamek, Tcakabesh in Algonquin

Algonquin language

Algonquin is either a distinct Algonquian language closely related to the Ojibwe language or a particularly divergent Ojibwe dialect. It is spoken, alongside French and to some extent English, by the Algonquin First Nations of Quebec and Ontario...

, Chikapash among the eastern James Bay

James Bay

James Bay is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean. James Bay borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario; islands within the bay are part of Nunavut...

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

s and Chaakaapaas by the Naskapi

Naskapi

The Naskapi are the indigenous Innu inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan, which comprises most of what other Canadians refer to as eastern Quebec and Labrador, Canada....

, changing to various animal forms to various human forms (adult to child) and to various mythical animals such as the Great Porcupine, or Big Skunk. He conquered or diminished these mythical animals to smaller size after killing or changing them with his trickery or shape shifting.

Nanabozho was one of four sons of Wiininwaa ("Nourishment"), a human mother, and E-bangishimog ("In the West"), a spirit father.

Nanabozho most often appears in the shape of a rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

and is characterized as a trickster. In his rabbit form, he is called Mishaabooz ("Great rabbit" or "Hare") or Chi-waabooz ("Big rabbit"). He was sent to Earth by Gitchi Manitou to teach the Ojibwe. One of his first tasks was to name all the plants and animals. Nanabozho is considered to be the founder of Midewiwin
Midewiwin
The Midewiwin or the Grand Medicine Society is a secretive religion of the aboriginal groups of the Maritimes, New England and Great Lakes regions in North America. Its practitioners are called Midew and the practices of Midewiwin referred to as Mide...

. Like the Egyptian god Thoth

Thoth

Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...

, he is thought to be the inventor of fishing and hieroglyphs. This deity is a shape-shifter and a cocreator

Creator deity

A creator deity is a deity responsible for the creation of the world . In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities...

of the world.

In more recent myths among the Ojibwe, Nanabozho saves the forests from Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue...

. They fought for forty days and nights, and Nanabozho killed Bunyan with a Red Lake walleye

Walleye

Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...

Nanabozho name variations

The Nanabozho name varies in the Anishinaabe language depending on whether it is presented with a n1 (first-person) prefix n- (i.e. Nanabozho), n3 (third-person) prefix w- (i.e. Wanabozho) or nX (null-person) prefix m- (i.e. Manabozho); the "Manabozho" form of the name is most commonly associated with Menomini-version of these stories. In addition, depending on the story and the narrator's role in telling the story, the name may be presented in its regular nominative form (with the final "o", i.e. Nanabozho) or in its vocative form (without the final "o", i.e. Nanabozh). Due to the way the two "o" sounds, they are often each realized as "oo" (i.e. Nanaboozhoo). In some dialects, "zh" is reduced to "z." These variations allow for associating the name with the word for "rabbit(-)" (waabooz(o-)).

Due to the placement of word stress, determined by metrical rules that define a characteristic iambic metrical Foot

Metrical phonology

Metrical phonology is a theory of stress or linguistic prominence. The innovative feature of this theory is that the prominence of a unit is defined relative to other units in the same phrase...

, in which a Weak

Metrical phonology

Metrical phonology is a theory of stress or linguistic prominence. The innovative feature of this theory is that the prominence of a unit is defined relative to other units in the same phrase...

syllable is followed by a Strong

Metrical phonology

Metrical phonology is a theory of stress or linguistic prominence. The innovative feature of this theory is that the prominence of a unit is defined relative to other units in the same phrase...

syllable, in some dialects the weak syllable may be reduced to a schwa, which may be recorded either as "i" or "e" (e.g. Winabozho or Wenabozho if the first weak syllable is graphically shown, Nanabizho if the second weak syllable is graphically shown).

In addition, though the Fiero double-vowel system uses "zh", the same sound in other orthographies can be realized as "j" in the Algonquin system or "š" (or "sh") in the Saulteaux-Cree system (e.g. Nanabozho v. Nanabojo). To this mix, depending on if the transcriber used French or English, the Anishinaabe name may be transcribed to fit the phonetic patterns of one of the two said languages (e.g. "Winnaboujou" and "Nanabijou": French rendering of Winabozho and Nanabizho respectively, or "Nanabush": English rendering of Nanabozh).

Mishaabooz name variations

Like the transcription variations found among "Nanabozho," often Mishaabooz is transcribed into French as Michabous and represented in English as Michabou.

Naniboujou Club Lodge

The spirit Naniboujou also provided the namesake for the Historical Naniboujou Club Lodge

Naniboujou Club Lodge

The Naniboujou Club Lodge, now a resort and restaurant open to the public, was built as part of an exclusive private club on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Cook County, Minnesota, about east of Grand Marais. Named after Nanabozho, a character from the Ojibwa traditional stories, the lodge's...

, built in the late twenties, due to his suggested role in the creation of nature.

External links

"Manabosho's Hieroglyphics" recorded by Seth Eastman at Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
"Nanabozo" in The Canadian Encyclopedia
The Canadian Encyclopedia
The Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
"Nanabozho" in Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, 1907. Reproduced in Handbook of Indians of Canada, 1913.
How Nanabush Created the World
Nanabush and the Giant Beaver
The Legend of 'Nanabozho' (from the CBC radio archives, as an audio file)
Nanabozho (his entry at www.godchecker.com)
Native American: North Gods: Algonquin
Nanabozho, Access geneaology.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Nanabozho name variations

Mishaabooz name variations

Naniboujou Club Lodge

See also

External links