Glooscap, huge in size and power, features in many stories of various Algonquian-speaking nations, such as the Mi’kmaq and Abenaki. The travels and adventures of Chi-Jean, featured in various oral histories as well as a series of graphic novels for youth, seek to teach about Métis culture and the connection between humans and the earth. The Métis also have tales about Wisakedjak and Nanabush, as well as another trickster - Chi-Jean - described by some as a cousin or close friend of the other two. Nanabush is immortalized in pre-colonial pictographs in a sacred location in Bon Echo Provincial Park on Mazinaw Lake in southern Ontario. According to some tales, Nanabush is also described as two-spirited. Nanabush could change forms and often did so to play tricks on people. Nanabush from the Ojibwe traditions is a half-human, half-spirit figure that appears in creation stories and is greatly respected and revered as a hero among various Anishinaabe peoples. Other stories reveal that Wisakedjak always had great powers and was responsible for creating the moon and other elements of our world. While Wisakedjak played a role in the remaking of the world, some oral histories indicate that the Creator reduced his powers, leaving him with only the ability to flatter and deceive. The result was the Creator’s flooding of the world, to begin life anew. According to one story, he disobeyed the Creator, who asked Wisakedjak to keep the animals and humans from quarrelling. The following are a few examples of tricksters from various parts of the country.Īmong the Cree, Wisakedjak is an adventurous and humorous trickster, afforded prestige as a teacher to humankind. There are a wide variety of trickster figures in Indigenous cultures in Canada. In these cases, tricksters are also referred to in the literature as transformers or shape-shifters. During these travels, some tricksters, such as Raven and Coyote, alter their shape, manifesting as powerful, sacred beings, animals, inanimate objects (such as rocks and trees) and humans. They often travel between the spirit world and the tangible world, as well as the areas in-between. By contrast, tricksters like Napi are sometimes depicted as selfish and cruel.Īnother key defining feature of tricksters is that they wander, spiritually and physically. Both are powerful and wise leaders who sometimes get into trouble and play jokes on humans. Tricksters like Nanabush and Wisakedjak are considered heroes. Some are harmless, while others are malevolent. While a general definition of “trickster” can limit the complexity and cultural specificity of this figure from nation to nation, recognizing cross-cultural similarities can help to explain what tricksters are and why they are important to most Indigenous cultures in Canada.Ī common characteristic is that tricksters are foolish and childlike troublemakers. It is therefore important to recognize and appreciate that Indigenous communities construct tricksters in different ways. Womack argues that tricksters are not inherently Indigenous rather, they were “invented by anthropologists.” Womack is referring to the fact that often non-Indigenous scholars (starting generally in the 1800s) created a convenient, catch-all phrase - the trickster - to label Indigenous figures and stories that might not always fit into this category. For generations, trickster stories have been used to entertain community members as well as to transmit traditional knowledge about society, culture and morality.Ĭreek-Cherokee author Craig S. They are curious pranksters who frequently cross and challenge boundaries, as well as ignore social harmony and order. As their name suggests however, tricksters are also associated with rule-breaking. Often considered cultural heroes, tricksters are credited with protecting (and in some cases, creating) human life. While Indigenous nations construct tricksters in their own ways, there are some cross-cultural similarities. Indigenous peoples call tricksters by their own names, such as Glooscap or Glooskap (Algonquian), Wisakedjak or Weesageechak (Cree) and Nanabush or Nanabozho (Anishinaabe). In Canada, the word has been popularized by anthropologists studying the role of these figures in Indigenous teachings and oral histories. Trickster is a word used to describe a type of supernatural figure that appears in the folklore of various cultures around the world.
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