Mythologies of the ABENAKI/WABANAKI TRIBE

Abenaki Tribe (Abanaki, Abnaki, Abenakis)

The Abenaki (Abenaki: Wαpánahki) are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predominantly spoken in Maine, while the Western Abenaki language was spoken in Quebec, Vermont, and New Hampshire. While Abenaki peoples have shared cultural traits, they did not historically have a centralized government. They came together as a post-contact community after their original tribes were decimated by colonization, disease, and warfare. The word Abenaki and its syncope, Abenaki, are both derived from Wabanaki, or Wôbanakiak, meaning “People of the Dawn Land” in the Abenaki language. While the two terms are often confused, the Abenaki are one of several tribes in the Wabanaki Confederacy. The name is spelled several ways including Abnaki, Abinaki, and Alnôbak.

PRINCIPAL TRIBES OF THE ABNAKI CONFEDERACY:

Etemankiak (Etchimin)
Kanibesinnoak
KennebecPatsuiket
Norridgewock in part
Nurhantsuak (Norridgewock)
Patsuiket (Sokoki in part)
Pentagoet (Penobscot)
Ouarastegouiak (Malecite)
Sokoki in part
Sokouakiak

Abenaki Nation

In a letter sent by the Abnaki in 1721 to the governor
of New England their divisions are given as follows:

Anmissoukanti (Amaseconti)
Arsikantegou (Arosaguntacook)
Kwupahag
Medoktek (Medoctec)
Muanbissek
Narakamigou (Rocameca)
Narantsouuk (Norridgewock)
Ouanwinak (Wewenoc, south edge of N. H.)
Pegouakki (Pequawket, N. H.)
Pentugouet (Penobscot)
Pesmokanti (Passamaquoddy)

The following is a full list of Abnaki tribes:

Accominta Tribe
Amaseconti Tribe
Arosaguntacook Tribe
Etchimin Tribe
Malecite Tribe
Missiassik Tribe
Missisquoi Tribe

Norridgewock Tribe
(the Abnaki in the most limited sense)

Passamaquoddy Tribe
Penobscot Tribe
Pequawket Tribe
Rocameca Tribe
Sokoki Tribe
Wabenaki Tribe

Gens of the Abenaki

The Abenaki Tribe was broken down into gens which is similar to a clan.
Very little information is known about these gens or they no longer exist.

They had fourteen gentes:

Mals’-süm – Wolf
Ta-mä’-kwa – Beaver
Pis-suh’ – Black Wildcat
Maguh-le-loo’ – Caribou
Ah-weh’-soos – Bear
Kä-bäh’-seh – Sturgeon
Skooke – Snake
Moos-kwä’-suh’ – Muskrat
Ah-lunk-soo – Spotted Animal
K’-che-gä-gong’-go – Pigeon Hawk
Meh-ko-ä’ – Squirrel
Che-gwä’-lis – Spotted Frog
Koos-koo’ – Crane

The Abenaki tribe is a branch of the original Algic or Algonquin family of indigenous people who originally occupied the area from the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. Groups of Abenaki tribes eventually settled in areas of New Brunswick, Maine, and New Hampshire. The name of the Abenaki tribe designates the tribes as the “people if the Aurora Borealis” or as understood by European explorers, “The people of the East”. Early sources describe the Abenaki people as a docile and hospitable people who had a tremendous sense of loyalty to the French. In comparison to other tribes the Abenaki were not as cruel or barbaric in the eyes of the Europeans. The Abenaki had tremendous hunting and tracking abilities and as such survived mostly as a hunting and gathering society with very little agricultural activity.

The Abenaki suffered a great deal from their contact with Europeans, It unfortunately resulted in a huge loss of population for the Abenaki. The first group to have prolonged contact with the English were the Penneacook along the Merrimack River. Prior to this many Abenaki had come into contact With the French, and Jesuits looking to convert Abenaki. The Jesuits were very protective of the converted Abenaki and did not like the thought of French Catholic or English intervention. The Abenaki were often caught in between the deep seeded rivalry between the French and English. There is also some evidence showing that the Abnaki in the Northeast also had relations with the Dutch. Outside of the European nationalities the Abnaki also regularly traded with other tribes. They were often in conflict with the Iroquois and would fight with their neighbouring tribes. In the mid-18th Century they created the Wabanaki Confederacy with the Penobscots, Passamaquoddies, Maliseets, and Micmacs. After the creation of the confederacy these tribes never fought with each other, unfortunately it was disbanded in 1862.

The Abenaki are a Native American tribe that’s territory stretched from Northern New England up to Quebec during the 17th and early 18th centuries. The first recorded history of the Abenakis was when Thomas Hunt, an English slave trader, captured 24 of the tribespeople in 1614 and brought them to England. During the colonial period, the Abenakis land was between the Colonies of New England and the French colonies in Quebec. The Abenaki traditionally sided with the French in conflicts, as their chief, Nescambious was knighted by the French King Louis XIV. In 1669, in fear of annihilation at the hands of the English and due to epidemics, the Abenakis moved to Quebec, and were allowed two seigneuries (a large, self-administrated area similar to feudal fiefs). In 1675, the Abenaki joined the Wampanoag and their chief Metacomet in fighting against the English colonists in King Phillip’s War.

The Abenaki (or Abnaki) are a tribe of Native American and First Nations people belonging to the Algonquian peoples of northeastern North America. They are located in an area the Eastern Algonquian languages call the Wabanaki (Dawn Land) Region. The Abenakis were one of the five members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, the other four being the Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot. The Abenaki, like their fellow Wabanaki tribes, were peaceful, although they were often forced to defend themselves against the Iroquois. They relied upon horticulture for their food as well as hunting and fishing. When the Europeans came to the region, the Abenaki greeted them and accepted their Christian message, albeit often combined with their traditional Midewiwin shamanistic practices. However, diseases ravaged their population, and when the French and Indian Wars led to increasing danger of annihilation, they began to migrate to Quebec.

Abenaki People

The Abenaki (or Abnaki), pronounced OBB-uh-nah-kee, are an Algonquian-speaking people that call themselves Alnôbak, meaning “Real People”. Abenaki means “people of the dawn.” The Abenaki were a linguistic and geographic grouping, rather than a single tribe. They were made up of numerous smaller bands and tribes who shared many cultural traits. Their homeland, which they called Ndakinna meaning “our land” extended across most of northern New England, southern Quebec, and the southern Canadian Maritimes. Historically, the Abenaki have been classified into two geographic groups: Western Abenaki and Eastern Abenaki. The Eastern Abenaki population was concentrated in portions of New Brunswick, Canada, and in Maine, east of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Some of these tribes included the Kennebec, Maliseet, Penobscot, Ossipee, Mi’kmaq, and the Passamaquoddy. The Western Abenaki lived in the Connecticut River Valley in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Some of these tribes included the Pennacook, Pequawket, Sokoki, and Winnipesaukee.

Wabanaki Creation Stories

Of Glooskap’s Birth, and of his Brother Malsum the Wolf

Now the great lord Glooskap, who was worshiped in after-days by all the Wabanaki, or children of light, was a twin with a brother. As he was good, this brother, whose name was Malsumsis, or Wolf the younger, was bad. Before they were born, the babes consulted to consider how they had best enter the world. And Glooskap said, “I will be born as others are.” But the evil Malsumsis thought himself too great to be brought forth in such a manner, and declared that he would burst through his mother’s side. And as they planned it so it came to pass. Glooskap as first came quietly to light, while Malsumsis kept his word, killing his mother. The two grew up together, and one day the younger, who knew that both had charmed lives, asked the elder what would kill him, Glooskap. Now each had his own secret as to this, and Glooskap, remembering how wantonly Malsumsis had slain their mother, thought it would be misplaced confidence to trust his life to one so fond of death, while it might prove to be well to know the bane of the other. So they agreed to exchange secrets, and Glooskap, to test his brother, told him that the only way in which he himself could be slain was by the stroke of an owl’s feather, though this was not true. And Malsumsis said, “I can only die by a blow from a fern-root.”

Wabanaki means People of the Dawnland. As the first people to greet the sunrise, they are responsible for “holding up the sky.” Wabanaki people, including the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Abenaki Nations, have inhabited what is now northern New England, the Canadian Maritimes, and Quebec, since time immemorial according to oral histories, and for at least 13,000 years according to the archaeological record. Wabanakis are constantly adapting in response to dramatic changes in the environment. Their cultures also have changed over time, with the development of sophisticated political networks, evolving philosophies, and a deep understanding of the landscape. For generations, Wabanaki people traveled seasonally, planting corn on the riverbanks in the spring, harvesting fish on the coast and gathering berries during the summer, and hunting game in the woods during wintertime. Their mobile lifestyle was prosperous, but radically changed with the coming of European settlers around 400 years ago, and later with the splitting of ancestral territory through the establishment of arbitrary international and state borders.

Abenaki Emergence Myth

First Manitou, the Great Spirit, made Kloskurbeh, the great teacher. One day when the sun was directly overhead, a young boy appeared to Kloskurbeh. He explained that he had been born when the sea had churned up a great foam, which was then heated by the sun, congealed, and came alive as a human boy. The next day, again at noon, the teacher and the boy greeted a girl. She explained that she had come from the earth, which had produced a green plant which bore her as fruit. And so Kloskurbeh, the wise teacher, knew that human beings came forth from the union of sea and land. The teacher gave thanks to Manitou and instructed the boy and girl in everything they needed to know. Then Kloskurbeh went north into the forest to meditate. The man and the woman had many, many children. Unfortunately, they had so many children that they were unable to feed them all by hunting and picking wild foods. The mother was filled with grief to see her children hungry, and the father despaired. One day the mother went down to a stream, entering it sadly. As she reached the middle of the stream, her mood changed completely and she was filled with joy. A long green shoot had come out of her body, between her legs. As the mother left the stream, she once again looked unhappy.

The Wabanaki Confederacy (Wabenaki, Wobanaki, translated to “People of the Dawn” or “Easterner”) is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet (Wolastoqey), Passamaquoddy (Peskotomahkati) and Penobscot. The Western Abenaki are also considered members, being a loose identity for a number of allied tribal peoples such as the Sokoki, Cowasuck, Missiquoi, and Arsigantegok, among others. There were more tribes, along with many bands, that were once part of the Confederation. Native tribes such as the Norridgewock, Etchemin, Alemousiski, and Canibas, through massacres, tribal consolidation, and ethnic label shifting were absorbed into the five larger national identities.

Wabenaki Stories

STORIES

Ableegumooch, the Lazy Rabbit
Badger and the Green Giant
Badger and the Koondao
Badger and the Star Wives
Big Magwis and Little Magwis
Boy Who Worried Tomorrow
Changing of Mikcheech
Glooscap and His People
Glooscap and Winpe
Glooscap, the Trickster
How Glooscap Found Summer
How the Rabbit Lost His Tail
Magical Sweet-Grass Doll
Man Who Was Made a Magician
Mooin, the Bear’s Child
Nokome and the Ice King
Oochigeas and the Invisible Boy
Rabbit Calls a Truce
Run, Rabbit, Run
Wa-Ba-Ba-Nal, The Northern Lights

Abenaki Legends, Myths, and Stories

Gluskabe: Gluskabe is the benevolent culture hero of Abenaki mythology, who taught the people the arts of civilization and protected them from danger. Like other Abenaki names, “Gluskabe” has many spelling variants (Glooscap, Kluskap, etc.) The Abenaki pronounciation is glue-skaw-buh. Gluskabe shares some similarities with other Algonquian heroes such as the Anishinabe Nanabosho, Blackfoot Old-Man, and Cree Wisakejak, and many of the same stories are told in different Algonquian tribes with only the identity of the protagonist differing.

Gichi Niwaskw: This means “Great Spirit” in Abenaki, and is the Abenaki name for the Creator (God,) who is sometimes also referred to as Dabaldak. Gichi Niwaskw is a divine spirit who is never personified in Abenaki folklore. Pronounced similar to gih-chee nih-wahsk.

Malsum: This name, which simply means “wolf” in Abenaki, is sometimes said to belong to an evil wolf who is Gluskabe’s twin brother. However, some Abenaki elders have been adamant this is not a real Abenaki myth. It may be an Anglo corruption of Great Lakes Algonquian legends instead– their culture hero does have a twin brother who is a wolf (though he is not evil.) In any case, “Malsum” is pronounced mawl-sum in Abenaki.

Mateguas (Rabbit): In other Abenaki legends, Glooskap’s brother is Rabbit, who died and became the ruler of the land of the dead. Like Glooskap, Mateguas is helpful and good, and gives his brother spiritual guidance from beyond the grave. Pronounced mah-tuh-gwoss.

Nokemes Agaskw (Grandmother Woodchuck): Gluskabe’s wise old grandmother, who raised him. Pronounced noh-kuh-muss ah-gah-skw.

Medawisla: Loon, Gluskabe’s faithful companion, messenger, and tale-bringer. Pronounced muh-dah-wee-lah.

Bootup: Whale, another animal spirit that serves Gluskabe by carrying him across the ocean. Pronounced boo-dup.

First Mother: The first woman, created by Gichi Niwaskw and Gluskabe. Details about her life vary greatly from telling to telling, but the constant is that she ultimately sacrifices herself to bring corn to the people.

Tolba and Moskwas (Turtle and Muskrat): These two animals team up in the Abenaki myth of the creation of the Earth, with Muskrat diving to retrieve mud from beneath the water and Turtle volunteering to carry the new land on his back. Their names are pronounced tawl-buh and mos-kwuss.

Azeban: Raccoon, a light-hearted Abenaki trickster figure. Pronounced ah-zuh-bahn.

Miko: Squirrel, an Abenaki troublemaker character. Pronounced mee-ko.

Ojihozo (or Odzihozo): A mythological being, sometimes known as the Transformer, who created himself from nothing and formed Lake Champlain and its surrounding landscape. His name literally means “he makes himself from something unknown or unspecified” and is pronounced ood-zee-hoh-zoh.

Giwakwa (male) or Giwakweskwa (female): Evil man-eating ice giants of Abenaki Indian legends, similar to the Windigo of the Anishinabe and Cree tribes. Pronounced gee-wock-wah or gee-wock-ways-kwah.

Badogiak: The Thunderers, a group of seven supernatural warrior brothers who cause thunder and lightning. Pronounced puh-dawn-gee-uck.

Bemola (also spelled Pamola, Pomola, etc.) A snow bird spirit that lived on Mt Katahdin and made cold weather. Pronounced buh-moh-lah.

Wuchowsen: Another mountain bird spirit of Abenaki Indian myths, whose wings make the wind. Pronounced wuh-dzo-sen.

Pukwudgies (Bokwjimen): Little people of Abenaki mythology, resembling dwarves or fairies. They are generally benevolent forest spirits but can be dangerous if they are disrespected. Pronounced book-wuh-dzee-mun in Abenaki, usually Anglicized to puck-wudd-jee.

Manôgemasak: Another race of legendary little people, manogemasak are river-elves who are usually good-natured but may sometimes capsize canoes, tear fishing nets, or cause other mischief. Pronounced mah-nawn-guh-mah-sock.

Gici Awas: A huge, monstrous creature resembling an enormous stiff-legged bear with an oversized head. Some folklorists believe Abenaki legends about this creature may have been inspired by mammoth fossils. Its name means “great beast” and is pronounced gih-chee ah-wahss.

Mskagwdemos (Swamp Woman): A female ghost that lives in the swamps and makes mournful cries. Anyone who tries to follow the sound of her crying is lost in the swamp. Pronounced muh-skog-day-moose.

Ghost-Witch: A malevolent undead monster created by the death of an evil sorcerer, which returns to life by night to kill and devour humans.

Tatoskok (also known as Gitaskog, Msaskog, or Pitaskog): An underwater horned serpent said to lurk in lakes and eat humans. All of its names are variants on the meaning “great serpent” or “big serpent.” Pronounced tah-toh-skog or gee-tah-skog.