Huron and Wyandot Mythology
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CANADA DEPARTMENT OF MINES HON. LOUIS CODERRE, MINISTER; R. G. MCCONNELL, DEPUTY MINISTER GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MEMOIR 80 No. 11, ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES Huron and Wyandot Mythology With an Appendix Containing Earlier Published Records BY C. M. Barbeau OTTAWA GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU 1915 No. 1554 ©Canadian Museum of Civilization Prepared by The Wyandotte Nation Culture Committee for Culture Days 2009 NOTE: Although visually different from the original, all Wandat words have been faithfully transcribed from Mr. Barbeau’s handwritten manuscript into a consistent, simplified and reproducible format by Dr. Craig Kopris using modern digital fontography. This document is not for resell. The Wyandotte Nation Culture Committee intends for this document to be distributed and used solely by tribal members of the Wyandotte Nation, The Wyandot Nation of Kansas, The Wyandot of Anderdon Nation and The Huron-Wendat of Wendake. PREFACE. List of Wyandot phonetic signs ................................................................................................................................................. xiv INTRODUCTION. Types of oral narrative; the natives' and the author's classifications...................................................................... 1 The myths, tales, and traditions; their function................................................................................................................. 3 Old time and modern story-tellers .......................................................................................................................................... 3 When the narratives were recited ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Summary of Huron- Wyandot mythology............................................................................................................................. 6 Form; stylistic devices; beginnings and endings; songs; style; humour.................................................................. 15 Subject matter; themes and episodes, and their diffusion; the narrator considered as a factor in the making of mythology.................................................................................................................................. 18 Antiquity of the Huron- Wyandot mythology; of the form, style, and ending formulae; of the subject matter; direct and indirect evidence .................................................................................... 24 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 35 PART I. COSMOGONIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL MYTHS. (A) COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS....................................................................................................................................................... 37 I. The origin of the world .............................................................................................................................. 37 II. Creation myth (first version) .................................................................................................................. 47 III. Creation myth (second version) ............................................................................................................ 50 IV. The thunder .................................................................................................................................................... 51 V. The origin of the sun-shower.................................................................................................................. 53 VI. The origin of the Pleiades ......................................................................................................................... 56 VII. Origin of the Seven Stars........................................................................................................................... 58 (B) GIANTS AND DWARFS........................................................................................................................................................... 60 VIII. Skadawati and the giant ............................................................................................................................ 60 IX. The giant and the Indian ........................................................................................................................... 62 X. The flinty giant .............................................................................................................................................. 63 XI. The dwarfs....................................................................................................................................................... 65 XII. The two giant cousins and the old witch............................................................................................ 65 ii PAGE (C) OTHER ETIOLOGICAL MYTHS............................................................................................................................................ 72 XIII. The big turtle myth...................................................................................................................................... 72 XIV. The contest of the big turtle, land animals, and fowls.................................................................. 76 XV. The little grey woodpecker and the Indian maid ........................................................................... 77 XVI. The twins and the cave people ............................................................................................................... 78 XVII. The skunks' league against smallpox................................................................................................... 84 (D) SOCIOLOGICAL MYTHS, OR MYTHS OF ORIGIN OF POWER AND SOCIAL STANDING ........................................................................................................................................................ 82 XVIII. Origin of the phratries................................................................................................................................ 82 XIX. The origin of the Snake clan .................................................................................................................... 90 XX. The Snake clan's myth of origin............................................................................................................. 91 XXI. The Snake clan............................................................................................................................................... 93 XXII. The Snake clan's myth................................................................................................................................ 94 XXIII. The Lion fraternity's myth of origin..................................................................................................... 95 XXIV. The white otter and the Ustura feast ................................................................................................... 97 XXV. The eagle and the hunter .......................................................................................................................... 98 XXVI. The hunter and the eagle .......................................................................................................................... 100 XXVII. The snake and the hunter's stepson .................................................................................................... 102 XXVIII. The wolf and the young man................................................................................................................... 103 XXIX. The lion and the hunter ............................................................................................................................. 106 XXX. The lion and the boy.................................................................................................................................... 109 XXXI. The maple and the woman....................................................................................................................... 110 XXXII. The hunter and the dwarf woman ........................................................................................................ 111 XXXIII. The beaver giving “powers”..................................................................................................................... 113 XXXIV. How a poor man became a medicine-man ........................................................................................ 115 XXXV. The bear and the hunter's stepson ....................................................................................................... 116 XXXVI. The bear and the stepson.......................................................................................................................... 126 XXXVII. The mother-bear and the stepson......................................................................................................... 127 XXXVIII. The bear and the hunter's son................................................................................................................ 128 XXXIX. The ill-treated husband ............................................................................................................................. 131 XL. The seven brothers transformed into oxen .....................................................................................