The Geography of Mi'kmaq Folklore

The Mi'kmaq and their ancestors have lived in Maine and Eastern Canada for thousands of years. When Europeans first encountered the Mi'kmaq in the mid-seventeenth century, they met the L'nu, which is the word in the Mi'kmaq language for "The People." It is the word that the Mi'kmaq called themselves. When the Mi'kmaq met the Europeans, they greeted them by saying "Mi'kmaq," which means "Friends or Allies." These Europeans believed the people were telling them their name, and so they started calling them "Mi'kmaq" and it stuck!

Mi'kmaq is spelled in different ways. Mi'kmaq is the spelling that represents how the word that represents this group of people should be pronounced. It is used among the Mi'kmaq in Canada. Mi'kmaw is the plural of Mi'kmaq. Micmac is spelled the way English speakers hear the word. The Aroostook Band of Micmacs is in the process of changing their name to the Mi'kmaq Nation in order to better reflect their heritage.

Prior to the creation of the United States and Canadian border, the Mi'kmaq traveled throughout Maine and Eastern Canada. The season of the year determined where they would be. This is because they were nomadic. After the current border was created in 1842, the majority of the Mi'kmaq lived in Canada. They lived in the area having moved north and east in earlier times. The Mi'kmaq still crossed the current border, especially in the late 1800s and early 1900s, to help farmers at harvest time and to sell baskets and other items that they made. Some of them never left the United States and eventually were joined by others from Canada. These Mi'kmaq joined together to become the Aroostook Band of Micmacs now called the Mi'kmaq Nation. The Mi'kmaq on both sides of the border share the same culture including oral traditions.

Image 2: The map to the right shows the land of the Mi'kmaq and includes place names. Notice that the names are based on geography and what the area had to offer. This would have been prior to European arrival.

Storytelling is central to the Mi'kmaq culture. Stories help carry history from one generation to the next. They teach each new generation where to find the best fish in the fall and how to preserve fire through the harsh winters of Maine and Maritime Canada. They also teach geography. The stories explain directions from one place to another by including important details about the landscape.

 Click here  to read a short article about the importance of storytelling to the Mi'kmaq.

Maine Native Americans include the Mi'kmaq, the Maliseet, the Passamaquoddy and the Penobscot. Glooskap is in stories told by all four of these tribes. Glooskap, is also called Glooscap, Kluskabe, Gluscap, or Kl'uscab. He is part folk hero and part god. He is important to the Mi'kmaq Oral Tradition. Stories about him have grown as each new generation of storytellers hears, learns and shares his stories with the next generation!

The video to the right introduces you to several Glooskap stories. The filmmakers used Cape Blomidon and Cape Split in Nova Scotia as the setting for the stories.

The French started interacting with the Mi'kmaq in 1534. The French colony was called New France. It covered Atlantic Canada to the St. Lawrence River and down to Maine and even Ohio. The French wrote down the stories they learned from the Mi'kmaq. Then the British took the land from the French in 1763 and started to write down Mi'kmaq stories. Remember, though, that those stories existed long before Europeans arrived and started writing them down in French and then English. Each time a story is told, it changes a little, and each storyteller who shares a story owns that story.

For example, Maine historian, Dena Winslow who works for the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, explained that "A story told by a Mi'kmaq storyteller belongs to the storyteller and cannot be retold unless the storyteller gifts you that story. If you receive a story as a gift, you'll know it." Stories are very special to the Mi'kmaq, and the storytellers in the group are held in high esteem. Many of the stories collected in this story map journal come from Canadian and American folklorists who shared the stories they encountered during their time traveling with Mi'kmaq.

These stories are often retold in English from their original Mi'kmaq language and interpreted by the writer for an English-speaking audience. Why is this important to remember? Well, these Glooskap stories were originally told in the Mi'kmaq language, and languages are all unique. Languages have special ways of describing things. Sometimes the meaning of something in one language cannot be described the same way in a different language.

The map you see here is a story map. Each of the pins in this map has information about a specific Glooskap story that takes place at this location.

Please read these instructions before you start clicking the yellow pins on the map.

1. In the upper right corner of the map is a blue box with two arrows pointing away from each other. Click on that box to make the map bigger.
2. Click on the pins on the map to read stories about Glooskap.
3. Notice after the story, you can see who wrote the story down.
4. You can also click on the + to zoom in and see the exact location connected to each story. Select "Zoom to" to see this location of Maine or Canada close-up.

These stories were picked for two reasons. First, they come from or take place in that specific location. Second, the story details have a connection to the specific place. In the Mi'kmaq culture, stories, like the language, are deeply rooted in the geography of the region.

The two men who copied down these folk stories were Charles Leland and Silas Rand. Leland was a linguist and a folklorist. A linguist studies languages and how they are constructed. He did a lot of his work in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Click here  to learn more about Charles Leland. Silas Rand also studied languages and was an ethnologist. An ethnologist studies other cultures. He worked closely with the Mi'kmaq in Canada during the middle of the 1800s.  Click here  to learn more about Silas Rand. You might find that the way they write down the stories seems odd. This is because that is the way people wrote back then.

Mi'kmaq stories of Glooskap along with other legends and folk tales make use of the Mi'kmaq language. The language is very important because it communicates more than just the story. Think about English for a moment. Remember the lessons you've had about "root words?" Root words are word parts that share a common language ancestor. Mi'kmaq has similar things as root words and the language can convey when something is water or fire or alive just in its roots.

These words show up in the place names for story locations in Mi'kmaq. This map is a little different than the first map you encountered. This map includes many place names in Mi'kmaq so you can see (and hear) the language that influences the stories you have read. Remember, the Mi'kmaq people live all over Maine and Eastern Canada. Many Glooskap stories share content, but connect to different locations in Canada or Maine.

Rand wrote down the Mi'kmaq names for these places as well. This is part of what he did as a linguist.

Instructions for using this map.

1. In the upper right corner of the map is a blue box with two arrows pointing away from each other. Click on that box to make the map bigger.
2. Click on the pins. A pop-up box will appear so you can see the names of the places as they are in Mi'kmaq and what they mean in English.
3. The blue pins are in Canada and the green are in Maine.
4. Scroll down to the end of the pop-up boxes because some take you to a website that tells you how to pronounce the Mi'kmaq words.
5. Occasionally, we've linked to other dictionaries to help you discover the roots and origins of these words in Mi'kmaq.

The following links will take you to other pronunciation guides.

 Click here to access the Mi'mawey Cultural Centre Mi'kmaw Pronunciation Guide  (with audio)

 Click here to access the First Nation Help Lexicon , or Mi'kmaq Dictionary (which includes several songs and poems in text for you to read, as well)

 Click here for the Mi'kmaq Talking Dictionary 

 Click here for the Rand Micmac Dictionary  (collected by Silas Tertius Rand, one of the sources for many of the Glooskap stories we have in English).

The content for this map is listed below (each location is pinned on the map with additional content). Here are those places typed out so you can see them more closely. You can zoom in on the map to find the English names of these places on the map.

1. 'Wanpa'q: "calm water" (Cole Harbour, NS)
2. Sipuk: "at the river" (Sydney, Cape Breton) but used to be called kun'tewiktuk meaning "at the rock."
3. Wiaqajk: "the mixing place" (Margaree, NS).
4. Tmaqnapskw: "something that looks like a pipe" (place in Miramichi, NB).
5. Tlaqatik: "at the encampment" (Tracadie, NS).
6. Pankweno'pskuk: "lice-picking falls," but literally means "where they hunt one another's head [for lice]" (Gabriel Falls, NS).
7. Penatkuk: "bird nesting place" (Island in Shelburne River, NS)
8. E'sue'katik: "the place of clams" (St. Esprit, Cape Breton)
9. Sipekne'katik/Sikipne'katik: "where ground nuts are found" (Shubernacadie, NS).
10. Amaqapskeket: "rushing over rocks" (Gold River, NS).
11. Kukwesue'katik: "haunt of the giants" (Middle River, Sheet Harbour, NS).
12. Kopitue'katik: "place where there are lots of beaver or where beavers gather." (Beaver Harbour, NS).
13. Kespukwitk: "the last flow of water" (one of the seven traditional Mi'kmaw districts, Southwest, NS).
14. Kjipuktuk: "the great harbour" (Halifax, NS).
15. Epekwitk:"in the water, up above" (Prince Edward Island).
16. Matuesuatp: "the head of a porcupine" (Porcupine Head, NS).
17. Pne'katik: "egg laying place," translated by Rand as "the humble place" (Benacadie, NS).
18. Waqmitkuk: "clean flowing water" (Wagmatcook, NS).
19. Mntuapskuk: "Devil's Rock" (Jeddore, NS).
20. Plekteaq: "split by a handspike" (This refers to the columnar rocks at Cape Split, NS).
21. Napu'saqnuk: "place for stringing beads" (St. Mary's, NB).
22. Potlotek: May be derived from "Port Toulouse," the French fort erected in St. Peter's Nova Scotia. (Chapel Island, NS).
23. Tepotikkewey Qospem: "Boot Place Lake" (in Eskissoqnik, Eskasoni, NS).

The video to the right is an animated version of the Mi'kmaq folk story called Glooskap and the Chicadees.

As you watch the video, think about what the story is telling you about the Mi'kmaq, their history and their culture.

To the right is a Mi'kmaq Elder, Jean Meader, telling the Mi'kmaq Creation Story: Woman on the Water. Notice the importance of the fact that a Mi'kmaq elder is telling you this story.

As you watch the video, think about what the story is telling you about the Mi'kmaq, their history and their culture.