Creation Story

           The Anishanaabeg (name given to the original people by the Ojibwe people), like other cultures, had a creation story that was continually recited to provide lessons for all tribal people.  In the beginning, Gitchi Manito created the universe as we know it today. He created Grandfather Sun and Grandmother Moon, Mother Earth and Father Sky. On the earth, he created all things, living and nonliving. He created life on the earth, in the sky, and in the water. He created the plants, rivers, four-legged and winged creatures, and the swimmers. After this was done, he created one of the greatest mysteries of all, the four seasons, to bring harmony and balance to all.

            After all creation of animate and inanimate entities was completed, then the Creator made man. After he created the first Anishanaabe, the Creator instructed him in a dream to name all things in the language given to him, Anishinaabemowin. So the first man went about his journey and named all things he saw, the animals, insects, birds and fish. He told Gitchi Manito in a dream he finished what was requested of him. Then the Creator gave the first man his name, which was Nanaboozho. Whenever the Anishanaabeg meet and greet one another, they say a part of his name, Boozhoo, meaning hello.
            The creation story tells how the Anishanaabeg originally migrated to the Great Lakes region from the East Coast of Northern Canada. The Anishanaabeg resided peacefully until the villagers became restless and unsettled.  Selfishness and competitiveness took over the lives of these inhabitants. The Anishanaabeg were at war with one another and they were not on the red road.  Hatred and other forms of dysfunction ran rampant through the entire Anishanaabeg nation.  The creator looked down at these settlements and decided to cleanse the earth with water to renew the earth, its inhabitants and begin anew. Many creation stories contain a flood as a part of the cleansing process.

            After this cleansing, Nanaboozho found refuge on a log with many animals. All of these animals tried to swim to the bottom to retrieve a piece of dirt to rebuild a land base. Many of them tried and failed. Then, the smallest, weakest of the four leggeds was able to accomplish what the other animals could not.  That animal was the muskrat. However, the muskrat gave its life to bring up the dirt, which saved all the other animals and Nanaboozoo. The muskrat’s lifeless body floated to the top of the water with the dirt clenched within his little hand. Nanaboozoo placed this dirt on the turtle’s back and created the land, which today is referred to as Turtle Island.[i]  The telling of creation stories has carried significance throughout the history of the Anishanaabeg.

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[i] Benton-Banai, E. (1981). The Mishomis Book: The Voice of he Ojibway. Minnesota:  Indian Country Press, Inc., 30-35.