Manabozho

Nanabozho (in syllabics: , ), also known as Nanabush, is a spirit in Anishinaabe ''aadizookaan'' (traditional storytelling), particularly among the Ojibwe. Nanabozho figures prominently in their storytelling, including the story of the world's creation. Nanabozho is the Ojibwe trickster figure and culture hero (these two archetypes are often combined into a single figure in First Nations mythologies, among others).

Nanabozho can take the shape of male or female animals or humans in storytelling. Most commonly it is an animal such as a raven or coyote which lives near the tribe and which is cunning enough to make capture difficult.

Nanabozho is a trickster figure in many First Nation storytellings. While the use of Nanabush through storytelling can be for entertainment, it is often used as a way to pass down information and general life lessons.

The Nanabozho spirit

As a trickster figure, it is often Nanabozho’s goal to create problems, which often highlight the struggles many Native people experience. According to Anishinaabe scholar Leanne Simpson, for instance, Nanabush often experiments with capitalistic means. They can be greedy, manipulative, and money driven. Because of their worldly desires, chaos often ensues. However, by developing deep relationships with others, Nanabozho becomes more balanced. Furthermore, as Nanabozho becomes more receptive to their surroundings, Nanabozho is able to create the ideal of decolonization through learned consent, recognition, and reciprocity. Therefore, the stories of Nanabush are used to guide people through life experiences and teach moral lessons.

Shapeshifting

Nanabozho is a shapeshifter who is both zoomorphic as well as anthropomorphic, meaning that Nanabozho can take the shape of animals or humans in storytelling. Thus Nanabush takes many different forms in storytelling, often changing depending on the tribe. The majority of storytelling depicts Nanabozho through a zoomorphic lens. In the Arctic and sub-Arctic, the trickster is usually called Raven. Coyote is present in the area of California, Oregon, the inland plateau, the Great Basin, and the Southwest and Southern Plains. Rabbit or Hare is the trickster figure in the Southeast, and Spider is in the northern plains. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Jay are the trickster in parts of Canada. Often, Nanabozho takes the shape of these animals because of their frequent presence among tribes. The animals listed above have similar behavioral patterns. For example, they all live near human settlements and are very cunning, enough so as to be captured with great difficulty.

Stories

Nanabozho is one of four sons from what some historical and religious scholars have interpreted as spirits of directions. He has a human mother, and E-bangishimog ("In the West"), a spirit father.

Nanabozho most often appears in the shape of a rabbit and is characterized as a trickster. In his rabbit form, he is called Mishaabooz ("Great rabbit" or "Hare") or Gitchii-waabooz ("Big rabbit"). He was sent to Earth by Gitche Manidoo to teach the Ojibwe. One of his first tasks was to name all the plants and animals. Nanabozho is considered to be the founder of ''Midewiwin''. He is the inventor of fishing and hieroglyphs. This historical figure is a shapeshifter and a co-creator of the world. In this he is called Michabo Ovisaketchak ("the Great Hare who created the Earth").

Fight with Paul Bunyan

An Ojibwe legend describes Nanabozho's encounter with folkloric lumberjack Paul Bunyan. Along Bunyan's path of deforestation, Nanabozho confronts Bunyan in Minnesota and implores him to leave the state without logging any more timber. A fight ensues and they battle for forty days and forty nights. Nanabozho ends the fight by slapping Bunyan across the face with a Red Lake walleye fish. After this, Bunyan "stumbles, ndNanabozho pulls at Paul’s whiskers, making him promise to leave the area." Unofficial sources add a portion in which Bunyan lands on his rear end at the end of the battle, creating Lake Bemidji with the shape of his buttocks.

This story claims to explain why Bunyan is beardless and facing west in the Lake Bemidji statue. (A nearby statue of a Native American figure that had locally acquired the name Nanabozho was actually a 1960s Muffler Man statue. It was taken down in 2025.)

Similar characters in other Native cultures

Among the eastern Algonquian peoples located north of the Abenaki areas, a similar character to Nanabozho existed called ''Tcakabesh'' in the Algonquin language, ''Chikapash'' among the eastern James Bay Crees, ''Chaakaapaas'' by the Naskapi, ''Tshakapesh'' in the Innu language and ''Tcikapec'' in the Atikamekw language, changing to various animal forms to various human forms (adult to child) and to various mythical animals such as the Great Porcupine, or Big Skunk. He conquered or diminished these mythical animals to smaller size after killing or changing them with his trickery or shapeshifting. Among the Meskwaki, ''Wīsakehā'' serves a similar role, as does Wisakedjak among northern Algonquian peoples and for the Saulteaux in the Great Plains. The Lakota had a similar figure known as 'Iktomi.' The Abenaki-influenced Algonquin had a similar figure called ''Kanòjigàbe'' (Fiero spelling: ''Ganoozhigaabe''; Abenaki ''Gluskabe''; English Glooscap).

Nanabozho name variations

The ''Nanabozho'' name varies in the Ojibwe language depending on whether it is presented with a first-person prefix ''n-'' (i.e. ''Nanabozho''), third-person prefix ''w-'' (i.e. ''Wanabozho''), or null-person prefix ''m-'' (i.e. ''Manabozho''); the "Manabozho" form of the name is most commonly associated with Menominee language version of these stories. In addition, depending on the story and the narrator's role in telling the story, the name may be presented in its regular nominative form (with the final ''o'', i.e. ''Nanabozho'') or in its vocative form (without the final ''o'', i.e. ''Nanabozh''). Due to the way the two ''o'' sounds, they are often each realized as ''oo'' (i.e. ''Nanaboozhoo''). In some dialects, ''zh'' is realized as ''z''. These variations allow for associating the name with the word for "rabbit(-)" (''waabooz(o-)'').

Due to the placement of word stress, determined by metrical rules that define a characteristic iambic metrical foot, in which a weak syllable is followed by a strong syllable, in some dialects the weak syllable may be reduced to a schwa (ə), which may be recorded as either ''i'' or ''e'' (e.g. ''Winabozho'' or ''Wenabozho'' if the first weak syllable is graphically shown, ''Nanabizho'' if the second weak syllable is graphically shown).

In addition, though the Fiero double-vowel system uses ''zh'', the same sound in other orthographies can be realized as ''j'' in the Algonquin system or ''š'' (or ''sh'') in the Saulteaux-Cree system (e.g. ''Nanabozho'' v. ''Nanabojo''). To this mix, depending on if the transcriber used French or English, the Anishinaabe name may be transcribed to fit the phonetic patterns of one of the two said languages (e.g. "Winnaboujou" and "Nanabijou": French rendering of ''Winabozho'' and ''Nanabizho'' respectively, or "Nanabush": English rendering of ''Nanabozh'').

Like the transcription variations found among "Nanabozho," often ''Mishaabooz'' is transcribed into French as ''Michabous'' and represented in English as Michabou. Additional name variations include "Winneboujou, Winabojo, Wenabozho, Wenaboozhoo, Waynaboozhoo, Wenebojo, Nanaboozhoo, Nanabojo, Nanabushu, Nanabush, Nanapush, Nenabush, Nenabozho, Nanabosho, Manabush, Manabozho, Manibozho, Nanahboozho, Minabozho, Manabus, Manibush, Manabozh, Manabozo, Manabozho, Manabusch, Manabush, Manabus, Menabosho, Nanaboojoo, Nanaboozhoo, Nanaboso, Nanabosho, Nenabuc, Amenapush, Ne-Naw-bo-zhoo, Kwi-wi-sens Nenaw-bo-zhoo ..Michabo, Michabou, Michabous, Michaboo, Mishabo, Michabo, Misabos, Misabooz," and "Messou."

In popular culture

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem ''The Song of Hiawatha'' (1855) is adapted from several Nanabozho stories, along with Longfellow's own inventions. However, the poem has little to do with the historical or legendary Hiawatha.

Nanabozho is featured, as "Nanabozo", in the form of a trickster rabbit in the Swiss bandes dessinées series Yakari, e.g. ''Yakari et Nanabozo'' (1978).

The novel ''Motorcycles and Sweetgrass'', a novel by Drew Hayden Taylor, contains a contemporary depiction of Nanabozho. Published in 2010, the trickster is portrayed as a white man who charms his way into an Indigenous family living on the Otter Lake reserve.

See also

*'' Aayaase''
*Glooscap
*Wisakedjak
* Odziozo
* Tabaldak
* Naniboujou Club Lodge
* Sleeping Giant (Ontario)
* Winneboujou, Wisconsin

Notes

References

* Benton-Banai, Edward. ''The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway''. Hayward, WI: Indian Country Communications, 1988.
* Chamberlain, A. F. "Nanibozhu amongst the Otchipwe, Mississagas, and other Algonkian tribes," ''Journal of American Folklore'' 4 (1891): 193–213
Nanibozhu amongst the Otchipwe, Mississagas, and Other Algonkian Tribes

* Johnston, Basil. ''Ojibway Heritage''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1976.
* Barnouw, Victor. ''Wisconsin Chippewa Myths and Tales''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977.
* Webkamigad, Howard. ''Ottawa Stories from the Springs''. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2015.

External links

* "Manabosho's Hieroglyphics" recorded by Seth Eastman at Northern Illinois University
* "Nanabozo" in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''
* "Nanabozho" in ''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico'', 1907. Reproduced in ''Handbook of Indians of Canada'', 1913
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{{Anishinaabe

Anishinaabe mythology
Creator gods
Shapeshifters
Trickster gods
Raven deities
Coyotes in religion
Mythological rabbits and hares
Mythological spiders