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The Indians believed in a God named Cautantowit. In the beginning, the evil spirits in the earth caused a tremendous flood to cover the land. Many of the animals escaped to the Great Mountain. The birds and the animals were given many god-like qualities, because they lived near Cautantowit, also, known to the Algonquin tribes as "Kiethan" or "Woonand."
After remaking the earth, Cautantowit made man and woman out of stone. He was displeased with them, so he smashed them and made them again. This time he made them out of a living tree and he was pleased.
The Abenakis had these religious beliefs before they met the white men:
Each tribal member chose a lesser-god "Manito" as his guardian. At times this spirit would reveal itself in dreams, visions, or in mysterious sights or sounds. At the age of 12-13 a boy would go on a vision quest to find his guardian spirit [Manito]. He wouldn't eat until he found it. The spirit would appear in an animal form.
Drums were usually used in religious ceremonies to call up the spirits.
Wedding ceremonies included feasts and dances. After the wedding, the son-in-law would normally move in with the wife's family.
Since the Indians had no way of keeping their food fresh and very careful not to waste any part of the animal, the hunter, having more meat than his family could eat, would hold a big feast. Many people would come to his wigwam to eat. He would even close the opening to his wigwam until all the meat had been eaten.
A burial ceremonial included a song chanted by the members of the band and then a period of mourning was observed.
On the southern end of Lake Champlain, called Petrowbowk by the Abenakis, was a large rock that the Abenakis thought was a guardian spirit.It was called Wojahase, meaning "the Forbidder. They believed that if they throw corn to it, it would watch over them as they traveled. If not, the spirit would come after them, yelling and screaming.
All over New Hampshire and Maine things and places have Indian names. Names like Winnipeseogee [Win-nire-see-gee} meaning, smiling lake surrounded by the Great Spirit.
The Abenakis did not have a written language. The English and the French pronounced and spelled their words according to their phonetics. The letters f,g,v,x, and y were omitted in Indian sounds. The letters j and g seem to be interchangeable.
Here are some interesting Abenaki words to learn.
Coos - Another way to spell it was Coas or Cohas meaning, a kind of pine tree filling up the landscape.
Connecticut - A pronunciation for the Abenaki name, Kweni-tegu. Kweni meant long and tegu meant river.
Pemigewasset - Pamijewaski, meant swift, rapid, and hard current river.
Asquamchumauke - Means Baker River that rose by Mount Moosilauke in the north.
Squam - Two lakes that are connected. Today they are called Big and Little Squam.
Winnipesauke - [Win-nipi-s-aukee] This lake 's Indian name stands for "smiling lake between the mountains."
The Algonquins and the Abenakis used the following words for the days of the weeks and the numbers 1-10.
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1. Neat |
6. Kamahcin |
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2. Nis |
7. Oluwikonok |
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3. Nihi |
8. Ogomolcin |
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4. New |
9. Esqonatek |
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5. Nam |
10. Qotinsk |
The Native Americans taught their children the lessons of life and morals through stories by the"Elders"of the tribes. Each story had a lesson woven into it. Stories were also used to tell the history of the tribe. Story telling took place year round, but mostly around the fires in the fall and winter seasons when days were short and nights were long. The following stories were written or interpreted by the children.
One day the skunk was walking through the woods.He met his friend Bear. Bear said,"Want to go play in the snow?"
Skunk said,"Sure." Bear and Skunk went to the sliding hill and played. They played for many hours. Of course,during this time, they were supposed to be getting food for dinner. As darkness approached, Skunk and Bear realized they had no food to take home to their families. Skunk started to beg and pray to the Great Spirit for help. The Great Spirit came down and asked Skunk,"Why is it that you didn't gather food before dark?" Skunk finally had to admit that he had played in the snow with Bear instead. The Great Spirit said,"I will help you this time, but as a reminder not to waste all of your time playing in the snow, I am giving you a white stripe down your back. Now take this food and go." From that day on, all skunks have a white stripe down their back.
When the Earth was young, the Great Spirit gathered up all the animals that he had not named. One of them was a field mouse. When the Great Spirit was naming the animals, the field mouse got away. When the Great Spirit found out that the field mouse had gotten away, he asked the Eagle to go find him. The Eagle flew high in the sky and looked around, but he could not see the field mouse. He went back to the Great Spirit and said that he could not see very well because he was high in the sky. He also said that he could not fly close to the ground. So the Great Spirit gave him sharper eyesight, so he could see things from above and on the ground.
The Eagle went out and soon and caught the field mouse. This pleased the Great Spirit and that is why Eagles have sharp eyesight today.
Long ago the horse's muzzle was not as soft as today. An Indian Legend tells the story of a little boy and his horse.
Late in the afternoon Little Eagle's mother went out to pick some berries for dinner. It got late and Little Eagle's mother could not see so she decided to spend the night.
It got really late,and Little Eagle got very worried, so he got his horse Tonka and started searching for his mother. They searched and searched and searched. After searching and searching they were very tired so they decided to rest and search in the morning.
Little Eagle put his head on the horrse's muzzle to keep warm. While they were asleep the Spirit of Comfort came and gave Tonka a soft muzzle, so that Little Eagle had something comfortable to put his head on.
In the morning ,Little Eagle and Tonka set out to find his mother and they succseeded.
That is why the horse's muzzle is now soft.
A long time ago a bear was hibernating and he was disturbed by a fox. The bear came out of his cave. He saw a fox making a lot of noise holding a stick with fish on it. The bear didn't know that the fox had stolen the stick from a nearby camp. The bear asked the fox, "How did you get that many fish?"
The fox said, "Have you got a long tail?"
The bear answered, "Yep!"
Then the fox said, "I'll teach you how to fish. This is the way you do it. Take a rock and make a hole in the ice. Stick your your tail in the hole. If you feel your tail being pinched, it's only the fish biting."
The bear did what the fox told him to do. The bear sat on the ice for a long time with his tail in the hole. The bear tried pulling his tail out of the hole, but his tail had become frozen in the hole. He pulled so hard he ripped off his tail. That's how the bear got a short tail.
One day as Owl was writing in his office. Crow was perched on a nearby tree and started mocking Owl. "Hey Owl!" shouted Crow. "Whoooo do you think you are reading all those books? Einstein?"said Crow. Crow kept mocking Owl, but Owl didn't even look up. Hum, thought Crow. How am I going to get him mad? Crow flew right over on Owl's desk and yelled, "Owl! Are you deaf?" Just then, when Crow least expected it, Owl grabbed the ink bottle and dumped it all over Crow.
"Don't ever mock me again,"warned Owl. That is how crows became black and have been that way ever since.
Once there was a Indian Woman. She had just had a baby. She wanted the most beautiful clothes for her baby, so she asked her husband for some new deer skins. She had beautiful beads and wanted to decorate the deer skin, but she did not know how to get them on the clothes. She went to the God Kushi on top of the Mountains near her Village.
She told him her problem. "I will help you. When you wake up tomorrow your problem will be solved," said God Kushi. She thanked him many times then left. The next morninng she looked outside. There was a slow moving spiked creature. She decided to call the creature a porcupine. It started to amble away . When it did some of the spikes came off. Suddenly she realized that these spikes would help her put the beads on the skins. She picked up the spikes one by one and gathered all she could find. She took a bead and put it on the quill and stuck it through the deer skin. A month later she had created a beautiful floral design on the skin. When the other women in the village saw it, they asked how she did it. She told them the story. From then on the spiked creature, with the sewing spikes[quills], has been called a porcupine.
Once there was a Turtle who loved to sun himself on a large rock by the pond everyday. He liked the rock because it was nice and warm and he made sure that it was dry. One day he as he was lying on his rock, while the sun was just right, suddenly there was a tremendous splash. "Hi, there! I'm Frog and I came down from Jefferson Pond up north," said Frog, "Who are you?"
"I'm Turtle and this is my pond your splashing about in. Get out !" shouted Turtle.
"No way! The Great Spirit created this land and no one owns it," said Frog. "Besides, I like it here."
"Fine," said Turtle, "We'll have a race and the winner will control the pond."
So the next morning it happened. They had the big race. "On your mark! Get Ready! Go! cried Bear.
They started running the course to Hollow Woods, to Turtle's Pond, to Willow Creek, and back to the starting place, Great Spirit Bog. But at Hollow Woods they were neck-to-neck and they started fighting. "I could beat you anyday!" shouted Frog.
"You need some manners," said Turtle.
Next they came to Turtle's Pond and stopped. Frog jumped into the pond and started splashing to cool off. "Stop that!" Turtle yelled.
"Why should I," said Frog.
"Why don't both of you stop it!" shouted Mrs. Raccoon. "The land belongs to all of us and we should respect it," said Mrs. Raccoon. "O.K.,"They said. "Lets just call it a tie and we'll all share the pond." They both agreed and lived happily ever after in Turtle's Pond.
Lesson: The Great Spirit created everything for everyone not just for one.
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