Creation story of the Ojibwe People

Creation of Turtle Island

Native Legends and Myths

The Ojibwa Indians, and some other First Nations people, refer to the world as Turtle Island. Different people have different ways of telling the story of how Turtle Island was created...sort of how the Protestants and the Catholics put a spin on their versions of Bible stories. But this is what I was told about how the world came to be...

If you've read The Creation Story you'll already know that the universe was created by Kitch-Manitou's abiity to envision all that was posible and then bring it into being.

I don't know where Kitchi-Manitou went after he created the universe and everything in it. I don't know how long he stayed away. But I was told that he eventually dropped by this world to check up on things, so to speak.

On his return, the Mother Earth, Muzzu-Kummik-Quae seemed to be well. The animals that wandered the land, that swam in the seas and flew in the air held each other in balance as did the the trees, the grasses and the thorns.

But as Manitou looked about him he had another vision...he realized that there was one more thing that he could create. He could put on the world a special creature who, like himself, could dream.

Because this new being would be one who could have visions like his creator, rather than simply declaring this new being into existence, Manitou had to pass on his spiritual essence in a direct manner.

A spirit is simply a possibility

Because I've been speaking of Kitchi Manitou as if he was a person, you may have forgotten that what he is personifying is possibility...the possibility of everything in the universe that we know and everything that we don't know. But there are lesser possibilities. For example, there is the possibility that there is such a thing as winter. For the Ojibwa, winter is personified by Keewatin, spirit of the north. And then of course there is the possibility that the male being is not sufficient unto himself. Why else the need for femininity?

It was this feminine potential, personified as the spirit Geezhigo-Quae, to whom Kitchi Manitou ascended. I say ascended because Geezhigo-Quae (Sky Woman) lived on the Moon.

Now young ladies...listen up.

Here is what happened.

Even Manitou needed a woman's help

Kitchi Manitou, the greatest of spirits, the most powerful being in the universe had to ask a woman for help.

He asked if she would bear his essence. He asked if she would join with him in creating an image of himself in the world. He asked if she would love and nurture his children.

Sky Woman agreed.

They joined together and Sky Woman became pregnant with the children of Kitchi Manitou.

And then the blighter disappeared. He went off and did whatever men and Manitou's do after they get their women pregnant!

So Sky Woman went down to Mother Earth to make preparations for the birth herself. She bent trees for a lodge. Tanned hides to cover it. Dried meat for the winter.

Many animals passed by to ask what she was up to. She explained that she was carrying Manitou's children and was preparing a home for them.

The word spread across the world. Most creatures were happy and excited that Manitou had given them the gift of his children.

But not the Water Manitous. They were mad!

Jealousy raises it's ugly head

You see every life form that lived on Mother Earth needed their water. They knew that if the children of Kitchi Manitou walked the Earth that their powers would be diminished.

Actually, the Water Manitous weren't just mad. They were enraged!

In retaliation they used their powers to cause a great flood that spread across the entire world.

As the waters rose and destroyed her encampment Sky Woman retreated to the Moon. She looked down in dismay. With water covering the land, her man gone who knows where, and the pregnant woman left to handle the chaos by herself you get the idea that this is a TRUE story!

But Geezhigo-Quae had resources. She knew that she could influence her own destiny. She could have a say in how things turned out. She made a plan.

Although the world was inundated with water below her, Sky Woman could see a few animals that were not under the total control of the Water Spirits. That was because although they breathed air, they knew how to swim! The first creature she called to her aid was the giant turtle. He came to the surface so that she could sit on his back and call others to her side. The loon, the beaver, the little muskrat were among her assistants.

The female spirit prevails

What she said was this. "I don't have all the powers of creation that Kitchi Manitou has. But I am a woman. I have the power to re-create. It is my gift. I can re-create Manitou's world, but I cannot act alone. I need your help. I need you to dive deep. I need you to bring me a handful of the original soil made by Manitou. The soil will be the seed I use to re-create the Earth."

All day long the animals took turns trying to reach the soil covered by the great depth of water but without success.

At the end of the day it was only the little muskrat who had not given it a try. That was because muskrats don't really dive deep. You'll always find them in the sloughs, or at the edge of rivers and lakes. You'll never see them swimming in the deepest water.

But if you look at your own life, you'll see that there are times when you just have to give up your old story about what you can or cannot do. Sometimes in your life you have to burst from the confines of your story and grow into a more capable person.

That day, long ago, the muskrat decided that with no one else available to help it was up to him to do the job. He took many deep breaths and dived down and down.

Sky Woman and her friends waited and waited...but t he muskrat didn't return.

The sun dipped below the horizon. The moon cast a sad blue glow across the water. It was a long night.

The dawn of a new day

As the sky grew light Geezhigo-Quae strained to catch sight of the muskrat. Suddenly she gasped and pointed through the waves. There in the distance was a small black thing floating on the water. The turtle swam towards it and Sky Woman realized it was the muskrat...but he was dead.

Lovingly she pulled him from the water and found clutched in his paw the soil from Manitou's world. To thank the muskrat she bent over and breathed life back into him. That's why we still have muskrats today.

Then she took the soil and breathed into it the characteristics that would allow it to provide nourishment, shelter, teachings and incentive to the beings that would live upon it. That soil she rubbed on the turtle's back. She rubbed the soil round and round. As she did so the Muzzu-kummick-quae again took shape above the water. Geezhigo-Quae continued to move over the new soil. She walked in wider and wider arcs. And the Earth was re-created. Forever after it was known as Turtle Island.

Sky Woman gave birth. Eventually Kitchi Manitou returned and was grateful to Geezhigo-Quae for her strength and her compassion. He gave her a knew name. Thereafter she was known as Nokomis - the Great Mother, creator of the Anishinaubaek, the Good Beings.

The children of Kitchi Manitou and Nokomis had children...and the children had children. As time went on and people spread across the land they sometimes were known as Ojibwa sometimes Chippewa, or Ottawa, Pottawatomi and Mississauga. Eventually they were known as Canadians.