Glooscap

Glooscap (also spelled "Gluskabe","Glooskap", "Gluskabi", "Kluscap", "Kloskomba", or "Gluskab") is a mythical culture hero, and "transformer" of the Wabanaki peoples. He is represented as the creator in the Penobscot Indian Nation's Creation Myth, as transcribed by Joseph Nicola in "The Red Man." He was an important figure for the Abenaki in the United States and Atlantic Canada, the Passamaquoddy, as well as to the Mi'kmaq (Micmac), who were part of the Wabanaki Confederacy.

Gloosap is casted in the similar role as the Ojibwa Nanabozho and the Cree Wisakedjak. His name "Kloskabe" means "Man that came from nothing" or literally, "Man [created] only from speech."

Legends

Abenaki

The Abenaki people believe that after Tabaldak created humans, the dust from his body created Glooscap and his twin brother, Malsumis. He gave Glooscap the power to create a good world. Malsumis, on the other hand, is the opposite, and seeks evil to this day.

Glooscap learned that hunters who kill too much would destroy the ecosystem and the good world he had sought to create. Frightened at this possibility, Glooscap sought Grandmother Woodchuck (Agaskw) and asked her for advice. She plucked all the hairs out of her belly (hence the lack of hair on a woodchuck's belly) and wove them into a magical bag. Glooscap put all the game animals into the bag. He then bragged to Grandmother Woodchuck that the humans would never need to hunt again. Grandmother Woodchuck scolded him and told him that they would die without the animals. She said that they needed to hunt in order to remain strong. Glooscap then let the animals go.

Later, Glooscap decided to capture the great bird that Tabaldak had placed on a mountain peak, where it generated bad weather in the flapping of its wings. Glooscap caught the eagle and bound its wings and the winds ceased. Soon, the air was so hot and heavy that Glooscap could not breathe, so he loosened the bird's wings, just enough to generate enough weather so that humanity could live.

Modern Abenaki believe that Glooscap is very angry at the white people for not obeying the rules he set down.

Mi'kmaq

In one version of the Mi'kmaq creation myth, Glooskap lay on his back, with arms outstretched and his head toward the rising Sun, for 490 days and nights, then Nogami, the Grandmother, was born as an old woman from the dew of the rock. The next day, Nataoa-nsen, Nephew, was born from the foam of the sea. On the next day was born the Mother of all the Mi'kmaq, from the plants of the Earth.

Glooscap was said by the Mi'kmaq to be great in size and in powers, and to have created natural features such as the Annapolis Valley. In carrying out his feats, he often had to overcome his evil twin brother who wanted rivers to be crooked and mountains ranges to be impassable; in one legend, he turns the evil twin into stone. Another common story is how he turned himself into a giant beaver and created five islands in the Bay of Fundy by slapping his huge tail in the water with enough force to stir up the earth.

Yet another legend has it that when Glooscap finished painting the splendor of the world, he dipped his brush into a blend of all the colours and created "Abegweit", meaning "Cradled on the Waves" — his favorite island (Prince Edward Island).

When Glooscap slept, Nova Scotia was his bed, and Prince Edward Island his pillow.

Glooscap is remembered for having saved the world from an evil frog-monster, who had swallowed all the earth's water. Glooscap killed the monster and the water was released. Some animals, relieved at the resurgence of water, jumped in, becoming fish and other aquatic animals.

Glooscap is also believed to have brought the Mi'kmaq stoneware, knowledge of good and evil, fire, tobacco, fishing nets, and canoes, making him a cultural hero.

Penobscot (Panawapskewi)

Gluskabe created the first humans from the mud of the banks of the biggest, longest river in the area, the Penobscot River. There are many stories that relate to how different animals were created and how they attained their physical characteristics. Gluskabe also had run in with a trickster spirit, Pomola, until Gluscabe tired of his antics and banished Pomola to the western valley of Mount Katahdin, the holiest place on Earth. Gluscabe is thought to currently reside in this mountain, protector of the people of this land. Gluskabe created the Penobscot River, the headwaters of which are located at the base of Mount Katahdin, when he fought a greedy giant toad that had swallowed all of the water in the land. Gluskabe killed the toad, and thus created the Penobscot water shed, largest on the north east coast of what is now known as New England.

ee also

*Abenaki mythology
*Wisakedjak
*Nanabozho