Significance Of Water In The Igluik And Mi Kmaq Creation Story

In the creation stories of the Igluik and Mi'kmaq, water is the main symbol present. Throughout these creation stories, the significance of water is shown through the negative feelings it conveys. However, the writings show that there is a glimpse of the beauty and good in the symbol despite its description.

In both of these stories, water is shown with a sad connotation. In the Igluik story, “World Parent,” sadness is shown through a theme of abandonment and how the giant girl’s parents rowed her out into the deepest sea and threw her overboard because of their fear of her. As the story quotes: “She clung to the side of the boat, so they cut off her fingers… [They] were afraid of their child and they rowed away”. This section shows that the

In the Mi’kmaq story, the younger sister often disregards the elder’s knowledge and constantly ignores her advice. For example, when the eldest sister reminds her to listen to the rules of the star husbands and to keep her eyes closed so they can reach back home, the youngest disregards her words and opens them at the wrong time, resulting in them being trapped on a tree and unable to reach home. Comparatively, in the Iroquois story, trust is shown when the chief and other sky people willingly follow the elder’s advice to save the chief’s daughter. The story states that “the elder was respected” and the sky people listened to his words carefully. Because of this, the chief’s daughter was saved and gets to live in a new

In the story of the Métis-Cree, the hunters treated the moose with respect after killing him. This trait is similarly shown in the Dene story, as the hunters talk nicely to the bear and offer him deals for the sack on his neck rather than immediately steal it with violence. A common point of view in these stories is the animal's reluctance to trust or give to the humans. In the moose story, the young moose’s parents call him essentially foolish for threatening the group by taking the pipe from the hunters, they say:

“You have killed us. This is a pipe from human beings. They are smoking this pipe now and asking for success in their hunt. Now, tomorrow, they will find us.” In this excerpt, the mooses’ overall opinion of hunters is shown as negative because they are known for harming animals. Likewise, the bear also demonstrates an emotion that resembles distrust, as he does not let the humans near the sack filled with warmth and does not give them a chance to steal it.

To conclude, both stories describe the intricate relationship between humans and animals and the respect these communities show to the animals. Although these relationships are portrayed very differently, they do share a common point of view of distrust towards