Mi'kmaq People - Folklore

Folklore

In Mi'kmaq mythology, evil and wickedness among men causes them to kill each other. This causes great sorrow to the creator-sun-god, who weeps tears that become rains sufficient to trigger a deluge. The people attempt to survive by traveling in bark canoes, but only a single old man and woman survive to populate the earth. When looking at the Mi’kmaq people’s oral traditions there are three types: myths, legends, and folklore. Myths are used to tell the stories of the earliest possible time, that would include creation stories. Other myths account for the organization of the world and society, the myth of how men and women were created and why they are different from one another is a good example of this. Because of their power to describe how things should be, myths are very important to the Mi’kmaq. Legends are the second and they are oral traditions related to particular places. Legends can involve the recent or distant past, but are most important in linking people and the land. The last one is folktales, which are stories that all the people take part in it. Folktales are known to be fictional, they are useful for providing moral or social lessons to youth, or just for amusement. Folktales were also used by the Mi’kmaq people for long winter nights sitting around the fire and because of this a good storyteller was highly prized by the Mi'kmaq people.

See also: Glooscap