Dangerous spirits : the windigo in myth and history
In the traditional Algonquian world, the windigo is the spirit of selfishness, which can transform a person into a murderous cannibal. Native peoples over a vast stretch of North America--from Virginia in the south to Labrador in the north, from Nova Scotia in the east to Minnesota in the west believed in the windigo, not only as a myth told in the darkness of winter, but also as a real danger. Drawing on oral narratives, fur traders' journals, trial records, missionary accounts, and anthropologists' field notes, this book is a revealing glimpse into indigenous beliefs, cross-cultural communication, and embryonic colonial relationships. It also ponders the recent resurgence of the windigo in popular culture and its changing meaning in a modern context. --Provided by publisher.
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- ISBN: 1772030325
- ISBN: 9781772030327
- Physical Description 221 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
- Edition First U.S. edition.
- Publisher Victoria : Heritage House Publishing, 2015.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | The Windigo in Traditional and Contemporary Narratives -- "More than a canine hunger": Frontier Encounters with the Windigo, 1636-1916 -- "Stunned, teased, and tormented": Missionaries and the Windigo, 1818-1960 -- Prisons, Mental Asylums, and Residential Schools. |