Dangerous Spirits: The Windigo in Myth and History

Dangerous Spirits: The Windigo in Myth and History
ISBN-10
1772030325
ISBN-13
9781772030327
Category
History
Pages
224
Language
English
Published
2015-04
Publisher
Heritage House Publishing Co
Author
Shawn Smallman

Description

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 westmdash;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.

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