Both are powerful and wise leaders who sometimes get into trouble and play jokes on humans. Tricksters like Nanabush and Wisakedjak are considered heroes. Some are harmless, while others are malevolent. While a general definition of “trickster” can limit the complexity and cultural specificity of this figure from nation to nation, recognizing cross-cultural similarities can help to explain what tricksters are and why they are important to most Indigenous cultures in Canada.Ī common characteristic is that tricksters are foolish and childlike troublemakers.
It is therefore important to recognize and appreciate that Indigenous communities construct tricksters in different ways. Womack argues that tricksters are not inherently Indigenous rather, they were “invented by anthropologists.” Womack is referring to the fact that often non-Indigenous scholars (starting generally in the 1800s) created a convenient, catch-all phrase - the trickster - to label Indigenous figures and stories that might not always fit into this category. For generations, trickster stories have been used to entertain community members as well as to transmit traditional knowledge about society, culture and morality.Ĭreek-Cherokee author Craig S. They are curious pranksters who frequently cross and challenge boundaries, as well as ignore social harmony and order. As their name suggests however, tricksters are also associated with rule-breaking. Often considered cultural heroes, tricksters are credited with protecting (and in some cases, creating) human life.
While Indigenous nations construct tricksters in their own ways, there are some cross-cultural similarities. Indigenous peoples call tricksters by their own names, such as Glooscap or Glooskap (Algonquian), Wisakedjak or Weesageechak (Cree) and Nanabush or Nanabozho (Anishinaabe). In Canada, the word has been popularized by anthropologists studying the role of these figures in Indigenous teachings and oral histories. Trickster is a word used to describe a type of supernatural figure that appears in the folklore of various cultures around the world.
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