The windigo has had a death-grip on pop culture for the past decade or so, but what is it really? For the first part of this deep dive, we'll find out what this creature is, the many appearances it has, some windigo stories from Indigenous tribes, cultural context for the windigo, and what options there were/are to treat a windigo within these communities.
There are a lot of terms and names in this episode, so I've prepared a reference section that you can find at the bottom of these show notes. A special thanks to Professor Brady DeSanti (University of Nebraska at Omaha).
IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE/DISCUSSION
Algonquian (a collection of North American tribes that speak the Algonquian language)
Cree Peoples (a major Algonquian group, residing mainly in what’s now Canada)
Ojibwe (a major Algonquian group, residing mainly around the Great Lakes of North America)
Saulteaux (a French translation for ‘people of the rapids’, part of a larger Ojibwa or Chippewa tribe in the Great Lakes region)
Métis (according to the Métis Nation of Ontario, this is an Indigenous group comprised of First Nation and European pairs, who live mainly along waterways and the Great Lakes region)
Montagnais (also known as the southern Innu, traditionally occupying the large forest along the shores of Northern Canada)
Naskapi (a First Nation people in northern Québec)
Jessakid (Ojibwe for ‘shaking tent’)
Mistassini (a portion of Cree peoples who reside along the shore of Lake Mistassini in Québec Canada)
Mista’peo (Mistassini for ‘soul-spirit’)
Tebatoimowin (stories of ‘long ago’)
Mwoak (meaning ‘loon’, the bird)
Sumac (fruiting plant used in Native communities for healing, to treat burns, blisters, and sores)
Ponask (a roasting stick)
Mikisimoskew (‘He-Always-Barks’)
Sump Holes (otherwise known as ‘swallowing places’, are an area where ice or snow is thin, creating a potentially deadly place where a person or animal may fall through)
Mino-bimaddiziwin (a Ojibwe lifestyle concept meaning ‘to live a good life’)
Pawamiwin (Cree word for ‘dreaming’)
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