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For any generation of people, no story is more important than their Origin. Similarly for Canada’s Indigenous people, ‘generations are still unsure of their culture and so much disconnected from their identity’. For First Nations, these are the stories that help them to continue to be resilient, strong, and loving. Canada’s origin, progress and development into one of the wealthiest nation is owed so much to Nature especially their connection to animals. There is a great diversity between cultures, animals frequently figure prominently in these creation stories, legends, ceremonies and art. These aren’t just little made-up stories, you know.

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After reading and watching the Ojibwe Legend of Turtle Island, it's really interesting for me to know that for some Indigenous peoples, the turtle is therefore considered an icon of life, and the story of Turtle Island consequently speaks to various spiritual and cultural beliefs. So I can understand their feeling when their home being conquered, being stolen before their eyes even though they still living in their home land. I'm really sad for them as well as angry, rage toward the people that taken their home away and taken credit of developing it despite the original history and cultural evidence.

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I was amazed on how First Nations care about their land, rivers and how they use its riches moderately such as travelling  with their goods to making trades. Knowing how Indigenous peoples connect not only with the land but also to the animals feels so hearth warming especially when the woman said in the video the line, "Animals made the first trails that led them to water, and the people followed." I feel like we must have a big respect not only to those peoples who was here first but the animals that was living on this land even before peoples discover the land.

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The Indigenous Peoples of Canada by Olive Patricia and William Newbigging gave me a wonderful glimpse of how and what are the oral stories passed from lines of generations of the First Peoples of Canada. It made me realize that indeed through oral stories, the history, the culture, and experiences of people since time immemorial can be preserved and handed down. With the stories presented, the story of the underwater goddess, Sedna, struck me the most because I see it as a very tragic and yet unique story. After a long list of suitors, the one that she chose deceived her and yes, she was rescued by her father but was eventually abandoned to save himself. Sadly, as it may, it still blossomed into various species in nature. It is one of the stories that also presented the unique element of nature, particularly the weather. The ancestors co-related with the said story as to their harsh climate that others may find impossible to tolerate nor thrive. As I have observed, these stories might be mythical in nature, but it depicts that the land, animals, water, and people are intertwined or co-exist together. In our own culture in the Philippines, stories are almost similar in ways that it uses nature as their point of origin.

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When I came to Canada, I was not aware about Indigenous Peoples or their origin, but when I took this course, and after just two weeks, I come to know about the importance of oral tradition, history and rich culture of Indigenous Peoples what has now become Canada. The most fascinating thing about all the four origin stories is that these each story gives a life lesson and there is harsh reality that existed not only in that period, but in modern world also. For Example, The Mikmaq of Listuguj teaches that eventually, good wins over evil which is somewhat similar to the second story The Kamiga Odaawak in which white suckers fed on the aquatic insects who devoured the young plants. The third story Haida tells that making mistakes and death is an inevitable part of human life. Last but not least, The Inuit of Sikusiilaq tells that Greed makes man foolish and blind. So these life lessons from each story teaches us a lot of things that can change our life.

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I was extremely fascinated by all the origin stories. Also the stories are structured in a very well format so as to get a clear picture on all the aspects. The east story tells us how Glooscap was created and how he created all humans and animals. The south story tells us about the preservation of nature. The story of west describes raven as an imperfect creator and how at one point the whole world was in darkness. The North story tells us about the tragic story of Sedna and how she turns into underwater goddess. I belong to India and can relate to this story because we worship different goddesses on different occasions. The turtle island story tells us how the world was saved.

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After reading these stories a feature that was common in all the stories was the connection of the Indigenous people with nature. Their practices are sustainable and they care for the environment. Indigenous people care for the animals also. I love reading fiction and honestly, I would love to read the other stories by the Indigenous people. Even in my culture, mythology books are worth reading. There is a similar Great Flood Story in Hindu Mythology also called  "manvantara-sandhya". Almost all the stories in Hindu mythology have devas, asuras and humans. Similar to twin brothers Glooscap and Malsm, both devas and asuras are children of Kashyapa, born of different wives. I was shocked after reading the story of Sedan and how her father left her to die in the waters.

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After reading the four origin stories contained in the second week readings, the one element that caught my attention was the animal prominence in each of these stories. I think this caught my attention because after reflection number one I have become more interested in knowing about the Indigenous peoples of my country and these Indigenous peoples also give an amazing role to animals in terms of their origin or creation. The Wayuu for example; are an Indigenous people from northern Colombia who, despite telling a story of origin with various characters such as the sun, the moon, the earth, the rain, the lightning and others. It was the earth that was penetrated by lightning to start creation them, the Earth spawned a white horse who became the father of all. Although this protagonism given to the animals leads me to understand the importance that these have for the Indigenous people, at the same time I question their preference for them. Why animals and not mythical beings such as the Greeks?

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While reading origin stories, I was impressed how beautiful and talented the creation of land that eventually became Canada, is described. They illustrate such significant issues as the importance of teaching, the natural resources, the difficulties that people have to overcome during their life and the slow process of evolution. People have been always closely connected to nature using its natural gifts like water, fur, meat, plants and the sun to survive. That is why it is very astonishing to read how the animals helped to create the place where people would live. Personally, I liked the Haida story where Raven created life but at the same time he accidentally created death. It makes me think about our mission while living on Earth, about mistakes that we make and the connection with Mother Earth that gave us an opportunity to enjoy life. In Russian oral history, for example, there are also strong relationships between people and nature. The characters from the origin stories ask wind, water, sun, thunder and animals for help during the difficult moments. These similarities with origin stories by Indigenous people tell us that it does not matter what our roots are, we are all equal and we always rely on the force of nature.

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The stories all connected to a different element of land the Indigenous respectfully utilized for survival- further wrapped in their storytelling to teach the lessons and appreciation for the resources nature provides. I was immediately reminded of the happiness I experienced in my youth when I spent more time outside connecting to my surroundings and learning about my Chinese culture through mythical storytelling. Storytelling can be exemplified through many outlets such as books/bibles, movies, orally..all to serve the purpose of passing information down in a digestible, interoperable and shareable way. Without a method of passing down information we would lose parts of history and important information. It is sad to think that the oral tradition of Indigenous storytelling is slowly becoming less practiced as youth become more assimilated into western culture and are less likely to pass down the stories of their ancestors. Their stories hold such an important lesson about the origins of the land we live on and how we should treat and connect with nature.

Anime/Movies/Videos on how humans interact with nature I highly recommend giving a watch.

Dr Stone (Anime series)

Princess Mononoke (Movie)

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Movie)

After Skool: “Healing Power of Nature” (attached Youtube video)

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As I read the four origin stories I was amazed how the Canada is made based on the story. As a new comer here in Canada I have no idea how this land is made and who is the first people here, so in this course I am excited to know all the different aspects and unique things that this country have. We all know that all of the countries have a different types of animals, so we know how important is the animal as part of human life. And also the nature it's helps a lot in terms of resources that we can get especially the air that we need to live. So we can see that everything in our surroundings is connected to each other because they all played a major role in our environment so we must take care of it because we didn't know the sacrifices they put just to make this land more diverse, rich and beautiful.
In my home country, the Philippines, the story how the land there was made was because of so many volcanic eruptions that occurs under the pacific ocean over million years ago and may eruptions, so the hardened magma eventually formed the island of the Philippines.
This kinds of stories is so great and interesting because you can get a lot ok knowledge about different culture, beliefs and understanding how a country was made before we existed on this land that we are living right now. The one element that struck me the most is when the muskrat bravely volunteered himself to do it and take a piece of a soil to help build the land, we can see there that is not big as other animal but the impact he made is unbelievable.
Many live and culture were sacrificed so we must continue to help and protect our land so the future generations will be able to live their life to the fullest and show respect to the Indigenous people of Canada who is the true hero in this land.

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Happy learnings from The Origin Stories. Alisha.

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Happy learnings from The Origin Stories. Alisha.

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The stories were so amazing. Every story had its own different center element which came up with a good lesson and took us on the ride to learn more about Indigenous people and how they use to value the nature and the surroundings. I really loved the way how every element in the story played a vital role in establishing a better place for survival. I have heard very rare stories on establishment of places for living and some amazed me and some not. All the 4 stories here were unique in its own way. I liked the story, "The East: The Mi'kmaq of Listuguj" which is the origin story of people from eastern Canada wherein Glooscop is at the center of the story who created the four separate peoples in exactly the same way, taught people about the resources of their territory, made the beaver "as large a bear". This part is very similar to other stories from other Indigenous peoples across Canada (from Origin Stories).
Back home I use to hear the stories which usually relates the success and happiness but after reading the stories on origin of survival and nature, I am eager to learn and read more such stories wherein people care about the nature and develop friendly surrounding.

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As I read the Origin Stories of West, East, South and North, I was reminded of a book called "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline. Where set in a dystopian world, Indigenous children have no way of knowing what its like to live as an Indigenous people. The only way they can truly connect with themselves is through stories told by older people that are with them. Essentially passing on the torch to the younger generation to keep the flames alive.

In my opinion, stories are the best way to learn about different cultures, beliefs, and understandings. Instead of reaserching through archives of papers detailing the history of a specific nation, Stories allow you to live through briefly what they experience all their lives. Stories create a certain "magical" aspect where you are somewhat transported to a different world through your mind. Stories allows me to see and visualize what is being said, which entices and captures my entire consciousness.

Coming back to the origin stories, one of the things I noticed is that they are all seem connected through the land. The land is seemed to be centralized through all the stories. This shows the utmost respect and care the Indigenous peoples have for the land. A seam of cycle where the Indigenous peoples take care of the land, and the land provides them the resources to live. In my point of view, I see this as a point of equilibrium where balance is the utmost importance. Nowadays, the concept of balance has been thrown off to the side and greed has seeped in our minds. Therefore, I had come to appreciate these stories for reminding me to be grateful for what I have. It is trully fascinating when stories from the old are still able to touch others' hearts even till this day.

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Title :  The beauty in the origin stories

First of all, the origin of Canada, a Turtle Island was very impressive to me, which represents the spirit of indigenous people and the importance of diversity they have through different version of the origin stories. The oral tradition of telling stories to the people in the community sitting around the story teller reminds me of my childhood.  As mentioned in the writing, to listen to the story is to participate in a living history. Our country of South Korea is also full of the origin stories of the land at every stage of country foundation in the history, which play a very significant role to us to cherish our land and ancestors just as the origin stories heard from the elders and  grandfathers  are important to Indigenous people.  Second, I can realize what Mother Nature means to indigenous people and how they treated water and land given to them which they have been working hard to keep them sustainable and unruined. Third, the fact of putting small and weak animals such as muskrat, raven and turtle in the origin stories reflects their humble and harmonious way of life. Fourth, I can understand the diversity and multiculturalism in them  through 4 different stories, which they expressed they were already diverse and multicultural until colonists forced them in one identity. Fifth, their attitude and stewardship toward Nature inspired me and made me feel sorry for the arrogant attitude of colonists and their greed of possessing the land which belongs to Indigenous peoples.

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I was astounded by the Indigenous people's relationship with the land, the rivers, and the riches of their territory, Turtle Island. The Indigenous Peoples of Canada's understanding of their land and how it was passed down through generations. The element on the "Origin Stories" that most impressed me was "The North: The Inuit of Sikusiilaq," which explains the creation of the world with the existence of People upon first. The elders of Sikusiilaq use this element to emphasize how the ancestors viewed time, dividing the past into six eras: "the time before there were humans, the time of the earliest humans, the time of the Tuniit, the time of our earliest ancestors, the time when we lived on the land, the time when the majority of Inuiit moved into settlements." In this element, I learned about the Inuit's great support for one another as they proceeded through the Tuniit Left, demonstrating yet another strong reinforcement of the value and validity of oral tradition. I appreciate how profound the human-nature bond is as I learn more about Canada's Indigenous peoples, such as through the documentary "The Ojibwe Legend of Turtle Island." Every effort made by every animal merely to create the land was amazing as we continued, but it was incredible when the Muskrat sacrificed his own life just to obtain a soil so that he could help Nanabonjou. The same goes for how we protect and preserve our homeland. We all have our own piece of land, and we all make sacrifices to maintain the place we call home. Many lives were sacrificed and many cultures were destroyed as a result of colonization, but we are still trying to pass on to future generations how we can continue to help, protect, and preserve our land by passing down oral traditions and ancestral stories, as well as other materials such as paintings that show how beautiful our land used to be and how well it was cared for by our forefathers, which we should continue for future generations. As we continue to defend our own land, I hope we can continue to carry on the stories of the Indegionus People of Canada, who are the true pioneers of this country. Continue to respect and value the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, as they were the ones who treated this land with the same care that they regard their own lives.

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We are Nature, Nature is Us- Jochebed Nyarko

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We are Nature, Nature is Us- Jochebed Nyarko

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As I read the four origin stories, I noticed that they contained traces of the Indigenous peoples' values. One predominant theme is the value of nature, the Indigenous peoples value the animals, plants, rivers and streams. This element was so striking because the modernisation of the world is steadily disconnecting us from nature. How we treat the earth is an example of how unfeeling we are to nature's wellbeing. Activities like the burning of fossil fuels (coal, wood) has resulted in climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer. This could lead to the destruction of plant life as well as the demise of animals that depend on plants for survival. The Indigenous peoples believe they are stewards of the earth; therefore they have a duty to protect it. Since, we depend on nature to survive, we must preserve it.

Again, I noticed that people and nature were inseparable. In the origin stories, people came from nature; many believe that they came from white ash trees, some believe it was a giant clam shell and others say their mother was born from a sucker. The stories reaffirm that people depend on nature.

Nature gives us food, oxygen, and materials to make beautiful clothing. It even relaxes and rejuvenates us. For this to continue, we must protect the earth.

I believe nature depends on people just as much as people depend on nature.

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Knowing the history of Canada and the indigenous people is very and important interesting. understanding and knowing their years and years of history, struggle making still Canada unique. We can also learn how they actually survived with this climate and made relation with this land. Indigenous people had struggled in their life for their rights and fought against climate to live in this land. This is not straight or easy story behind it there was many oral histories and origin stories as there are peoples. These oral stories refers to few parts that turns into many global concepts. Their stories meant to be told by a storyteller and who experienced over several hour or days. This shows the value of story and how it carried by generation to generation. To me what I think is indigenous people was very close to nature as during that time it wasn’t like how it is now. They are the guardians of some of the most earth’s important and valuable resources. As I am from Bangladesh my country had to fight for their freedom and mother language. We fight nine month for our mother language we finally became a free independent country on 1971’s 16th December. our countries people were very close to nature and our country had lots of natural resource but our country had no rights as tit was being manipulated by west Pakistan. Indigenous people were there first people of Canada and Canada is their land.

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What impressed me about the four origin stories is how complex and historical each group of Indigenous were and are. They all have different beliefs and a solid culture with nature. It is embarrassing to see how urban cultures are aware and careful about nature compared to Indigenous groups. How they look and live with nature is something to the world and to remember every day. Those are learning that we should apply in any society. I could tell that my own group or society that I was born in are people that care and appreciate nature but not even close to how Indigenous people deal with it.

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I was always eager to learn about Indigenous culture, because I think one of their traits is that they appreciate and acknowledge everything they have in their life. I believe that this notion results in abundant blessings. Besides, the point that attracted me was the respect and acknowledgement to women. They call the earth mother and in the stories they need women to be completed. Or they had some communities that led by women. I think this significant position that they give to women in their stories from many years ago is very noticeable. Because we can see in the contemporary societies many women are still fighting for their rights.
In my ancestors culture (Zoroastrian, in Achaemenid era), they believed in sanctity and purity of water, soil, wind and fire. Preserving the nature and environment was one of the main issues for them. I believe the similarity between my ancestors culture and Indigenous are acknowledging nature and women.

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As I read the four origin stories, I think to myself how beautiful and unique the Indigenous culture really is. This really shows that anything can really enlighten you, if you are willing to put in the dedication and time to learn more. The one origin story that really stuck with me had to be “The North: The Inuit of Sikusiilaq”. The unique element that struck me was the idea it is a part of. It is a part of the creation of the world story, the idea of that really intrigues me and gets me up on my feet. I think that this element was very striking to me because you don’t regularly hear about Goddesses being acquainted with the Creation of the World. The relationship I have noticed between the people and the nature of the origin story is more of a strong bonding or relationship with their oral traditions. As a Chinese-Canadian that was told many Chinese Mythical Stories as a child, the origin story stuck out to me. The Folklore comes from Taoist beliefs of a Deity that was born from an egg that was being cultivated with the dual energies of Yin and Yang (Darkness and Light). It was stated that he separated the sky from the earth and was the first person on Earth. It is sort of related if you think of the fact they are both spoken through from one ear to the other.

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First of all, reading the origin story made me understand the importance of oral tradition, and I realized that it is the unique factor that has created a Canada with a history of thousands of years. The life of all living things in general and of humans, in particular, are always associated with nature. The relationship between man and nature is an obvious thing that can be seen in everyday life. Man is born from nature, nature determines human life and man determines the fate of nature. It can be said that man and nature always have an invisible bond with each other. Thanks to that, I am grateful to the indigenous people who exploited but did not abuse, and still kept the integrity that nature originally bestowed. In addition, the harmonious coexistence between humans and animals speaks of their humility and peace-loving. Last but not least, as a Vietnamese, I have heard thousands of stories about people and nature as well as harmonious coexistence like old couples, having quarrels, disagreements but indispensable for each other. I am sure that each country will have its own story, but the love for mother nature is always the same.

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The story of how North America came to be in the story of Turtle Island was very interesting to me because of two reasons. First, this story was very interesting because it reminded me of my childhood in Korea, and similar stories from my ancestors. Second, I like relationship between human and animal.

For example, one Korean story I am reminded of is the story of a god who comes to the human world and meets a bear and grants his wish.

In this story, a bear is reincarnated as a human and meets another person and gives birth to a child. That child becomes the king and father of all humans. Also, since ancient times, our ancestors have continued to believe that if you make a wish on nature such as trees, the sun, and the moon, it will come true. This story shows that our ancestors believed in spiritual communication with the natural world. Similarly, in the story of Turtle Island, I could feel the understanding, consideration, warmth between humans and nature.

I live in Canada now and never thought about who the Indigenous peoples of this land were. However, this story made me think again about the spiritual world of Indigenous peoples. Today we live in a polluted environment because of human greed. In addition, we must protect and maintain the beautiful nature created by our ancestors and think deeply about the meaning of coexistence between humans and nature.

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The element which struck me is the similarity of the creation of the world in eastern story and the Bible and Inca's (Peruvian) myth. I think it attracted my attention because seems that it doesn't matter from where you are, the begging of the world is almost the same.

Silesian culture doesn't have story but Peruvian has. The Peruvian one belongs to the Inca myth (the Inca tribe wasn't only in Peru but almost in all South America) where the Sun (God) has created Pachamama (mother of earth) and she went out from the lake together with her brother. Both of them have taught people how to build the houses, to cultivate the land, etc.
I noted that people and animals cooperate together, and they respect each other. The same with the nature, where new place receives the name.

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I like how they see things all come together and are drawn to places/things/animals and they find a meaning behind everything. Like it says about the cold weather and how most people find it unbearable, if they were drawn to the place they adapt to it and stay because it means something to them.

My family is from Belgium which is in Europe. It was made its own country from part of the revolution parting from the Netherlands protect its soil.

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I really loved the origin story with the Raven. I liked how the Raven was imperfect and made mistakes. I think that there is a lesson in there for all of us. 

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I really loved the origin story with the Raven. I liked how the Raven was imperfect and made mistakes. I think that there is a lesson in there for all of us. 