Finding Kluskap: A Journey into Mi'kmaw Myth

Finding Kluskap: A Journey Into Mi'kmaw Myth. By Jennifer Reid. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013. Pp. x + 122, acknowledgments, bibliography, index, 3 maps. $64.95 hardcover.)Jennifer Reid's fascinating study of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw (Micmac) community ritual is organized into four chapters, with an introduction and epilogue. Although the title suggests it is a study of the Mi'kmaw Kluskap myth, it is actually more of a review of the historical literature of Kluskap woven into a contemporary study of an annual week-long Mi'kmaw community ritual: the celebration of St. Anne on a small island named Potlotek off the coast of Nova Scotia on July 26, corresponding with the Catholic Church's St. Anne's feast day. St. Anne is of course the Grandmother of Jesus and relates very well to the Grandmother figure in Kluskap stories, thus Kluskap may be related to Christ in making meaning in the place where the ritual takes place.The title of the book reflects the author's first attempts to understand the mythology of the Mi'kmaw people, but in the end it does not really convey accurately the thesis of her book. Reid initially sought to understand the Mi'kmaw's cultural hero Kluskap through a series of conversations with members of the community in Cape Breton, but she found her questions deflected by the people she talked with, who were much more interested in discussing such contemporary issues as pollution of their fishing places and treaties. She was unable to find anyone willing to tell her Kluskap stories, and it is not clear whether these stories are still told in the traditional way (in the Mi'kmaw language), or if the practice no longer exists. Mi'kmaw people were missionized by the Catholic Church very early on and followed those practices for many years (some still do). In the end, she focused on the celebration of St. Anne as a ritual both sacred and political, seeking to understand the post-colonial nature of the celebration based on some of her own personal reflections rather than on the Mi'kmaw discourse about the practice.As the Catholic missionaries often incorporated local rituals and beliefs into religious practices, the questions arise: Did the Mi'kmaw perceive Christ as a European version of Kluskap? And did the St. Ann religious rituals grow out of earlier practices honoring the Grandmother of Kluskap, an important character often included in Kluskap tales who imparts wisdom and caution to Kluskap? The connections the author makes between the current rituals of St. Anne and earlier religious practices is of great interest and 1 found her discussion of these questions well worth reading.Kluskap (variously spelled Gluskap, Gluskabe) is the cultural hero and transformer for all of the Wabanaki tribes (Mi'kmaw, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot) in Maine and the Maritime Provinces. Many of the Kluskap tales were collected by missionaries and others who tried to relate them to European myths. In the early twentieth century, anthropologist Frank G. Speck collected and studied these tales in several of the eastern tribes, collecting a series in the Penobscot language. Originally an epic tale, the stories are tied to place, and each of the sets of tales collected by Speck are tied to the local landscape. …

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