Free download program madeline classroom companion 1st heritage

The muskrat is a powerful symbol and a reminder of our ability to adapt and transform in order to meet ever-changing challenges and demands. He is motivated by love for Creation and compassion for Sky-Woman, not by the idea of making a name for himself. Muskrat is not trying to be a hero, to be better than anyone else he just wants to help. We continue to flourish despite the despair brought on by colonization, and like Muskrat, we are still willing to teach and help others. In this light, Anishinabe people are very much like the muskrat. The Creator has made it so muskrats will always be with us because of the sacrifice that our little brother made for all of us many years ago when the Earth was covered with water.вЂќ вЂњNo matter that marshes have been drained and their homes destroyed in the name of progress, the muskrats continue to grow and multiply. Elder Benton Banai tells us about the MuskratвЂ™s gifts bestowed by the Creator for his sacrifice in the Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway. Muskrat is given special gifts from the Creator for his sacrifice.

We tend to think of sacrifice as something undesirable, but in the Re-Creation story, it is necessary and honourable in order for Creation to continue. Through this story, the act itself takes on a new meaning. In such a sacrifice there is renewal, re-birth and transformation. When I shared this story with my ten-year-old son, Arden, he astutely observed, вЂњ if Muskrat didnвЂ™t make his sacrifice, we would not be hereвЂќ. When the waiting creatures had given up, the muskrat floated to the surface more dead than alive, but he clutched in his paws a small morsel of soil.вЂќ Basil Johnston The small hope that each had nurtured for the success of the muskrat turned into despair. вЂњThey waited for the muskrat to emerge as empty handed as they had done. So he dives down while the animals and sky-woman wait.

Though ridiculed, Muskrat, the most humble of the water creatures, is determined to help. Finally, Muskrat volunteers, much to the scorn of the others. The water animals (the beaver, the marten, the loon) all try to help her and fail. She asks the water creatures to bring her soil from the bottom of the waters so that she may use it to make new land. Sky-Woman survives and comes to rest on the back of a great turtle. In the version re-told by Anishnabe storyteller Basil Johnston in his work Ojibway Heritage, there has been a great flood and most life on Earth has perished, with the exception of birds and water creatures. Although there are perhaps as many variations of the story as there are storytellers sharing it, the Muskrat as a central figure remains the same.

The Muskrat (Wa-zhushk) of the Anishinabe Re-Creation story is an easily relatable character. Professor Deborah McGregor challenges us to reconsider an unsung hero

Free download program madeline classroom companion 1st heritage