Obscure Mythology Chapter 13: Michabo

Creator-God of the Algonquins

     It’s time for another installment of obscure mythology and today we are officially half way through the alphabet! Although I must admit, I have screwed up the chapter number for a post more than once but I always go back and fix it. At least I think I have all the chapter numbers right, I’ll go back and double check after I finish this. Anyhow, back to the post. It took me almost three days to pick one of the many interesting entries I found in the Mythology dictionary under M and after much contemplation I chose Michabo for a few reasons, first because there is yet another reference to a great flood from a different part of the world, this time North America. I had no idea that most if not all Native American creation stories talk of a great flood. The second reason was a little more personal. I recently found out that my Great-Great Grandmother was Algonquin. I had grown up knowing that she was a Native American but up until about a month ago I didn’t know what tribe she had come from or where she was originally born. Recently a family member had found some papers stating her history and a lifelong mystery was solved. It ends up that she was born in Algonquin territory in Canada and moved to South Dakota in the 1880’s. I was really happy to finally get some answers about that side of my family since not much is known about our history at all, unlike my Father’s side of the family which can be traced back to Scotland in the 12^th century.  I have been keeping an eye out for the story from the Algonquins to share with everyone and I do believe this is a good one to start with. I know I will be doing much more research on the Algonquins in general know that I know that I have connections to them. It is really exciting to make connections like this and it is one of the reasons that I love doing this kind of work. I also could not believe how the flood myth had ties to North America as well. I knew the Hopi and Navaho had a flood myth but I had no idea that it spread across the entire North American continent. While researching this entry I came across a Native American myth that strongly resembles the tower of Babel story. How crazy is that? It truly intrigues me how all of these different ancient peoples had the same myths or at least the same basis. I am currently reading Graham Hancock’s, Fingerprints of the Gods, and he has found mythological connections between most ancient civilizations from the Sumerians to the Aztecs. I highly recommend reading his book if you have not already, I only have a few chapters left and I can honestly say no book has ever made me rethink ancient history and civilizations like this book does. Well, I believe I have said enough in the intro so let’s get to it. I give you Michabo, a creator-god of the Algonquin people.

Michabo: [Great Hare. Lord Hare. Lord of the Day. Messon. Messibizi. Missabos. Missiwabun]

a creator-god of the Algonquins, chief of the 5 gods of the tribe, son of Kabun, brother of Chokanipok.

Michabo often descended to earth to hunt and, on one occasion, his hunting pack composed of wolves led him to a lake. When he followed them into the lake, the water overflowed and flooded the whole earth. Both the Raven and the otter failed to find any dry land but the muskrat brought up mud from the bottom and Michabo made a new world, mating with Muskrat to start the human race.

He killed Chopanipok and scattered his entrails to create vines.

He is said to have invented the fishing net and instructed his people in the art of fishing.

The clouds in the sky are fumes from his great pipe. (The Dictionary of Mythology an A-z of Themes, Legends and heroes, J.A. Coleman)

     So there you have it, Michabo, the creator-god of the Algonquin. It seems as if he was the one responsible for the flood in this myth but it led to the creation of people so I guess it was a good thing. In all of the other entries I’ve seen when it comes to the Native American flood mtyh was the fact that the Muskrat found mud to reform earth, no matter what tribe was telling the story. So these myths must have come from the same source and then spread amongst the other tribes. Like I said I think there is definitely something to the fact that so many, if not all ancient civilizations have a flood myth. I believe that some time long ago in human history a catastrophic flood had to have taken place. That story was passed down by the survivors for generation after generation. As we humans began migrating across the world we brought our ancestors ancient tales with us and assimilated them into our culture to help better keep them alive. My personal theory is that somewhere around 50,000 years ago or so the land that separated the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic (where the straights of Gibraltar is now) gave way and sent billions of tons of the Atlantic crashing into the Mediterranean basin. The sea levels would have risen by hundreds of feet and any city, village or tribe living in the area would have been blasted away in a tidal wave of water. The Mediterranean basin is where most ancient civilizations settled down and became civilized around 5,000-6,000 years ago according to main stream historians so why couldn’t they have been there before? I can bet that there are many things hidden in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea right now. I should also say I am not the first to think this, as a matter of fact I think I saw that theory in a show on the History channel, it makes a lot of sense if you think about it though. Mainstream historians say that the Atlantic broke into the Mediterranean way earlier than 50,000 years ago and humans would have still been monkeys in Africa when this happened but many researchers including Graham Hancock believe that humans or some other species were as advanced if not more so now before the flood and that the flood myths are stories to keep their memories alive. There is geological proof that the Sphinx in Egypt is thousands, if not tens of thousands of years older than it is purported to be and there are ancient maps that exist today that show the coast line of Antarctica before it was encapsulated in ice! The most famous ancient map that is highly detailed is the Piri Ries map, it is worth looking into, and it was supposedly created from even older maps. It was these older maps from the First age of humans that showed the Antarctic coast and even detailed areas of South America. The Piri Ries map was made a hundred years before the Spaniards had reached the area. How is this possible? The only explanation is that someone or something in our ancient past was much more advanced than mainstream historians and anthropologists want to admit. I am kind of getting off topic, all of this stuff I just typed is out there for you to find if you want. In conclusion I do believe that the flood myth and many other famous stories and fables are connected because they are stories that actually happened to our very ancient ancestors. That is why I love researching this stuff as I have mentioned. I have more questions every time I research mythology looking for answers! I do not believe it is just a coincidence that so many civilizations and cultures share the same myths. It can’t be and anyone who believes it is, is too afraid to search for the truth. I think we should be actively searching for these ancient ancestors instead of suppressing them and calling anyone who believes in them crazy or fringe researchers. The truth, the ancient truth is out there and our ancestors wanted us to find it that is why they left us with the stories and the many clues to their existence that they did. I would rather find the truth and rewrite the history of Homo Sapiens than keep it hidden and follow a false history. We owe it to ourselves and our ancient forebears to find  their secrets. Well I hope my mostly off topic rant didn’t scare you all away and I promise to get right back on track with the next installment of Obscure Mythology, until then take care and seek the truth but most importantly: PEACE!!!!!!!