There is a lot of misinformation on this, especially with mainstream media now picking up the legend. This refers to the traditional oral tellings and teachings of the creature.
The wendigo, also known as windigo or wintiko, is the name of a type of creature of Anishinaabe legend; a cannibalistic monster formed from the soul of a person afflicted with this manitou– spirit, or in this case evil spirit. They are almost unstoppable creatures of the hunt, and were the most terrifying of legends, representing the greed within all of us.
In popular culture it is depicted to look like a deer of some sort, but in most tellings and legends of encounters the wendigo looks very, very different. It is described as a tall, 12 to sometimes 15 foot humanoid creature.
Basil Johnston, an Ojibwe teacher and scholar from Ontario, gives a description of a wendigo:
“The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash-gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody … Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption.“
According to legend, the wendigo follows with it a cold chill; as if it carries the winter wind. It’s nails are long and sharp to assist it’s hunting, as well as it’s teeth which sit so in it’s mouth that it tears the skin around it. The wendigo’s eyes are hollow, it’s face gaunt; the eyes described as a haunting glowing red or white.
It’s screech is told to make any who hear it lose consciousness from sheer terror. They say the closer you are to one, the colder it gets and you are able to see your breath even in the warmest summer months.
In legend, wendigos could be created two different ways. The most common way is for a regular person, who in a desperate situation, ends up resorting to cannibalism and is overtaken with the manitou of the wendigo, and turns into one themselves.
The second way was much less common but it was told that a evil practitioner could curse the person. In one story, this was done by using special words over a small wooden figurine and gifting it to that person.
From records of Jack Fiddler in the 1800s, the last known wendigo hunter, it took up to a few weeks for a person to transform into a wendigo and was quite a painful process almost like a physical illness, symptoms similar to a deadly flu.
The wendigo hunts by it’s legendary speed and stealth, and is the best hunter of any creature including human. It devours people and tears them to shreds; it’s hunger never able to be satisfied, as it is the curse the wendigo is forever stuck with as punishment for breaking the biggest taboo in culture– cannibalism.
These creatures were said to stalk the northern woodlands; mainly around the great lakes regions; Michigan, Minnesota, and Ontario.
The enemies of the wendigo only told of one. Another legendary creature, known as the baykok. The baykok was said to prey upon those who hunt for sport; taking more than they need. Haters of greed, which is what the wendigo embodies. Which is why according to legend both are natural enemies.
There is no exact way to kill a wendigo; no constant legend or story. Methods range from burning to the more specific way of cutting up the body into five pieces with a silver axe and burying each piece separately, or burning the pieces. These methods are almost never given along with reason in the stories, however culturally burning can be viewed as releasing the spirit.
The cultural meaning and significance behind the legend of the wendigo is interesting. The whole meaning behind the legend is supposed to represent greed, which culturally was considered a bad trait, as generosity was highly valued due to the tribes being communal in nature, and those who didn’t share or contribute to the common good a danger to the survival of all.
As stated before there were wendigo hunters as well. At one time it was told that there were many, but most stories have been lost. The last known wendigo hunter was a man called Jack Fiddler, who lived in the late 1800s and was arrested by the Canadian government in 1906 for killing someone who was transforming into a wendigo, which as an added note he usually did upon their or their families’ request. This “marked the the beginning of the imposition of Canadian law on the Sucker People.” The problem arises with the Canadian government intruding on the tribe’s own customs and sovereignty, and there are many arguments on this even to this day but the issue still remains. There will be a future post going more in-depth on this.
“Among the Assiniboine, the Cree and the Ojibwe [Anishinaabe], a satirical ceremonial dance is sometimes performed during times of famine to reinforce the seriousness of the wendigo taboo. The ceremony, known as wiindigookaanzhimowin, was performed during times of famine, and involved wearing masks and dancing backwards around a drum. The last known wendigo ceremony conducted in the United States was at Lake Windigo of Star Island of Cass Lake, located within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota.”
The legend of the wendigo “lends its name to the controversial modern medical term Wendigo psychosis, described by psychiatrists as a culture-bound syndrome with symptoms such as an intense craving for human flesh and fear of becoming a cannibal. In some Indigenous communities, environmental destruction and insatiable greed are also seen as a manifestation of Wendigo psychosis.” Which ties in with the cultural taboos of greed.
Wendigos today have been popularized in mainstream media because of shows and games such as Supernatural, Hannibal, and Until Dawn. Representation of indigenous legends is wonderful, but unfortunately not all of these are entirely accurate.
These legends are wonderful to read and look into, truly terrifying but also embodying cultural beliefs and traditions down to the core of the story. Each indigenous legend has a meaning and a lesson behind it and are a great way to expand your knowledge on the subject, or even if you are just curious.
germansingergirl
baratheonpilled
annaxmalina
areudirty
2087
pixelskylines
