Микмаки

Область расселения микмаков

Один из микмакских флагов

Микмаки, Míkmaq (miːɡmax), самоназвание Lnu, мн.ч. Lnu’g, буквально «люди»  — индейский народ, относящийся к Первым нациям Канады, проживающий на северо-востоке Новой Англии, в атлантических провинциях Канады и на полуострове Гаспе в Квебеке. Современная численность достигает около 40000 человек, из которых лишь около 11000 говорят на микмакском языке (лнуисимк) алгонкинской семьи. Ранее микмакский язык пользовался микмакским иероглифическим письмом, в настоящее время записывается стандартным латинским алфавитом (в отличие от большинства языков индейцев Канады, использующих канадское слоговое письмо).

История

The Míkmaw territory was divided into seven traditional «districts». Each district had its own independent government and boundaries. In addition to the district councils, there was also a Grand Council or Santé Mawiómi. The Grand Council composed of «Keptinaq», or Captains in English, who were the district chiefs. Also Elders, the Putús (Wampum belt reader, historian, and dealt with the treaties with the non-natives and other Native tribes), the women council, and the Grand Chief. The Grand Chief was a title given to one of the district chiefs, which was usually from the Míkmaq district of Unamáki or Cape Breton Island. This title was hereditary and usually went to the Grand Chief’s eldest son. The Grand Council met on a little island on the Bras d’Or lake in Cape Breton called «Mniku», on a reserve today call Chapel Island or Potlotek. To this day, the Grand Council still meet at the Mniku to discuss current issues within the Míkmaq Nation.

Некоторое время существовал союз между микмаками и беотуками, однако случайный конфликт (убийство микмакским мальчиком беотукского в ссоре) привёл к крупной войне, в которой микмаки победили и оттеснили беотуков с части земель.

The Míkmaq were members of the Wapnáki (Wabanaki Confederacy), an alliance with four other Algonquian-language nations: the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet. The allied tribes ranged from present-day New England in the United States to the Maritime Provinces of Canada. At the time of contact with the French (late 16th century), they were expanding from their maritime base westward along the Gaspé Peninsula /St. Lawrence River at the expense of Iroquoian Mohawk tribes, hence the Míkmaq name for this peninsula, Kespek («last-acquired»). On 24 June 1610, Grand Chief Membertou converted to Catholicism and was baptised. He concluded an alliance with the French Jesuits which affirmed the right of Míkmaq to choose Catholicism, Míkmaw tradition, or both.

The Míkmaq, as allies with the French, were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst. After France lost political control of Acadia in 1710, the Míkmaq engaged in intermittent warfare with the British, which ended with the fall of the French Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton in 1758 during the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years War), in which the British defeated the French. They soon found themselves overwhelmed by the British, who seized much of their land without payment. In 1755, the British deported the Acadian French (see Great Upheaval).

Between 1725 and 1779, the Míkmaq signed a series of peace and friendship treaties with Great Britain, but none of these were land cession treaties. The nation historically consisted of seven districts, which was later expanded to eight with the ceremonial addition of Great Britain at the time of the 1749 treaty.

Later the Míkmaq also settled Newfoundland as the unrelated Beothuk tribe became extinct. Míkmaq delegates concluded the first international treaty with the United States soon after its declaration of independence, the Treaty of Watertown, in July 1776. These delegates did not officially represent the Mi’kmaq government, although many individual Mi’kmaq did privately join the Continental army as a result.

Celebrations

In the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, October is celebrated as Míkmaq History Month and the entire Nation celebrates Treaty Day annually on October 1. This was first signified in the year, 1752, with the Peace and Friendship Treaty (also called the Treaty of 1752) signed by Chief Cope of Shubenacadie, representing all of the Míkmaq people, and the king’s representative. It was stated that if the natives would be given gifts annually, «as long as they continued in Peace.»

Pre-Contact Culture

Housing

Mi’kmaq people lived in structures called wigwams. Saplings, which were usually spruce, were cut down and bent over a circle drawn on the ground. These saplings were lashed together at the top, and then covered with birch bark. The Mi’kmaq had two different sizes of wigwams, the smaller size, could hold 10-15 people, and the larger size, could hold 15-20 people.

Food/Hunting

The Mi’kmaq were semi-nomadic. During the summer they spent most of their time on the shores harvesting seafood; during the winter they would move inland to the woods to hunt. The most important animal hunted by the Mi’kmaq was the moose which provided food, clothing, cordage, and other things. Other animals hunted/trapped included deer, caribou, bear, rabbit, beaver, and others. The weapon used most for hunting was the bow and arrow. The Mi’kmaq made their bows from maple.

Охота на лося

Лось был наиболее важным животным для микмаков — это был их основной источник мяса, одежды и cordage, all crucial things to the well-being of the community. The Mi’kmaq usually hunted moose in groups of 3-5 men. Before the moose hunt, the Mi’kmaq would starve their dogs for 2 days, this way they would be fierce in helping to finish off the moose. To kill the moose, they would injure it first, by using a bow and arrow, or other weapons, and after it was down, they would move in on it and finish it off with spears, and their attacking dogs. The guts would then be fed to the dogs. During this whole process, the men would try to direct the moose in the direction of the camp, this way the women would not have to go as far to drag the moose back. A boy became a man in the eyes of the community after he had killed his first moose. It was only then he had earned the right to marry.

Other

One spiritual capital of the Míkmaq nation is Mniku, the gathering place of the Míkmaq Grand Council or Santé Mawiómi, Chapel Island in the Bras d'Or Lakes of Cape Breton Island. The island is also the site of the St. Anne Mission, an important pilgrimage site for the Míkmaq. The island has been declared a historic site.

См. также

• Беотуки

Литература

• Bock, Philip K. 1978. «Micmac.» Pp. 109—122. In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Bruce G. Trigger, editor. Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Davis, Stephen A. 1998. Míkmaq: Peoples of the Maritimes, Nimbus Publishing.
• Paul, Daniel N. 2000. We Were Not the Savages: A Míkmaq Perspective on the Collision Between European and Native American Civilizations, Fernwood Pub.
• Prins, Harald E. L. 1996. The Míkmaq: Resistance, Accommodation, and Cultural Survival (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology), Wadsworth.
• Rita Joe, Lesley Choyce. 2005. The Míkmaq Anthology, Nimbus Publishing (CN), 2005, ISBN 1-895900-04-2
• Robinson, Angela 2005. Tán Teli-Ktlamsitasit (Ways of Believing): Míkmaw Religion in Eskasoni, Nova Scotia. Pearson Education, ISBN 0-13-177067-5.
• Whitehead, Ruth Holmes. 2004. The Old Man Told Us: Excerpts from Míkmaq History 1500—1950, Nimbus Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-921054-83-1
• Wicken, William C. 2002. Míkmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land, and Donald Marshall Junior, University of Toronto Press.
• http://www.cmmns.com/KekinamuekPdfs/Ch2screen.pdf

Ссылки

• First Nations Profiles
• Micmac History
• Míkmaq Portraits Collection
• Míkmaq Dictionary Online
• The Micmac of Megumaagee
• Míkmaq Learning Resource
• glooscapheritagecentre.com
• Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources