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Míkmaq

One of the Míkmaq State flags
Regions with significant populations
Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec), United States (Maine)
Languages
English, Míkmaw, French
Religion
Christianity, Míkmaq Traditionalism and Spirituality, others
Related ethnic groups
other Algonquian peoples

The Míkmaq or Mi'kmaq (

1. REDIRECT Template:IPA-all; sometimes spelled Micmac in English, and formerly Mìgmaq (Mi'gmaq) in Míkmaw) are a First Nations or Native American people, indigenous to northeastern New England, Canada's Atlantic Provinces, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. The word Míkmaw is an adjectival form of the name for the people, Míkmaq.

The nation has a population of about 40,000, of whom approximately one-third still speak the Algonquian language Lnuísimk. Lnuísimk was once written in Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing and is now written using most letters of the standard Latin alphabet.

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.

Name

Lnu (the adjectival form or singular noun, previously spelled "L'nu"; the plural noun is Lnúk) is the self-recognized term for the Mi'kmaq of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Maine, meaning "human being" or "the people"..

Various explanations exist for the meaning of the term Mi'kmaq. The Mi'kmaw Resource Guide states:

The word Micmac is nothing more than a corruption in spelling and pronunciation of the plural form of the word Mi'kmaq as is represented by the Francis/Smith orthography. It is and has been demeaning to the Mi'kmaw people in that they would be called anything but what they are, namely Mi'kmaq or The Family. The definite article "the" suggests that "Mi'kmaq" is the undeclined form indicated by the initial letter "m". When declined in the singular it reduces to the following forms: nikmaq - my family; kikmaq - your family; wikma - his/her family. The variant form Mi'kmaw plays two grammatical roles: 1) It is the singular of Mi'kmaq and 2) it is an adjective in circumstances where it precedes a noun (e.g. mi'kmaw people, mi'kmaw treaties, mi'kmaw person, etc.)

Mi'kmaw historian Daniel N. Paul concurs, noting that he uses only the form Mi'kmaq rather than Micmac "because it is now the preferred choice of our People". As to its origins, he provides a quote from another historian, Marion Robertson:

The name "Micmac" was first recorded in a memoir by de La Chesnaye in 1676. Professor Ganong in a footnote to the word "megamingo", earth, as used by Marc Lescarbot, remarked "that it is altogether probable that in this word lies the origin of the name Micmac." As suggested in this paper on the customs and beliefs of the Micmacs, it would seem that megumaagee the name used by the Micmacs, or the Megumawaach, as they called themselvs, for their land, is from the words megwaak, "red", and magumegek, "on the earth", or as Rand recorded, "red on the earth," megakumegek, "red ground," "red earth." The Micmacs, then, must have thought of themselves as the Red Earth People, or the People of the Red Earth. Others seeking a meaning for the word Micmac have suggested that it is from nigumaach, my brother, my friend, a word that was also used as a term of endearment by a husband for his wife... Still another explanation for the word Micmac suggested by Stansbury Hagar in "Micmac Magic and Medicine" is that the word megumawaach is from megumoowesoo, the name of the Micmacs' legendary master magicians, from whom the earliest Micmac wizards are said to have received their power.

Members of the Mi'kmaq First Nation historically referred to themselves as Lnu, but the Mi'kmaq's French allies, to whom the Mi'kmaq referred as Ni'kmaq, meaning "my kin", initially referred to the Mi'kmaq (as is written in Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France) as "Souriquois" (the Souricoua River was a travel route between the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence) or "Gaspesians". Over time, their French allies and succeeding immigrating nations’ peoples began to refer to the Lnúk as Ni'kmaq, (invariably corrupting the word to various spellings such as Mik Mak, Mic Mac, etc.). The British originally referred to them as Tarrantines.

History

The Míkmaw territory was divided into seven traditional "districts". Each district had its own independent government and boundaries. The independent governments had a district chief and a council. The council members were band chiefs, elders, and other worthy community leaders. The district council was charged with performing all the duties of any independent and free government by enacting laws, justice, apportioned fishing and hunting grounds, made war, and sued for peace, etc.

The Seven Míkmaq Districts are Kespukwitk, Sikepnékatik, Eskíkewaq, Unamákik, Piktuk aqq Epekwitk, Sikniktewaq, and Kespékewaq.

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.

The Míkmaq were members of the Wapnáki (Wabanaki Confederacy), an alliance with four other Algonquian nations: the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet. 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, and 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 soon found themselves overwhelmed by the British, who seized much of their land without payment and, in 1755, 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 also 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

Míkmaq First Nation subdivisions

Míkmaw names in the table are spelled according to several orthographies. The Míkmaw orthographies in use are Míkmaw pictographs, the orthography of Silas Tertius Rand, the Pacifique orthography, and the most recent Smith-Francis orthography, which has been adopted throughout Nova Scotia and in most Míkmaw communities.

Demographics

The pre-contact population is estimated at 50,000-100,000. In 1616, Father Biard believed the Míkmaq population to be in excess of 3,000, but he remarked that, because of European diseases, there had been large population losses during the 16th century. Smallpox, wars and alcoholism led to a further decline of the native population, which was probably at its lowest in the middle of the 17th century. Then the numbers grew slightly again, apparently stable during the 19th century. During the 20th century, the population was on the rise again. The average growth from 1965 to 1970 was about 2.5%.

Notable Míkmaq

• Kevin Cloud
• Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, activist (1946-1976)
• Henri Membertou, kji-saqmaw/puowin (c.1525-1611)
• Rita Joe, poet
• Donald Marshall Jr.
• Chad Denny, ice hockey player for the Lewiston MAINEiacs and Atlanta Thrashers draftee
• Lionel Little Eagle Pinn, Kitpoviosee, Writer
• Sandy McCarthy, played for the Calgary Flames ice hockey team
• Everett Sanipass, played for the Quebec Nordiques ice hockey team
• Ciara Loyer, played for the kickboxing team in British Columbia
• Lee (Harvey) Cremo, musician (1938-1999)
• Chief Noel Doucette (1938-1996)
• Scott Brien, Author and Security Risk Analyst (1981 - )

Other

The 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.

See also

• Treaty of Watertown
• Elsipogtog First Nation
• Canada Post French Settlement Series

Notes

1. The Nova Scotia Museum's Míkmaq Portraits database
2. Mi'kmaw Resource Guide, Eastern Woodlands Publishing (1997)
3. Daniel Paul, We Were Not the Savages, 2000, p. 10
4. cited in Paul to Marion Robertson, Red Earth: Tales of the Micmac, with an introduction to their customs and beliefs (1965) p. 5.
5. Lydia Affleck and Simon White. "Our Language". Native Traditions. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
6. CBCnews. Cape Breton Míkmaq site recognized

References

• 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 Pub Ltd, 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

Documentary film

• Our Lives in Our Hands (Míkmaq basketmakers and potato diggers in northern Maine, 1986)

External links

• First Nations Profiles
• Micmac History
• Míkmaq Portraits Collection
• Míkmaq Dictionary Online
• The Micmac of Megumaagee
• Míkmaq Learning Resource
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Micmacs" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• glooscapheritagecentre.com

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• Mi'kmaq
• Algonquian peoples
• First Nations in Atlantic Canada
• First Nations in Quebec
• Native American tribes in Maine
• Indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Algonquian ethnonyms