Traditional Mi’kmaq Culture

In Newfoundland, as elsewhere in Eastern North America, very little of authentic original Mi’kmaq material culture—or of its symbolism or corresponding rituals—has survived to the 21st century.

Though this is due partly to natural decomposition (items used in traditional culture were made of organic materials), it is mainly because so many elements of both tangible and intangible heritage were lost when the early Mi’kmaq population succumbed to diseases brought by the Europeans. It is estimated that by the 1700s, three-quarters of the known population of Mi’kmaq in North America were gone.

Next came challenges to traditional territories. Over the following generations, the Mi’kmaq lifestyle was curtailed by encroaching European settlement and land claims, which forced the wide-ranging Mi’kmaq people into smaller and smaller areas. Their spiritual ways, too, were heavily influenced by the integration of Catholic beliefs.

Pre-contact Mi’kmaq are thought to have been extensive travellers and traders. Their exposure to other native groups as well as Europeans was likely quite extensive. They ardently adopted new materials and ways, so what is purely Mi’kmaq may be difficult to determine. This characteristic may also indicate that a large part of Mi’kmaq identity has always been the adoption of others’ ways into their own.

Relying heavily for guidance on what little material culture there is and on Mi’kmaq oral history, academics and researchers have been able to piece together a rough picture of traditional Mi’kmaq culture. Some of its components are briefly described here.

To learn more, see our Resources section.

• Singing and dancing
  Traditionally, singing and dancing were an important part of both ceremony and daily life. Dances elements might include imitating animals, re-enacting a hunt, or describing a story. The instruments used included percussion, rattles, and bone whistles. Dancers often wore dangles of bone or dewclaws that made sound as they moved.
  
  
• Myths and stories
  Myths and stories were used to teach children about the world—about Mi’kmaq life, history, customs, and manners. They were also a means of communication and entertainment.
  
  
• Clothing
  Clothing for both men and women included loincloths tied to a belt at the waist. Everyone had a pair of leggings for warmth and protection. In winter, a blanket-sized robe was worn over the shoulders. Beneath it, a set of sleeves (resembling two halves of a bolero jacket tied together back and front), was worn. Moccasins were made of moose or seal leather.
  

  Women had a second robe, much like a dress. Babies were wrapped in soft furs and carried on their mother’s back until they could walk.

• Ornamentation
  Ornamentation and decoration were thought to bring magic protection, as well as status and power to the wearer. Women ground minerals, shells, and charcoal, mixing each with fish roe or egg yolk to make paint in traditional colours: red, white, black, and yellow. Sometimes blueberries were added to make blues and purples. Pictures of animals, birds, people, spirit-helpers, and geometric patterns were painted onto robes and pouches. Porcupine quills, shells, bone, and feathers might also be added.
  

  On special occasions, the faces and hair, and often legs, arms, and chests, were painted. Everyone painted their own designs. Men sometimes wore headdresses of bird wings or stiff moose hair dyed red. Decorated knife sheaths, pouches, and pipes completed the ceremonial dress.

• Selected Symbols
  Sun
  Eight-pointed star/octopus
  Rainbows
  Fans (northern lights)
  
  
• Religion
  Traditional Mi’kmaq religion was a holistic spiritual doctrine: Mi’kmaq believed that all living things—plants, animals and humans—had a spirit. They treated all forms of life with respect and called their spiritual leaders puoin. These leaders used medicinal plants and guardian spirits in their work as healers of the sick.
  

  The Mi’kmaq converted to Catholicism through contact with the French in Atlantic Canada, readily adopting and blending Catholic ritual with their own traditional ceremonies. The French Catholic church was an ally of the Mi’kmaq and instrumental in their protection against the English.

• Housing
  Wikuom (wigwam) is the Mi’kmaq word for shelter. There were many sizes and shapes of Mi’kmaw wigwam; the most common was conical. Wigwams were made of birch saplings and covered in large sheets of birch bark, which could be removed, rolled up, and carried when the people moved to the next good hunting or foraging location.