Native American Culture
Native Americans have often held timber wolves in the
highest esteem in their culture. In truth, they are many times seen as a
sacred animal and featured significantly in ancient songs, dances and stories
that have been handed down for generations. Their role in Native American life
was a given and often revered and welcomed.
Timber wolves played a big part in the ecosystem and
delicate balance of the land and the Native Americans recognized that role.
Many Native Americans credit the wolves in teaching them about the importance
of family and how to hunt and forage for food. In other words, they were
credited with the livelihood of the tribe. Other tribes believed that the
timber wolves were spiritual beings that could impart magical powers.
Think about the native jewelry, artwork and other cultural
items you have seen. Timber wolves are featured prominently, howling at
the moon. As much as they are revered in Native American cultures, they are feared
in others. A lot of old children’s stories and fables have wolves portrayed as
the bad guys. The “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs” stories
are just two of the many. These stories got their start, thanks to the
settlers in the New World killing the timber wolves and painting them as the
bad guys for dwindling livestock and wild game. However, it was the settlers
who were interrupting the delicate balance of the land that the Native
Americans held dear.
While the population of timber wolves and other species has
severely dropped over the years, their numbers are slowly picking up, in part
due to the efforts of the government protecting them as well as environmental
groups. As numbers increase, these timber wolves will be re-introduced
back into their native homelands where they had lived, roamed and hunted for
centuries.
Wolves figure prominently in the mythology of nearly every
Native American tribe. In most Native cultures, Wolf is considered a medicine
being associated with courage, strength, loyalty, and success at hunting. Like
bears, wolves are considered closely related to humans by many North American
tribes, and the origin stories of some Northwest Coast tribes, such as the
Quileute and the Kwakiutl, tell of their first ancestors being transformed from
wolves into men. In Shoshone mythology, Wolf plays the role of the noble
Creator god, while in Anishinabe mythology a wolf character is the brother and
true best friend of the culture hero. Among the Pueblo tribes, wolves are
considered one of the six directional guardians, associated with the east and
the color white. The Zunis carve stone wolf fetishes for protection, ascribing
to them both healing and hunting powers.
Wolves are also one of the most common clan animals in
Native American cultures. Tribes with Wolf Clans include the Creek (whose Wolf
Clan is named Yahalgi or Yvhvlke), the Cherokee (whose Wolf Clan name is
Aniwahya or Aniwaya,) the Chippewa (whose Wolf Clan and its totem are called
Ma'iingan,) Algonquian tribes like the Lenape, Shawnee and Menominee, the Huron
and Iroquois tribes, Plains tribes like the Caddo and Osage, Southern tribes
like the Chickasaw, the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico, and Northwest Coast tribes
like the Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Kwakiutl. Wolf was an important clan crest on
the Northwest Coast and can often be found carved on totem poles. The wolf is
also the special tribal symbol of several tribes and bands, such as the Munsee
Delaware, the Mohegans, and the Skidi Pawnee. Some eastern tribes, like the
Lenape and Shawnee, have a Wolf Dance among their tribal dance traditions.
Ojibwe
Oral Tradition
Wenebojo and the Wolves
One day Wenebojo saw some people and went up to see who they
were. He was surprised to find that they were a pack of wolves. He called them
nephews and asked what they were doing. They were hunting, said the Old Wolf,
and looking for a place to camp. So they all camped together on the edge of a
lake.
Wenebojo was very cold for there were only two logs for the
fire, so one of the wolves jumped over the fire and immediately it burned
higher. Wenebojo was hungry, so one of the wolves pulled off his moccasin and
tossed it to Wenebojo and told him to pull out the sock. Wenebojo threw it
back, saying that he didn't eat any stinking socks. The wolf said: "You
must be very particular if you don't like this food."
He reached into the sock and pulled out a deer tenderloin
then reached in again and brought out some bear fat. Wenebojo's eyes popped. He
asked for some of the meat and started to roast it over the fire. Then,
imitating the wolf, Wenebojo pulled off his moccasin and threw it at the wolf,
saying, "Here, nephew, you must be hungry. Pull my sock out." But
there was no sock, only old dry hay that he used to keep his feet warm. The
wolf said he didn't eat hay and Wenebojo was ashamed.
Importance of the wolf in Native American culture
Native American cultures, the First People of
America and Canada, have held the wolf in high regard for centuries.
It is because of this respect for the animal that the wolf and symbols for the
wolf appeared in the art, mythology and religion of many Native Americancultures. Indeed, so strong
was their respect for this beautiful and powerful animal, some tribesof the North American continent
compared themselves to wolves both in the characteristics of wolves and the
lifestyle of a wolf pack and were called Wolf People by other tribes.
The People of the First Nationshunted to procure food for their
families and the entire tribe just as wolves did for the entire pack.
They did not compete with each other for food and did not kill for
pleasure. Neither did Native American hunters or wolveskill more than they needed for
survival. Native American hunters would strive to imitate the wolf when
hunting. Both were stealthy and patient when hunting and both had the staminato stay with a hunt until successful. It was considered the
highest praise for the prowess of a hunter to be compared to a wolf.
Both the wolf and Native Americans were fierce defenders of
their pack or tribe. Just as wolves did, Native Americans would fight to
the death to defend their territory in order to preserve their way of life
because it meant their very survival, yet neither are naturally aggressive and
prefer to be social. If the food became scarce in their territory, the
People of the First Nations would move the entire tribe to another territory
which was common for wolf packs to do. However, over the past two
centuries on the North American continent, wolf packs and the First
Nations have been relegated to specified territories.
The wolf was also a magicalanimal in the religions of the First
Nations. It is a symbol of freedom and individuality, yet attentive to
the responsibilities of the pack. Many Native American tribes would use
an image of the wolf in their totems or amulets. Religious beliefs
of some tribes attribute the creation of the earth in part to the wolf.
Other tribes believed that if they were to kill a wolf that severe retribution
would be brought down upon the perpetrators. However, other tribes
believed that the power of the skin of a wolf would help them be more
successful in the hunt, bring a chief’s dead son to life or alleviate the pain
of childbirth.
Throughout the different cultures of Native Americans, The
First People embraced the wolf in their culture and
it was said that “The wolf and the Indian once lived in harmony…they hunted
together and their spirits touched.”
Japanese Culture
The lost wolves of Japan
A history of Japan's wolves packs some hard-hitting
ecological lessons
Excuse me while I howl. I’ve been reading Brett Walker’s
book on “The Lost Wolves of Japan” and it’s a sorry tale. Japan’s last wolf was
killed by hunters near Washikaguchi, in the eastern Yoshino mountains, in
January 1905. A monument marks the spot.
For much of Japan's history, wolf and human had rubbed along
well enough. Wolves rarely attacked people, and people tended to hunt them only
when lupine depredations got out of hand. (It seems that Japanese wolves had a
special weakness for fresh horse.)
Indeed, the wolf was often seen as a kind of guardian
spirit. Up near Morioka, in the North Country, when farmers encountered a wolf,
they’d ask “O lord wolf, what do you say? How about chasing the deer from our
fields?" Elsewhere, at shrines dedicated to a wolf-spirit known as the
Large-Mouthed Pure God, his help was invoked to keep the fields clear of deer
and other pests. The Ainu elevated the wolf to an even higher place in their
pantheon. Their wolf-deity, Horkew Kamuy, is the hero of a resurrection myth.
The live-and-let-live attitude to wolves ended in the
eighteenth century, when a devastating rabies epidemic spread through Japan.
Infected wolves turned into ferocious killers; some even came down into the
villages to attack people. (In Kaga, it is recorded, the animals acquired a
particular taste for young serving wenches.) Village councils and feudal
authorities took the matter in hand, organising mass hunts to deal with the
menace.
In Hokkaido, the story was different. When modern ranches
were set up in the 1870s to raise cattle and horses, wolves threatened their
profitability. In one case, the Niikappu ranch lost 90 foals to wolves within a
week. Why were those Hokkaido wolves so aggressive? Perhaps because they were
hungry. The woodland deer on which they would normally feed had been decimated
by severe winters and also by human predation – canneries had recently been set
up in Hokkaido to export venison.
Whatever the reason, the ranchers responded without mercy.
Taking their cue from American advisors, they set out traps laced with
strychnine and even dynamite. An effective bounty scheme was set up: a wolf
pelt or set of feet was worth seven yen. Wolves appear to have been extirpated
in Hokkaido before they succumbed in Honshu.
A century later, many of Japan’s mountain regions are
overrun with deer. Overgrazing has stripped hills that just twenty years ago
were still lushly vegetated. If wolves still existed, they certainly wouldn’t
go hungry.
Do they still exist? From time to time, hikers or foresters
report that they’ve seen large dog-like creatures running through the woods. A
few years ago, writes Professor Walker in his epilogue, members of a wildlife
protection committee played recordings of howling Canadian wolves in the woods
of eastern Yoshino - in the hope of luring out any survivors. But the forest
remained silent.
Wolves were once in Japan but they are now extinct.
here were once grey wolves (Canis lupus) in Japan - two
different subspecies in fact, the Honshu wolf (C. l. hodophilax) and the
Hokkaido wolf (C. l. hattai). Both are now extinct. The grey wolf was once the
most widespread mammal on the planet except man, but centuries of persecution
and habitat destruction has greatly reduced their range and they are locally
extinct in many areas besides Japan - the UK, for example.
Quileute Culture
Quileute culture has a strong link to wolves and the natural
world, but it does not resemble the fantasy of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling
novels for young adults — or the Hollywood film versions of Meyer’s stories, in
which Quileutes are shape-shifting werewolves who interact with vampires, said
Brotherton.
Wolves are indigenous to the forests surrounding the
Quileutes’ ancestral homeland (the coastal village of La Push, Washington,
which is now the tribe’s reservation). Oral traditions say that the powerful
Transformer, Kwati, changed a pair of wolves into the first Quileute people.
Traditional Quileute life revolved around five prestigious
secret societies: the Wolf, or Black Face, Society for warriors; the
Fishermen’s Society; the Hunters’ or Elk Society; the Whale Hunters’ Society;
and the Weathermen’s Society, whose members predicted the weather (an essential
part of planning seasonal hunts). “The Quileute have been and remain people who
rely on resources from the sea and land,” Brotherton said.
Wolfs in Popular Culture
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Wolves definitely don’t have a good place in the hearts of
people when you consider
popular culture. Stories go very far back into history
about them being villains
against man. What is so ironic about that though is that
they very seldom will ever
attack a human. Yet since the beginning of time the wolf
has been found in stories
that link them to evil. They are said to be the Hounds of
Hell in many of them.
The fact that wolves are known to howl at the moon has
given life to the stories of
werewolves – those that can transform from men to wolves
based on the full moon.
In reality, wolves don’t howl at the moon. They just need
to position their head that
way in order to make the howling sounds come out.
The Indians though have a very different view on the wolf.
They view this animal
as one that has been sent to protect them. The power and
courage of the wolves
are traits that they want to have in their individuals.
The community of the wolf
pack is something they want to bring to their own tribe.
This is why you will find
that Indian ceremonies of early days often includes
appreciation towards the wolf.
Early medicine men often carried the skins of the wolf
along with them.
Many of their supplies were wrapped up in them as a way to
bring faster healing
to those in need. Today the Eskimos of Alaska are very
caring and considerate
towards the wolf. They are respectful of their nomadic
life.
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Both the Indians and the Eskimos see the wolf as an ally,
one that they can use for food and for skins if they need to. The killing of
these animals is for their own survival but not out of ill feelings or the
desire to take part in hunting for the thrill of it. They continue to try to
implement the balance of nature and humans into their lives. The way in which
they treat the wolves is just one way that connection is made.
One of the earliest stories out there about wolves is the
story of a boy that was raised by a pack of them. Yet there are many sayings
that go into what wolves mean in popular culture. The moral of these stories is
to tell people that if you count false stories, one day that you want
to tell the truth, no one will believe you. No one is going to come to
help you.
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The saying a person is a wolf in sheeps clothing means
they are a person that
doesn’t show their
true self. What you see on the surface is one thing but the
negative aspects of that person are lurking underneath.
Asking someone if they
were raised by wolves indicates that you feel they have no
manners or etiquette at all.
One of the most well known bedtime stories is that of the
Three Little Pigs and the
big bad wolf. In this particular story the pigs have to
unite in their efforts to escape
the wolf as he tries one by one to get to them by
destroying the homes that they
have built. The same type of story unfolds in Little Red
Riding Hood. Here the little
girl must outsmart the wolf in order to save her
grandmother.
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