Mon profil pour cette activité: Penseur
Les savoir-être utilisés: L'engagement - La créativité - L'enthousiasme
J'ai choisi ce travail parce que c'était une de mes meilleures présentations.
Touching Spirit Bear;
Myth and Creation
By : D. K.
Grade 9
English ENG1D
Teacher : Mrs. H
School : Académie de la Capitale
October 25, 2012
Table of Contents
1. Summary of the Myth “Mayuk The Grizzly Bear”
2. How the myth helps us better understand the book
3.1. Introduction for creation
3. 2. Creation + Name of creation
3. 3. Numbered list of parts of creation
4. Conclusion
5. Bibliography
Myth
Among the Sechelt people, there is a myth about the great grizzly bear; Mayuk.
A long time ago, on the Shores of the Sunshine Coast, there lived many Sechelt people. Those people were the best hunters, “because the animals they hunted were swift and fierce, and the best weapon they had was the simple bow and arrow[1].”
Amongst those animals, the grizzly bear Mayuk was the most challenging to hunt because he was ferocious, powerful and clever.
The best hunters of the best were three brothers that were huge, with wrists the width of a man’s palm.
Those brothers were off hunting Mayuk, when one caught a glimpse of him and shot him in the side. The bear lumbered off into the forest. The youngest brother went off in pursuit, when suddenly Mayuk jumped out of the bushes and started mauling him. His brothers rushed to his aid and killed the great bear with two more arrows.
How the myth helps us understand the book
The first thing that came to my mind when reading this myth, was how similar it was to the book “Touching Spirit Bear”. The bear in the myth, Mayuk, was said to be powerful, ferocious and clever. I believe that the Spirit Bear also has those characteristics. The younger hunter wanted to kill the Mayuk, as Cole wanted to kill the Spirit Bear. When both bears were mauling[2] those individuals, the two older men came to their rescue.
The myth links to my artifact, because my artifact has a bear (which is the main character in the myth) and the animals on my totem have characteristics that go well with the myth.
I think that this myth helps us understand the book because it shows that Aboriginals also had meetings with smart bears, and they didn’t always end well for the characters. I find it a bit strange that out of the four stories (Mayuk, Cole, Edwin and Garvey’s) only the non-native one ended well.
My Creation (Cheltyu’Gwai)
Totem poles were made for many different reasons. Some were made for celebrations, events or even family lineage. Sometimes the order of symbols represent importance. Here, the most important symbol is the bear, so it’s at the top, but the other animals are in no significant order. Further description of the symbols can be found in the section 3.3., “Numbered list of parts of creation” page 4.
I named my totem pole Cheltyu’Gwai because it’s a mix of these three names: Sechelt, Mayuk and Haida Gwaii. I chose these names because I liked the sounds they made and I wanted my name to have aboriginal sounds in it. The name is doesn’t mean anything.
Conclusion
At the beginning of this project, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I started by looking for a myth because I thought that I would then be able to find a fitting artifact. I started by reading a few stories from a big book of myths, without any success. I then read “Mayuk the Grizzly Bear” and I thought it was perfect for this project.
I decided to make a totem pole with a bear on top, because bears were one of the main characters it both stories. I decided on the circle because Cole had one on his totem pole, and I find that it is a concept that was repeated a lot in the book. I chose the other animals on the totem pole because even though some were not in the book, I find that their characteristics were present in both stories a few times.
I really enjoyed doing this project. I liked discovering things about Native American symbols and myths. I also find that I did really well in time management and planning.
Bibliography
Craigan, Charlie. Mayuk the Grizzly Bear. Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 1993.
Gulli, George. “Totem Pole symbols and their mythological meaning” TOTEM POLES & CARVINGS (2007). 23 Oct. 2012 <http://www.gullitotempoles.com/TotemPoleSymbols.html>
“Native American Totems & Their Meanings” NATIVE AMERICAN LEGENDS (2003-2012). 23 Oct. 2012 <http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-totems.html>
Totem pole (2012) 23 Oct. 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem_pole>
[1] Craigan, Charlie. Mayuk the Grizzly Bear. Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 1993.
[2] It said that exact word in both books