Teresa Marshall

There are six worlds within the Mi'kmaq cosmology, each complete in itself. Collectively these layers exist as the Mi'kmaq Universe. In this animate cosmology, our language mirrors our beliefs that the land, sea and sky are possessed of powers we call mntu. The sun, stars and constellations are also central to our worldview. As the giver of life, the sun, Niscaminou or grandfather, met our needs and gave us power to overcome our enemies and bountiful harvests.

With contact our landscape began to change dramatically. Under British rule, our cultural practices were outlawed. Mi'kmaq objects gained value as trade items. As the “moccasin telegraph,” they inadvertently provided long-distance communication among our relations up and down the Atlantic seaboard. Songs, stories, medicines and coded messages, woven into trade textiles and wampum shared along these trade routes, are in large part responsible for the survival and maintenance of our communal belief systems.

– Teresa Marshall