Wisakedjak ( Wìsakedjàk in Algonquin, Wīsacaklesss(w) in Cree and Wiisagejaak in Oji-cree) is the Crane Manitou found in northern Algonquian and Dene storytelling, similar to the trickster Nanabozho in Ojibwa aadizookaanan (sacred stories), Iktomi in Assiniboine lore, and Coyote or Raven Tales from many different tribes. His name is found in a number of different forms in the related languages and cultures he appears in, including Weesack-kachack, Wisagatcak, Wis-kay-tchach, Wissaketchak, Woesack-ootchacht, Vasaagihdzak, and Weesageechak.
Mythology
As with most mythological characters, Wisakedjak is used to explain the creation of animals or geographical locations. He is generally portrayed as being responsible for a
flood myth. In other stories he is also one of the beings who created the current world, either on his own, or with magic given to him by the
Creator deity for that specific purpose.
Oral Narratives
The oral stories of Wisakedjak passed down through generations are recorded and documented throughout that include:
Contemporary indigenous literature and art
-
Wisakedjak features in four animated shorts from Stories from the Seventh Fire in 1999, based on the art by Norval Morriseau
-
Kiss of the Fur Queen by Tomson Highway (Cree) is a 1998 novel about the author and his brother's childhoods, their trauma resulting from the Canadian Indian residential school system, and his brother's death from AIDS. As the boys struggle to survive, Wisakedjak appears in the form of The Fur Queen, who watches over the boys as they fulfill their destiny to become artists.
[ Kiss of the Fur Queen review at Quill & Quire, September 1998.]
-
In 2010, artist Kent Monkman (Cree) created a painting called Weesageechak Teaches Hermes How to Trick the Four-Leggeds showing Wisakedjak as a naked man wearing purple, high-heeled boots.
[ Weesageechak Teaches Hermes How to Trick the Four-Leggeds at kentmonkman.com]
In other literature, film and popular culture
-
In the 1991 film Clearcut, Wiisagejaak is referred to as "the Deceiver" by a First Nations elder named Wilf, portrayed by Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman (Dakota people). A man who appears from the lake, portrayed by Graham Greene (Oneida people), may be Wiisagejaak himself.
[ Clearcut (1991) Quotes at IMDb]
-
Wisakedjak is a character in the book series Malazan Book of the Fallen
-
Wisakedjak is a character in the book American Gods by Neil Gaiman, where he is frequently referred to as "Whiskey Jack" (a corruption of this figure's traditional name). In the book, he appears as an old Native man, who lives in a mobile home, somewhere near a Lakota reservation in the badlands with Johnny Appleseed.
[ American Gods list of Gods]
See also
