Mishipeshu

2018-12-18T17:04:12Z

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{{tone|date=March 2014}}

[[File:Underwater panther NMAI GGH.jpg|thumb|Underwater Panther, [[George Gustav Heye Center]], [[National Museum of the American Indian]]]]
An '''underwater panther''', called '''''{{lang|oj|Mishipeshu}}''''' or '''''{{lang|oj|Mishibijiw}}''''' in [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]] ({{IPA-all|mɪʃɪbɪʑɪw}}), is one of the most important of several mythological water beings among many [[indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands]] and [[Great Lakes]] region, particularly among the [[Anishinaabe]].

''{{lang|oj|Mishipeshu}}'' translates into "the Great Lynx". It has the head and paws of a giant cat but is covered in scales and has dagger-like spikes running along its back and tail.{{citation needed (lead) |date=April 2015}} Mishipeshu calls [[Michipicoten Island]] in [[Lake Superior]] his home and is a powerful creature in the mythological traditions of some Native American tribes, particularly [[Anishinaabe]] tribes, the [[Odawa]], [[Ojibwe]], and [[Potawatomi]], of the [[Great Lakes]] region of [[Canada]] and the [[United States]].<ref name="conway"/><ref name="Kohl">{{cite book |last=Kohl |first=Johann |title=Kitchi-Gami: Life Among the Lake Superior Ojibway |year=1859 |isbn=0-87351-172-7 }}</ref> In addition to the Anishinaabeg, [[Innu]] also have ''Mishibizhiw'' stories.<ref name="Barnes">{{cite web |last=Barnes |first=Michael |url=http://www.city.north-bay.on.ca/living/history/lavase/97frs611.htm |title=Aboriginal Artifacts |work=Final Report — 1997 Archaeological Excavations La Vase Heritage Project |publisher=City of [[North Bay, Ontario]] |accessdate=2008-10-05 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017010624/http://www.city.north-bay.on.ca/living/history/lavase/97FRS611.HTM |archivedate=2007-10-17 |df= }}</ref>

To the [[Algonquin people|Algonquins]], the underwater panther was the most powerful [[underworld]] being. The [[Ojibwe]] traditionally held them to be masters of all water creatures, including snakes. Some versions of the [[Nanabozho]] creation legend refers to whole communities of water [[lynx]].<ref name="Bolgiano">{{cite book |last=Bolgiano |first=Chris |title=Mountain Lion: An Unnatural History of Pumas and People |date=August 1995 |location=[[Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania]] |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=0-8117-1044-0 |chapter=Native Americans and American Lions |chapterurl=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/mountain.htm}}</ref>

Some archaeologists{{who|date=April 2015}} believe that underwater panthers were major components of the [[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex]] of the [[Mississippian culture]] in the prehistoric American Southeast.<ref>{{cite book |last=Townsend |first=Richard F. |title=Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-300-10601-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=F. Kent |last1=Reilly |first2=James |last2=Garber |title=Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |location=[[Austin, Texas]] |year=2004 |pages=29–34 |isbn=978-0-292-71347-5 |first3=Vincas P., foreword |last3=Steponaitis }}</ref>

==Name==
In the [[Ojibwe language]], this creature is sometimes called ''{{lang|oj|Mishibizhiw}}'', ''{{lang|oj|Mishipizhiw}}'', ''{{lang|oj|Mishipizheu}}'', ''{{lang|oj|Mishupishu}}'', ''{{lang|oj|Mishepishu}}'', ''{{lang|oj|Michipeshu}}'',<ref name="conway">{{cite book |last1=Conway |first1=Thor |year=2010 |title=Spirits in Stone |location=[[Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario]] |publisher=Heritage Discoveries }}</ref> or ''{{lang|oj|Mishibijiw}}'', which translates as "Great Lynx",<ref>[http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/ojibwe.html Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary]</ref> or ''{{lang|oj|Gichi-anami'e-bizhiw}}'' ("Gitche-anahmi-bezheu"), which translates as "the fabulous night panther".<ref name="Kohl"/><ref>"The fabulous night panther" is a translation from [[Anishinaabe language]] into [[French language|French]] to [[German language|German]], which then was translated into English. The direct translation would be something closer to "The greatly revered lynx." See [http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/ojibwe.html Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary]</ref> However, it is also commonly referred to as the "Great underground wildcat" or "Great under-water wildcat."<ref name="Barnes"/><ref name="Gidmark">{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?doi=-gLBOIhjsPQC&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168&dq=Mishi-peshu&source=bl&ots=NNnev31kdp&sig=Lx3UhQHsHdHyfwwazxPlELqbPVQ&hl=en&ei=MBD3SpaXKIWo8AavkqjzCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CAwQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=Mishi-peshu&f=false |title=Mishi-Peshu |last1=Gidmark |first1=Jill B. |date=November 30, 2000 |work=Encyclopedia of American literature of the sea and Great Lakes |location=[[Westport, Connecticut]] |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-30148-4 |page=168 |accessdate=December 25, 2012 |doi=10.1336/0313301484 }}</ref> It is the most important of the underwater animals for the Ojibwa.<ref name="Lemaître">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/mishipeshu |title=Mishipeshu |work=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |first1=Serge |last1=Lemaître |accessdate=December 25, 2012 }}</ref> During the Mississippian Period (800 CE-1600 CE), the Underwater Panther, also referred to as the Cat Serpent, Cat Monster or Great Horned Serpent, resided in the Beneath World alongside to the Woman-Who-Never-Dies (the Corn Mother).<ref>{{Cite web|url=peachstatearchaeologicalsociety.org|title=Southeastern Ceremonial Complex|last=|first=|date=12/10/2018|website=Peach Tree Archaeological Society|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref>

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==Description==
[[File:Agawa Rock, panel VIII.jpg|right|thumb|Pictographs of a ''{{lang|oj|mishibizhiw}}'' as well as two giant serpents<ref name=conway/> and a canoe, from [[Lake Superior Provincial Park]], [[Ontario]], Canada. Attributed to the Ojibwe.<ref name="Penney">{{cite book |last1=Penney |first1=David W. |title=North American Indian Art |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |year=2004 |isbn=0-500-20377-6 }}</ref>{{rp|71}}]]
In [[Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas|mythologies of the indigenous peoples]] of the Great Lakes, underwater panthers are described as water monsters that live in opposition to the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|Thunderbirds]],<ref name="Strom">{{cite web |url=http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/morriss/art_miss.html |title=Morrisseau's ''Missipeshu'' – Cultural Preservation |work=Native American Indian Resources |date=August 3, 1996 |accessdate=October 1, 2011 |author=Strom, Karen M. }}</ref> masters of the powers of the air. Underwater Panthers are seen as an opposing yet complementary force to the Thunderbirds, and they are engaged in eternal conflict.<ref name="Penney" />{{rp|60}}

Underwater panther was an amalgam of features from many animals: the body of a wild feline, often a [[cougar]] or [[lynx]]; the horns of [[deer]] or [[bison]]; upright scales on its back;<ref name="Penney"/>{{rp|207}} occasionally [[feather]]s; and parts from other animals as well, depending on the particular myth. Underwater panthers are represented with exceptionally long tails,<ref name="Penney"/>{{rp|59}} occasionally with serpentine properties.<ref name="Penney"/>{{rp|60}} The creatures are thought to roar or hiss in the sounds of storms or rushing rapids.<ref name="Strom" />

''{{lang|oj|Mishipizheu}}'' were said to live in the deepest parts of lakes and rivers, where they can cause storms.<ref name="Penney"/>{{rp|60}} Some traditions believed the underwater panthers to be helpful, protective creatures, but more often they were viewed as malevolent beasts that brought death and misfortune. They often need to be placated for safe passage across a lake.<ref name="Strom"/> As late as the 1950s, the Prairie Band of [[Potawatomi]] Indians performed a traditional ceremony to placate the Underworld Panther and maintain balance with the Thunderbird.<ref name="Bolgiano"/>

When ethnographer [[Johann Georg Kohl]] visited the United States in the 1850s, he spoke with a [[Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa|Fond du Lac]] chief, who showed Kohl a piece of copper kept in his [[medicine bag]]. The chief said it was a strand of hair from the ''{{lang|oj|mishibizhiw}}'', and thus considered extremely powerful.<ref name="Kohl"/>

==Copper==
''{{lang|oj|Mishipeshu}}'' is known for guarding the vast amounts of copper in Lake Superior and the [[Great Lakes]] Region. Indigenous people mined copper long before the arrival of Europeans to the area. Later, during the 17th century, missionaries of the [[Society of Jesus]] arrived in the Great Lakes Region. By that time, swiping copper from the region was extremely taboo and forbidden by the Ojibwa tribe. It was even worse to take it from the Great Lynx's home, [[Michipicoten Island]]; this was considered to be stealing from Mishipeshu himself.<ref name="Weird Michigan">{{cite book |title=Weird Michigan: your travel guide to Michigan's local legends and best kept secrets |publisher=Sterling Publishing Co. |author=Godfrey, Linda S. |year=2006 |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4027-3907-1 }}</ref>

==Close encounters==
There are a few stories of encounters with this great beast. A Jesuit missionary named [[Claude Dablon]] told a story about four Ojibwa Indians who embarked on a journey to the home of ''{{lang|oj|Mishipeshu}}'' to take some copper back to their home, and use it to heat water. The very second they pushed off and backed into the water with their canoe, the eerie voice of the water panther surrounded them. The water panther came growling after them, vigorously accusing them of stealing the playthings of his children. All four of the Indians died on the way back to their village; the last one surviving just long enough to tell the tale of what had happened in his final moments before he died.<ref>Jesuit Relations, Volume LIV. Chapter XI. Section 26. pp. 152-153. http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_54.html</ref>

==Depictions in art==
The underwater panther is well represented in [[pictogram]]s. Historical Anishnaabe twined and [[quillwork|quilled]] men's bags often feature an underwater panther on one panel and the Thunderbird on the other.<ref name="Penney"/>{{rp|59}} [[Norval Morrisseau]] (Ojibwe) painted underwater panthers in his [[Woodlands style]] artworks, contemporary paintings based on Ojibwe oral history and cosmology.<ref name="Penney"/>{{rp|207}}<ref name="Strom"/> The emblem has been embellished, and appears as a decorative [[motif (visual arts)|motif]] on [[musket]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/847109/Dragon_Sideplates_from_York_Factory_A_New_Twist_on_an_Old_Tail |title=Dragon Sideplates from York Factory, A New Twist on an Old Tail |first1=William A |last1=Fox |volume=2 |number=2 |journal=Manitoba Archaeological Journal |pages=21–35 |accessdate=December 25, 2012 }}</ref>

The [[Canadian Museum of History]] includes an underwater panther in its coat of arms.<ref name="Strom"/>

In 2003, archaeologist Brad Lepper suggested that the [[Alligator Effigy Mound]] in [[Granville, Ohio]] represents the underwater panther. Lepper posits that early European settlers, when learning from Native Americans that the mound represented a fierce creature that lived in the water and ate people, mistakenly assumed that the Native Americans were referring to an alligator.<ref name="Lepper">{{cite journal |last=Lepper |first=Brad |title=Alligator Mound: Geoarchaeological and Iconographical Interpretations of a Late Prehistoric Effigy Mound in Central Ohio, USA |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |volume=13 |pages=147–167 |doi=10.1017/S0959774303000106 |year=2003 |last2=Frolking |first2=Tod A. |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=187259 |issue=2 }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
The ''[[Grimm (TV series)|Grimm]]'' episode "[[Grimm (season 4)|Mishipeshu]]" involves the possession of a young [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] by an underwater panther.

==See also==
* [[Anishinaabe traditional beliefs]]
* [[Nguruvilu]]
* [[Piasa]]
* [[Horned Serpent]]
* [[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex]]
* [[Bunyip]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/indianrockpainti00dewd |title=Indian Rock Paintings of the Great Lakes |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |author=Dewdney, Selwyn |authorlink=Selwyn Dewdney |year=1975 |location=Toronto |pages=149 |last2=Kidd |first2=Kenneth E.}}
* {{cite news |url=http://farshores.org/alimound.htm |first1=David |last1=Lore |title=Man pounces on panther theory about mound |newspaper=[[The Columbus Dispatch]] |date=January 21, 2001 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311053426/http://farshores.org/alimound.htm |archivedate=March 11, 2007 |df= }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Underwater panther}}
* [http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/mythic-creatures/water-creatures-of-the-deep/mutating-myths American Museum of Natural History on Mishepishu]
* [http://www.americanindian.si.edu/searchcollections/item.aspx?irn=151435&catids=1&objmat=Twine/string/cord|Basswood%20fiber%20cordage&src=1-4 Odawa twined bag with images of the Underwater Panther, NMAI]

{{Mississippian and related cultures}}
{{Pre-Columbian North America}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwater Panther}}
[[Category:Anishinaabe mythology]]
[[Category:Ojibwe legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Algonquin legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Lake Superior]]
[[Category:Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America]]
[[Category:Mythological hybrids]]
[[Category:Great Lakes tribal culture]]
[[Category:Native American religion]]
[[Category:Water deities]]

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Mishipeshu