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Magical canoe
2010



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CSW (All rights reserved)

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Abenakis men had spent many months in the forest and longed for their families. They asked the medawlinu1 to come to their aid. The wise man told them to sit down in a canoe. He got in front and ordered them to chant along with him. Like magic, each man was able to see the members of his family. They were all asleep, but the dream-world visitors could not touch or wake them. They came back to their camp comforted to know that everything was going well at the village.

Taken and adapted from the article Théophile Panadis (1889-1966), Abenakis guide, from Alice Nash and Réjean Obomsawin in ?Recherches amérindiennes au Québec?, Vol. XXXIII, no 2, 2003, Les Abénaquis au Québec - Des grands espaces aux luttes actuelles.

1. The Medawlinu is a man with spiritual powers among the Abenakis. The word is also written Mdawinno or Medeoulin.