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Cree

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Cree

Cree camp near Vermilion, Alberta
Total population
over 200,000
Regions with significant populations
Canada, United States
Language(s)
Cree, English, French
Religion(s)

Related ethnic groups
Métis, Oji-Cree, Ojibwe

The Cree are an indigenous people of North America who occupy an area from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean in both Canada and the United States. They now constitute the largest group of First Nations people in Canada and are referred to as Native Americans in the United States. The Cree language is an Algonquian language and was once the most widely spoken in northern North America. Currently, however, not all Crees speak Cree fluently and English is more commonly used in Cree communities in the United States, Western Canada and Ontario. In Quebec, however, almost all Crees speak fluent Cree; English and French are nevertheless used in the work place, public administration, and for external relations.

Skilled buffalo hunters and horsemen, the Cree were allied to the Assiniboine of the Sioux before encountering English and French settlers in the 16th century.

Presently, the remaining Cree in the United States live on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation which is shared with the Chippewa.

1 In Canada
2 Beliefs
3 Cree Creation Story
4 Cree First Nations
5 Cree Prophecy
6 Notable Cree
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Cree Girl (1928).

The Cree are the largest group of First Nations in Canada, with over 200,000 members and 135 registered bands.^[1] This large number may be due to the Cree's traditional openness to inter-tribal marriage. Together, their reserve lands are the largest of any First Nations group in the country.^[1] The largest Cree band, and the second largest First Nations Band in Canada after the Six Nations Iroquois is the Lac La Ronge Band in northern Saskatchewan.

The Métis were traditionally the mixed offspring of Cree (or Ojibwa) and French Canadian (or English or Scottish) heritage. According to the Canadian Government's Indian and Northern Affairs, the Metis were historically the offspring of French fur traders and Prairie Cree women or, from unions of English or Scottish traders and Northern Dene women. It is now generally accepted though in academic circles that the term Métis can be used to refer to any combination of persons of mixed Native with Non-Native heritage. Although, historical definitions for Metis remain. Some Anglo-Metis are also of Cree descent. Canada's Indian and Northern Affairs specifically but broadly define Metis to be those persons of mixed First Nation and European ancestry.

The Grand Council of the Crees in Quebec calls its homeland Eeyou Istchee (Cree for 'Land of the People'). Its current leader is Grand Chief Matthew Mukash, formerly Deputy Grand Chief under Ted Moses and more recently CEO of the Whapmagoostui Eeyou Enterprise Development Corporation in Quebec’s northern-most Cree community.

The Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN) is a political group of Cree, Ojibwe and Oji-Cree descendants based in northern Ontario. Its territory encompasses two thirds of the northern half of the province. It comprises 50 First Nation communities, further represented by regional Tribal Councils denoting each territorial area of Cree, Ojibwe and Oji-Cree peoples. The word nishnawbe means 'people' in all these related languages. Similarly, aski means 'land' in all the languages and is similar to the Quebec Cree word 'istchee'. Cree and Ojibwe are Algonquian languages that share many similarities and are separated by subtle differences in dialects from region to region.

The tribes of the Cree Nation, living in the Canadian forests, prairies and US plains, venerated the spirits of the hunt. The Earth Spirit was the mother of all animals, and there was also a less-defined Sky being. Religion emphasized a close relationship with the tribes' ancestors or "old people", believed to be always near at hand. Tribal shamans frequently entered trances to visit the land of the dead. Nature was seen as an integrated whole, so that animals spoke and told tales, and legends of the winds and of the four directions were common. Close contact with European traders and white settlers, coupled with the adoption of agriculture, greatly altered the mythology of these tribes.

This is how one Cree tribe explains the creation of the world:

When light first came to the earth, O-ma-ma-ma the earth mother of the Cree people gave birth to the spirits of the world. The first born was Binay-sih, the thunderbird who protects the animals from the sea serpent, Genay-big. Thunderbirds shout out their unhappiness or anger with black clouds, rain and fire flashes in the sky. The second born was Ina-kaki, the lowly frog who heightens the sorcerer's powers and helps to control the insects in the world. The third born was the trickster Wee-sa-kay-jac (Pronounced Wee-suh-keh-jack), who can change himself into many forms or shapes to protect himself. The fourth child was Ma-heegun, Wee-sa-kay-jac's little wolf brother. They travel together with Wee-sa-kay-jac on his back. The fifth born was Amik the beaver, who is greatly respected because he is an unfortunate human from a different world. Fish, rocks, grasses, and trees all came from the womb of the great earth mother O-ma-ma-ma. The earth was inhabited a long time by only animals and spirits because Wee-sa-kay-jac had not yet made any people.

A Cree woman (right)

Cree of Northern Québec

Two Cree boys, near Chisasibi, in Northern Québec

The so called Cree Prophecy: "Only after the last tree has been cut down / Only after the last river has been poisoned / Only after the last fish has been caught / Then will you find that money cannot be eaten" seems to be a shortened version of the Legend of Rainbow Warriors, that is sometimes reported as a Hopi prophecy, sometimes as a prophecy of an old Cree woman. The complete version of this prophecy speaks about trees, rivers, and fish, but not about money:

There was an old lady, from the "Cree" tribe, named "Eyes of Fire", who prophesied that one day, because of the white mans' or Yo-ne-gis' greed, there would come a time, when the fish would die in the streams, the birds would fall from the air, the waters would be blackened, and the trees would no longer be, mankind as we would know it would all but cease to exist. There would come a time when the "keepers of the legend, stories, culture rituals, and myths, and all the Ancient Tribal Customs" would be needed to restore us to health. They would be mankind's key to survival, they were the "Warriors of the Rainbow". (Lelanie Stone)

Instead, it speaks about an army of "Rainbow Warriors" that will appear to save the world. Thus, the sense of the prophecy differs from the wide-spread shortened version.

In Germany the Cree Prophecy is often mixed up with the famous speech of Chief Seattle in 1854. The Smith version of this speech closes with a prophecy that resembles the legend of Rainbow Warriors.