Where the Chill Came from Cree Windigo Tales and Journeys

by Howard Norman

A collection of Canadian Indian tales tells of encounters with Windigos, monstrous spirit-beings with hearts of ice

Genres: Folklore, Nonfiction

Paperback

Published January 1, 1983

About the author

Howard A. Norman (born 1949), is an American award-winning writer and educator. Most of his short stories and novels are set in Canada's Maritime Provinces. He has written several translations of Algonquin, Cree, Eskimo, and Inuit folklore. His books have been translated into 12 languages.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I may have picked this up from the author in 1986 at a reading he did, but it is also possible I got it as early as 1979 from him at a reading in Grand Rapids (Michigan). Translations of Cree tales, among many he did for many years.

[Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

American novelist Howard Norman’s compilation of Cree oral tales about windigo, Where The Chill Came From: Cree Windigo Tales And Journeys illustrates some of the weird, original aspects of the legend. These stories revolve around “a complex, voracious spirit being” that “wandered the subarctic forests and icy swamplands west of Hudson Bay throughout time,” “a conspirator with starvation,” according to Norman, but these depictions vary wildly throughout these accounts, even taken from a specifically Cree context.

While the motif of human cannibals becoming a windigo appear, the diversity of the portrayal of the windigo spirits encountered in these oral tales is interesting. Some are murderers or other community offenders urged on by menacing dreams, but the most common windigo appearance in Cree stories is that of a giant with a heart made of ice, or sometimes even as an ice skeleton. Also interesting is how these horrifying apparitions could be defeated, with the protagonists finding a way to melt its ice heart, and the heroes often being a quick-witted weasel who succeed through trickery

I enjoyed reading these bits of myth, with their animal characters and depictions of surviving the bleak winter (all too relatable around here at times, even with a grocery store within walking distance) which helps to appreciate the original contexts of the windigo tales before being stripped of their original cultural contexts through modern pop culture.

I discuss this and other works discussing the windigo legend in this entry of Harris' Tome Corner.

[Kathy Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this decades ago and really loved it! In fact I purchased the book after hearing Mr. Norman speak about The windigo and about our relationship with the natural world.

[Rayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating traditional stories, with detailed introduction to place the stories in cultural context. I would have been happy with even more background information. Very educational.

[Hollowspine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit that I was afraid to start reading these Windigo tales. Even typing the word causes me to glance over my shoulder. Ever since I was a kid the windigo has been a creature of nightmare for me, a dreadful thing that had no description other than 'huge.' So, I read these stories with trepidation, and only during the daytime.

Therefore, this book surprised me in many ways. Firstly, it was much more a scholarly work than just a collection of windigo tales. The introduction to how the stories were gathered and the way of life for the Cree people who were telling them added much to the telling. I gained a lot of perspective about the tales I'd heard as a child, though the stark realities of the stories did not diminish much from the fear of windigo.

The stories were taken directly from the oral tradition and were therefore very interesting, something that I'd never read before in tales about the dreaded windigo. Sometimes the windigo was a man, sometimes a wolverine, sometimes a giant beast. The tale I remember most from my youth where men were carried off saying 'oh my burning feet,' etc. did not have a base that I could find here, other than the windigo could use snow snakes (wind driven snow) to confuse people and send them lost to starve in the wilderness.

I found that burning feet story frightening, because, to my knowledge, no windigo was ever seen, only the men disappearing, carried off into the night, to be dropped from great heights partially devoured. These stories instilled other fears, the windigo could be anyone. Someone you love could become a windigo, and if you get left alone with them...chances are they'll be discovering nothing but your bones in a kettle the next day. Also, windigo can trick you by leaving false trails to follow. They can trap one in moss or conjure a winter storm to starve the people.

The best thing about these frightening windigos though was the fact that in most stories they were defeated. Weasels, it turns out, are very handy to know, since they can crawl down the throat of the windigo to destroy it's ice heart. To thaw or destroy the heart of the windigo kills it. Which I was very happy to find out. Now I just need to carry summer with me and befriend a weasel.

Although still frightening, I enjoyed reading these stories and learned quite a bit about my old childhood nemesis. Now I am better armed should I encounter one (let's hope I don't though!).