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By the early 15th century, the Norse also had to Ojigwano is a Keeper of the Lore and is thus
abandon Greenland. After centuries of relative designated to care for and protect numerous
warmth, which had favored North Atlantic items, such as wampum belts and other artifacts,
travels, the global climate took a frigid turn, and for the Algonquian Confederacy. One very
the colony's trade with Norway declined sharply. important item is called the Primstaven, a
wooden staff carved by Vikings who arrived in
The era of Viking marauding had long since Algonquian county around 11-- A.D.
passed. To some scholars the Norman invasion
of England in 1066 was the last great Viking He explains that the runic inscriptions on the
raid; many Normans were descended from staff tell us basically that the Vikings and the
helmeted Vikings who had earlier seized their Algonquians, though of different races, are
land. And now the era of Viking western Keepers of the Truth and Understanding. There's
expansion had also ended. All that was left were more to this than meets the eye, so I'll explain
the sagas, and ruins of some sod houses on a what I was taught about this connection.
bleak Canadian coast.
Viking warriors were called "Berserkers," a word
Writing of the Vikings who had to give up their which derives from Old Norse and literally
Vinland dreams, Dr. Sigurdsson said, "You means "Bear Shirt." The Vikings were a
spend the rest of your life boasting of the great shamanic culture who believed in magic and a
time you had with your mates when you spent pantheon. Berserkers believed they could
the summers sailing across the seven seas and transform themselves to become as ferocious as a
finding new and previously unheard of lands, bear when doing battle. They wore these
just like the Icelandic sagas tell us." bearskin tunics as a symbol of their ferocity.
This is why berserkers were depicted as being in
-- By John Noble Wilford a frenzy, or a rage, almost invulnerable.
The Algonquians held to similar beliefs known
Algonquians and the Vikings as Bearwalkers. The ability to shape shift is well
known in many Native American tribes; the
William Commanda was born on November 11, Algonquians attribute this ability to our culture-
1912 on the Manawaki Algonquian Reserve in hero, Gluscap. In one Algonquian dialect of the
Quebec, Canada and has lived there all his life. northeast, the following saying (part of a legend)
His Algonquian name is Ojigwano, which refers still survives today: "Qeni yaliyat skitkomig
to the planet Venus (known to us as the Dawn mecimiw kisi mili acehlosu," which means:
Star). "when he started to roam the earth, he could
change himself into many forms."

So, as the Vikings and Algonquians learned to
communicate with each other, they realized they
were brothers of the Bear Clan. They also
realized that the Algonquians' two major clans
were the Wolf Clan and Bear Clan. The wolf
also played an integral part in Viking lore.
Algonquians have a curing ceremony known as
the Bear Sweat Lodge; tales of Bears raising
human children, teaching them to live as bears.
In the Northern Algonquian tribes such as the
Cree, Wolf is the one who creates earth.

The biggest star in the Big Dipper is called
Maskwa -- the Great Bear -- and one Algonquian
Tribe has a society which enacts a ritual each
year "when the Great Bear in the Sky comes
down to Earth." The Milky Way is also known as
the Wolf Road to Algonquians, the trail of souls
which leads to our "happy hunting grounds,"