Women of the Dawn by Bunny McBride

Author:Bunny McBride
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nebraska
Published: 2020-12-23T00:00:00+00:00

While Penobscot boys gleaned the importance of hunting and warfare, Molly Molasses, like all Penobscot girls, came to appreciate the value of women’s work. She learned how to raise corn and where to gather berries, lilyroots, fiddleheads, and waterfowl eggs. Her mother taught her how to scrape and soften animal hides and sew them into moccasins and clothing; how to fashion watertight bark containers and lash together a wigwam; and how to pluck a porcupine, flatten and dye its quills, and use them to embroider clothing and barkwork. Moreover, like every Penobscot child, male or female, Molly learned the benefits and hardships inherent in each season of the year and discovered the balance of firmness and flexibility needed to fit one’s life to the variabilities of nature.

Perhaps most important, Molly learned about the Penobscot spirit world and m’teoulin (magic). As she listened to stories told by the elders and watched how her people lived, she came to understand that all life forms had a spirit force and that there was no line separating the natural from the supernatural. As for m’teoulin, it was a power given by the Great Spirit to a very few for the good of the whole. Those who possessed it were able to contend with unseen forces. They could interpret dreams, drive off disease or death, predict where game could be found, and send a bao-higan (spirit helper) to inflict harm on enemies. For generations m’teoulin had run in Molly’s family, so no one was surprised when it became evident that Molly had this gift. As the years went by, magic, more than the everyday skills of women, would help her survive.

At odds with such beliefs were Catholic priests determined to save Indian souls. Building on the traditions of French “blackrobes,” Catholic priests from Canada visited Indian Island regularly during Molly’s young years. In addition to giving religious instruction, hearing confessions, and performing marriage ceremonies, they baptized children and gave them Christian names. That is how she got her name: Mary Pelagie, which Wabanakis pronounced as Molly Balassee. Later in her life, white folks would make a word play on this and call her Molly Molasses.

During her childhood, Molly and her family centered their life on Indian Island, the tribe’s ancient gathering place. This 315-acre hump of land sat in the Penobscot River, thirty-five miles from the coast, just above a waterfall at the head of the tidal river. Most Penobscots came to Indian Island each spring to plant corn and in the fall to harvest it. Many also spent the winter months here, but they left the place often, traveling by river to seasonal fishing and hunting grounds. In the spring, a good number of them portaged around the falls and paddled their canoes downstream to the ocean to hunt seals. They camped en route in riverine coves and sometimes stayed in one spot for a week or more to fish. Molly knew all the ancient names of their traditional stopovers. The names revealed what could be found in each place.

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