Mi'kmaw Teaching and Learning Resources

Tracing of a petroglyph of what may be interpreted as Culloo

Petroglyph tracings E: Human Figures #40. 13 negatives and 8 positives. Marion Robertson's Rock Drawings of the Micmac Indians identifies this petroglyph as "Culloo... The mighty bird Culloo of Mi'kmaq tales was a powerful friend or a dreaded foe of the Indians. The drawing portrays and episode in the story of Badger, the wily magician in Micmac folklore. Having broken the bows of the Culloo boys, Badger killed and decapitated their mother. Unable to revenge their mother's death with broken bows the boys appealed to their friends and the might Culloo, seizing Badger, carried him into the sky and dropped him to the earth below. Here Culloo soars among the stars of the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear, Muen, in Micmac tales), the bear in the sky is persued by three hunters. To the left is the decapitated head of the mother Culloo and one of the Culloo boys with his broken bow. To the right is Badger falling in his long flight to the earth." See also MG 15 vol. 12 E43 for Culloo and Badger, who decapitated the mother Culloo, falling to earth.

Date: 1888

Retrieval no.: George Creed Nova Scotia Archives MG 15 volume 12 E40

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