In Search of Hiawatha
Several months ago, on a visit to Fort Michilimackinac, I was startled to read an exhibit sign that referred to Hiawatha as a real person.
As far as I knew, Hiawatha was the fictional hero of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem: "By the shore of Gitche Gumee" and all that. On the other hand, as I thought about it I realized that much of what I know about Paul Revere also comes from a Longfellow poem. Perhaps Longfellow's mythical Indian chief wasn't so mythical after all and I was the only one who hadn't caught on.
When I finally got a chance to poke around, I discovered that the question of Hiawatha, Longfellow, and reality is a complicated one. I immediately found that there was indeed an historical, or at least semi-mythical, Hiawatha. He was a leader of the Onondaga (or possibly Mohawk) tribe who was one of the founders of the Iroquois Confederacy in the 16th (or possibly 15th) century, depending on who you read. Further research, however, made it absolutely clear that the historical Hiawatha was not the subject of the Longfellow poem
In the 1850s, Longfellow set out to write what he described as an "Indian Edda": an epic poem combining Native American themes with a structure and "primitive"* meter borrowed from the Finnish epic, the Kalevala.** He found his local material in large part in the ethnological writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. An Indian agent in the western wilds of Michigan whose wife was half-Ojibwe, Schoolcraft collected Native America lore, was the first to translate Native American poetry into English, and was a serious student of Native American religious legends.
Longfellow loosely based his story on Schoolcraft's account of an Ojibwe trickster-hero named Manabozho. Somewhere along the way he decided to change the name to Hiawatha, stating in his journal that it was "another name for the same personage". *** Obviously the confusion was Longfellow's, not mine.
I feel so much better.
* His term, not mine. If it makes the occasional Finnish reader feel any better, he also described the Kalevala as "charming".
** Itself a nineteenth-century creation, assembled from pre-Christian Finnish songs and folk tales by folklorist Elias Lönnrot in the early 1830s. The twisty relationship between national identity and folk culture is fascinating--and a topic for another day.
*** To be fair, some of my sources blame this confusion on Schoolcraft. I'm not prepared to track this down further. Take your choice.
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress
Road Trip Through History: Thinking About the Bucket List
My Own True Love and I recently sat down to synchronize our calendars for the coming year--a terrifying process. (We already have things scheduled well into September? Really?) As always, it gave me the travel itch and made me think about the places I really, really want to see. Some of them have been on the list for years decades a long time. Others are relatively new.
Here are a few road trips through history that I'd love to make:
- The Minoan Palace and Archeological Museum at Knossos: This one's been on my list since I was a kid. (Thank you, C.W. Ceram.) English archeologist Arthur Evans. like Heinrich Schliemann* before him, used ancient legends to guide his excavations on Crete, long associated with the legend of the minotaur and the labyrinth. The story of his discoveries, the later story of how the script was deciphered, and the sheer beauty of the artifacts continue to fire my imagination.
- The Plains of Abraham: In recent years, My Own True Love and I have grown increasingly interested in the history of the French in North America. The Plains of Abraham in Quebec is the site of a critical battle in the French and Indian wars, which ended with North America in the control of the British--if not for long.
- The Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, Nebraska: It's just one small step from being interested in the French in North America to being interested in the North American fur trade.
- The Alhambra: I assume this needs no explanation. Who wouldn't want to see the Alhambra?
What road trips through history are on your list?
* Retired German businessman Heinrich Schliemann ignored conventional academic wisdom, insisted that the stories of the Trojan War were true, and used Homer's descriptions to discover an ancient city.
Image credit: clabert / 123RF Stock Photo
Road Trip Through History: Bath
Having spent many hours enthralled by the novels of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, I was excited to arrive in Bath, our last stop in England. It was thrilling to have lunch in the Pump Room, to stroll through the Assembly Rooms where some of my favorite heroines danced the quadrille, and to see the neoclassical splendor of the Royal Crescent. My Own True Love and I spent a happy afternoon at the Building of Bath Museum, learning about Georgian architecture and John Wood the Elder's development of the city into a popular Georgian resort town.*
Georgian Bath delighted me. Roman Bath blew me away.
I knew the Romans had built baths at Bath--the Romans built baths everywhere. I didn't know that the baths at Bath were more than just baths.
When the Georgians came to drink the waters they were taking part in a centuries old tradition. Bath is home to the only thermal springs in Great Britain. Ancient Britons worshipped a goddess of the springs, Sulis, long before the Romans arrived in 43 CE. The Romans identified Sulis with their own goddess of wisdom, Minerva. The two religions merged together in a temple-bath complex at the new town of Aquae Sulis that was in use for roughly 300 years. Pilgrims came from all over the Roman empire to bathe in the springs and consult the goddess.
Today the ruins of the Roman baths and temple lie under the streets of Bath. Partially excavated, they form the heart of an excellent museum that ties together Roman history, religion, social history, urban planning, and plumbing to tell a fascinating story of the birth, death, and eventual rebirth of the city. You can even have a glass of the famous waters if you feel the need.
* We like buildings almost as much as we like history. History and buildings together? Heaven!
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A few travel notes for anyone inclined to worship at the goddess's spring, take the waters, or otherwise visit Bath:
- The city of Bath sponsors free two-hour tours led by The Mayor's Corps of Honorary Guides, a volunteer group of carefully trained local enthusiasts. My guess is that the tours differ from guide to guide. Our guide was engaging, opinionated, and passionate about his city's history. Overheard bits of another tour suggest that the guides are uniformly excellent.
- If you're a vegetarian--or just feeling like you'll get scurvy if you don't have a few vegetables soon--try Demuth's Vegetarian Restaurant. Our meals were as inventive and elegant as anything cooked by Charlie Trotter. Honest.