Cougar Nature-Spirit of Maliseet
The Maliseet people of the Maritime provinces and Quebec tell of a cougar nature-spirit dwelling in underground chambers and root systems of vast Acadian forests. This spirit belongs to the rich animistic tradition of the Wabanaki Confederacy, where all natural features possess spiritual essence and guardian beings oversee specific territories. The Maliseet traditionally inhabited the Saint John River watershed, and their oral literature describes the underground world beneath the forest floor as a complex realm inhabited by spirits regulating the growth of medicinal plants, movements of game