Quite possibly born out of collective fears of starvation and death spawned during the darkest and cruelest of winters the manitou spirit of the Wendigo manifested itself to the Algonquian tribe. Mythologically, the Wendigo is a cannibalistic spirit and capable of the most horrific act and can influence the will of its victim through possession. The Wendigo's existence symbolizes what lies at the end of the choice a person could make when starvation is gnawing at the edges of their sanity — cannibalism or death. Some, like those in the Donner party, chose the former while the stories of the latter remain unknown. The Wendigo can never be satisfied as each meal only makes it twice as ravenous as it was before.
Brumal earth notes, firewood smoke, sacred tobacco leaf, dapples of fading light: oakmoss, clove and cedar, the last few remaining huckleberries of the season and the menacing scent of an early winter heavy in the air.
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