The Record Speaks: Nanaboozhoo and the Great Flood
Updated: Aug 17
“This is not only a story about water. It is a story about balance, memory, and the responsibility of all living things to remain within what has been given.”
Many people know the flood story, but few have heard the fuller account preserved within the record.
In Nanaboozhoo Gaye Gichi Nibi (Nanaboozhoo and the Great Flood), the flood does not begin with rain. It begins with a disturbance in the balance of creation itself. As powerful beings move outside the order that was given, the land, waters, and heavens respond.
At the center of the account stands Nanaboozhoo, watching, teaching, and working alongside the people as the world changes around them. The story remembers Noosah and his family, the gathering of the animals, the rising waters, and the remarkable events that followed when the earth itself seemed lost beneath the flood.
Yet this is more than a story of destruction. It is a story of preservation, cooperation, sacrifice, and renewal. It reminds us that creation is interconnected, and that when balance is broken, all things are affected.
The record also preserves lesser-known traditions about those who found safety in unexpected places, the role of the animals in restoring the world, and the emergence of Mikinak Minising—Turtle Island—from the waters.
This is one of the foundational accounts in the Nanaboozhoo cycle, connecting directly to the teachings of balance, responsibility, and the continuing relationship between the seen and unseen worlds.
We invite you to read the complete record and reflect upon its teachings for yourself.
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