Baykok

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The baykok (or pau'guk, paguk, baguck; bakaak in the Ojibwe language and pakàk in the Algonquin language) is a malevolent spirit from the mythology of the Ojibway nation.

1 In traditional culture
2 In popular culture
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] In traditional culture

The baykok is a character from the Ojibway oral traditions, which is said to fly though the forests of the Great Lakes region. The cries of baykok is also described as being shrill. Described as "Death" in The Song of Hiawatha, it is said to appear as an extremely ematiated skeleton-like figure, with thin translucent skin and glowing red points for eyes. The baykok only prey on warriors, but do so ruthlessly, using invisible arrows or beating its prey to death with a club. The baykok, after paralyzing or killing its prey, then devours the liver of its victim.

The word bakaak in the Ojibwe language lends itself to words such as bakaakadozo, meaning "be thin/skinny/poor", and bakaakadwengwe, meaning "have a lean/thin face". The name bakaak occasionally appears as bekaak (reflected in English as "baykok"), which may be a shortening of bekaakadwaabewizid, meaning "an extremely thin being".

[edit] In popular culture

First introduced to the non-Anishinaabe public through The Song of Hiawatha, the baykok in recent years have become a cultural pop-icon in death-themed entertainment. The recent depictions include a zombie variation and an animation series.

[edit] See also

The Song of Hiawatha

[edit] External links

list of words found in "The Song of Hiawatha"
Jim Rage’s Elite Zombie Hunting Squadron depiction
Macula animation series depiction

[edit] References

Cuoq, Jean André. 1886. Lexique de la Langue Algonquine. Montréal: J. Chapleau & Fils.
Johnston, Basil. 2001. The Manitous: the spiritual world of the Ojibway. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.
Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm. 1995. A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.