Legendary Native American Figures: Kisulkw (Gisoolg)
Name: Kisulkw Tribal affiliation:Micmac Alternate spellings: Kisúlkw, Kisu'lkw, Kisu'lk, Kisulk, Kesoolkw, Gisoolg, Keswolk Pronunciation: kih-soolk-w Also known as: Kjikinap, Kji-Kinap, Kji-Niskam, the Creator, the Great Spirit Type:High god,
Creator Related figures in other tribes:Niwaskw (Abenaki),
Gitche Manitou (Ojibway),
Kitanitowit (Lenape)
Kisulkw (often Anglicized to Gisoolg) is the great creator god of the southern Wabanaki tribes.
The name Kisúlkw literally means "Creator."
Sometimes Gisoolg is also referred to as Kjikinap (or Kji-Kinap), "the Great Power," or
Kji-Niskam ("Great Grandfather" or "Great Lord.") In more modern times, the English phrase
Great Spirit (a literal translation
of the name for the Creator god in the neighboring Maliseet and Abenaki tribes) has also become more popular.
Gisoolg is a divine spirit with no human form or attributes (including gender) and is never personified
in traditional Micmac folklore, though more modern tales occasionally have the Creator taking human form.
It is Gisoolg who created the world, though some details of making the world as we know it today were
delegated to the sun god Nakuset
or the culture hero Glooskap.
"Gisoolg" (or one of its many variant spellings)
was used as a translation for "God" in early translations of the Bible into the Mi'kmaq language,
and indeed most Mi'kmaq people today consider
Gisoolg and the Christian God to be one and the same.
Recommended Books of Related Native American Legends
On the Trail of Elder Brother:
Good book of traditional stories told by a Mi'kmaq author and illustrator.
Giants of the Dawnland:
Another good collection of Wabanaki legends, told by a Penobscot Indian author.
Algonquian Spirit:
Excellent anthology of stories, songs, and oral history from the Mi'kmaq and other Algonquian tribes.
American Indian culture
Mi'kmaw Creation Story 
Gisoolg and the Creation 
