Allen shows that the roles of women in the native past has actually put modern Indians at an advantage when it comes to living in the society that America has become today. The acceptance of multiple gender roles within one person,…
The Navajo people washed and dried themselves. Then they heard the gods four times on the 12th day. The god appeared before them they carried a rarer buck skin and two ears of corn. The gods put the buck skin down with its head in the west then the two ears faced the east. Then the feather of a white eagle under the yellow eagle feather. Moments later two humans appeared one man one woman.…
The different stories about how the world was created between numerous diverse cultures are called origin myths, which are stories that explain how things came to be and are probably the first stories human beings told. There are many similarities and differences between the Cheyenne Myth, “How the World was Made,” and the Hebrew Story, “In the Beginning,” that show how each culture views its’ God and humanity’s relationship to each of these. While both stories have animals being created before the humans, it shows the power of a greater being which is perceived differently for how they each treated the animals or humans and how they created the earth.…
Native Americans have long been interested in maintaining cultural traditions they inherited from their ancestors. For Native American tribes with strong oral traditions, the primary sense of history comes from the narratives, stories, and accounts told by tribal elders. Indigenous peoples' stories are as varied as the clouds in the sky and yet have many common elements, whether told by the Cherokee in North Carolina, or the Chimariko in California. In the assortment of Native stories, we find legends and history, maps and poems, the teachings of spirit mentors, instructions for ceremony and ritual, observations of worlds, and storehouses of ethno-ecological knowledge. They often have many dimensions, with meanings that reach from the everyday to the divine. The stories fill places with…
The Iroquois creation story is similar to the biblical story of creation. In the Bible, God is credited for the making of the universe and all the non-living things and living things, including mankind. The Iroquois creation story talks about two worlds, one is full of light and mankind and the other world is full of darkest and monsters. This description is comparable to the idea of heaven and hell. According to the bible, heaven is a place full of light, beauty, and this place is where God and his angel reside. While hell is a place full with darkest, pain and anguish. The sky woman is the creator of the universe, just as God is the creator in the biblical story. The good son (good mind) can be compared to Jesus. While as the bad son (bad…
However, this symbolic representation does not translate to women’s treatment and designated roles within modern Native American culture. In Native American religion, women are regarded as more than just wives and mothers; they were viewed traditionally as the bond and support system that held the tribe together. Mary describes how her husband, medicine man and American Indian Movement leader, Leonard Crow Dog, explained to her the importance of women in Lakota religion when she questioned her role as the medicine man’s wife and her role as a woman in the Lakota tribe. Leonard accounted that in one Lakota legend, the “First Woman” was regarded as the creator of the Lakota people. According to the myth, this woman “was given power to create the things necessary for [Lakota] survival” and that she was “the center of the Earth.” Her presence resulted in the birth of We-Ota-Wichasha—the first man (Crow Dog, 247). Likewise, the White Buffalo Woman brought the Lakota people a sacred pipe, the “ptehincala-huhu-chanunpa” (Crow Dog, 247) and taught them to use it in a sacred manner. This pipe has great symbolic importance in many different rituals, specifically the Sun Dance. Furthermore, a “maiden who has never been with a man makes the symbolic first cut” (Crow Dog page needed) of the cottonwood tree that stands in the center of the Sun Dance circle, exemplifying women’s centric role in the community. Mary learned about the strength and importance of the native women of legends from her husband; however, “he was careful never to blur the role of men and women in traditional Indian life” (Crow Dog, 249), believing that each gender had an important role in the way of the society and ritualistic practices. Mary explains that her confusion concerning a Lakota women’s role in society stems from her understanding as a young girl that menstruating women are banned from ritualistic…
As Genesis 1:1 states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth,” but according to the Iroquois, the creation of life took place in a much different way. Throughout the book of Genesis in the New Testament, the description of the creation goes by days. In the story “The World on a Turtle’s Back,” the creation of Earth happens in a series of events, all caused by the gods in the Sky World. According to the Hebrews, the sky and Earth were created by the commanding of God, unlike what the Iroquois foretold. Consequently, God was said to have commanded that the Earth create all sorts of animals, including wild and tame ones, but the Iroquois state that the left-handed and right-handed twins created the animals that still roam Earth to this day. Moreover, in the Iroquois myth, the formation of man occurred when the pregnant…
The Athapascan Story is a creation story told by American Indians who lived in North America near Canada and Alaska. It tells how Asintmah was the first woman and how she built a loom and wove together the blanket of the earth. She was walking in the forest when everything became still. At this moment, she knew that the first humans had been born. The story ends by explaining that the Athapascan people remember the one who gave them life, and takes care of the Earth to thank her.…
Iroquois’ culture and way of life resembles “real world” realities. The Iroquois’ attitudes towards nature are sincere. Myths like these elaborate and confine with the conflict between the differences and similarities of the world. For example in nature there are animals that rely on other species to live. If a species were to extinguish, other species would soon die…
Looking for Guidance: From the Perspective of the Puritans and the Native Americans People have always looked at the vastness of the Earth and the universe and have wondered from where it all came, including where mankind itself originated. Many people of the past have attributed their creation to supernatural powers, such as higher spirits or a god, and have recorded their coming into existence in a story. In the case of the Puritans, their creation myth is found in Genesis, while on the other hand, the Native Americans recount their creation in multiple tales. Two of these Native American stories are “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” coming from the Onondaga tribe and “When Grizzlies Walked Upright” coming from the Modoc. As well as giving an…
The world we live in today is far more complex and variegated, compared to past civilizations and cultures. As time passed, the world population increased and a variety of completely diverse cultures formed. Even though some cultures are completely different, every single one of them has two things in common, a past history and some form of a belief system. Among all of the cultures in this world, one of the most unique and fascinating are the Native Americans. The ancestors of today's Native Americans often explained their beliefs through their phenomenal stories. Probably one of the most commonly used subject among many Native American tribal stories is the creation of the earth, which was visualized differently throughout the many tribes.One of the many famous theories or belief stories in other societies is the Big Bang theory, which represents the creation of the earth on a scientific level or mindset. Throughout history, these theories truly impacted the foundation for many people’s cultures, traditions, belief systems, or simply the way they process information.…
One similarity between the myths of the Navajos and Greeks is that they both believe that their gods or deities created earth, and believe in anthropomorphic deities. Among the stories of the Native American tribes and greek mythology, the “themes of water appear to play a big factor in the wiping out of evil” (Hamilton 84). The water is symbolizes the cleansing and action of purifying the world. In Navajo myths, many gods worked together along with a few mortal beings to create Earth. Meanwhile, in Greek mythology, it was mainly Zeus who created Earth with the aid of” his five brothers and sisters”(Hamilton 83). Nowhere in Greek mythology have humans helped the Gods create planet Earth. It was only the Gods and powerful creatures that created the world we live in now.…
The World on the Turtle’s back is an appealing story written by an Iroquois; is about a woman and what could happen when if she did not do what she was supposed to do. But most importantly the story is to teach and inform the younger people how the people were in Native American times. One way he showed how they were is by using literary devices in his short story, or in other words: creation myth.…
Indian women bridged the gap, providing the social and local knowledge between both Indian and European cultures. When Europeans arrived in North America, they were heavily reliant upon Indian trade to survive. The Native American’s possessed the basic essential goods such as food, clothing, and shelter for survival. Therefore, the…
In Oceania, particularly in the area of Polynesia oceanic people believed that ‘Forever’, Darkness, and the Sea have always existed (Pantheon). “Scholars believe that humans first migrated to Polynesia from Southeast Asia about 2,000 years ago. These people carried with them their mythological traditions about events, deities, and heroes” (mythencyclopedia). And thus, a tale of creation was cooked up. The tale starts with a giant Spider finding a giant clam, and crawling inside of it. It was extremely dark inside of the clam, but the spider managed to find a snail inside of the clam. The spider asked the snail to open the shell a bit, because it was so dark. The snail cracked open the mouth of the clam, and it became the moon shedding some light in the pure darkness. Another snail came to help the spider push the top of the clam’s shell open further, and the sky was created, (and referred to as goddess Rangi). The spider then pushed open on the bottom of the shell, and the earth was created, (referred to as a god, Papa). This is one version of the story that it told throughout Oceania. The other version of this…