The Iroquois Creation Myth

The Iroquois people are a very historically powerful tribe in the northeast Native American confederacy. The Iroquois tribe originally called their confederacy Kanonsionni, which means "people of the longhouse" but today they go by the name Haudenosaunee. The Iroquois are a tribe made up of six nations. Their creation story uses an unique perspective that is uncommon and not as well known. The creation myth of the Iroquois people was built off of the Native American culture, made more realistic with the creation elements seen in the story, and provides an explanation on how they view the symbol of the turtle and animals. As defined by britannica.com, a creation myth is "A philosophical and theological elaboration of the primal myth of creation
Creation myths from all over the world share many similar elements. More specifically, the Iroquois creation myth contains three of the major common elements seen in all creation myths. These three elements are birth, animal/human relationships, and earth diver. The creation myth element of birth shows how male or female gods give birth to children. In the Iroquois creation myth, the sky woman gives birth to two twin sons named Sapling and Flint. Sapling grew up to be kind and gentle while Flint was very cruel (Zeiger 1). As they aged, they filled the world with their creations. Sapling created all that was good such as animals that are useful to humans, two way rivers with boneless fish, and plants for eating. Flint focused on destroying all the work that Sapling had done, he did things such as making rivers flow one direction, put bones in fish, thorns in berry bushes, and created winter. The two brothers were becoming agitated with each other and began to fight, Sapling the good and moral god was the winner. Hanna Zeiger, article writer in The Horn Book Magazine, stated "Once human beings were created, the brothers went up into the Milky Way, taking two separate paths that can be seen to this day." The two brothers went their separate ways after the fight and never looked back. Without the creation myth element of birth, this myth would not have existed because
This element explains how a creature diving into the water to retrieve some mud can grow and form the Earth. In the Iroquois creation myth, the muskrat is the diver who retrieves mud for the earth to be built on. It is clear that the muskrat causes the earth to be brought together on the turtle's back (Andrews 32). According to the famous historical writer, James Axtell," After a long time, his little body floated up to the surface of the ocean, a tiny crumb of earth clutched in his paw. . . . Thus it was the muskrat, the Earth-Diver, who brought from the bottom of the ocean the soil from which the earth was to grow" (par. 8). This quote explains how the Iroquois creation myth ties together the element of the earth diver with the process of creation. It also shows how the earth diver can be responsible for a major part of the creation process. All three of these creation elements come together to explain the importance of the turtle in this