CREATION MYTHS
CULTURE
2

Acc. to Andrew Wiget, Culture is a system of
beliefs and values through which a group of
people structure their experience of the world.
 the
impact of ideology upon literature
  pluralize our notion of the world
 & understand that other peoples can organize their
experience in different ways
 and dramatize their experience of the world
through different symbolic forms
CULTURE
3
If culture is a system of beliefs and values by
which people organize their experience of the
world,
 then it follows that forms of expressive culture
(literature) should embody the basic beliefs and
values of the people who create them.

CULTURE
4

These beliefs and values can be roughly
organized in three areas:
 (1)
beliefs @ the nature of the physical world
 (2) beliefs @ social order & appropriate behavior
 (3) beliefs @ human nature & the problem of good
and evil
CREATION MYTHS
5





Stories about the Creation of the World
“tell people who they are by telling where they came
from” (21)
influence how they think about the world & treat it
their worldview
symbolic story about how the world was created &
how humans came to be
CREATION MYTHS
6

common traits:
 advance
a general cultural outlook
 perspectives on life
 ways to understand life
 also
 birth theme: start of life cycle
 higher power: a creator, catalyst
 innocence, sinlessness
 animals & humans together
CREATION MYTHS
7

Natives:
 spoken,
narrated, sung, chanted (oral tradition)
 mid- to late-1800s that Euro-Americans gained the
linguistic skills & cultural understanding to translate
them decently
 & Natives collaborated in the recording of their myths
& legends
 Frank
Hamilton Cushing, Zuni, 1879
 Washington Matthews (army doc), Navajo, 1880s
 JW Fewkes, & JW Lloyd, Pima, 20th C.
 David Cusick, a Tuscarora member of the Iroquois 6
Nations), 1825 – 1st Native
IROQUOIS
8

5 Nations:
 Mohawks
 Seneca
 Oneida
 Onondaga
 Cayuga

6th nation =
 Tuscarora
of North Carolina, early 1700s
IROQUOIS
9

“People of the Longhouse”
 Haudenosaunee
 referred
to self
 longhouse –
 20
ft. wide
 40-200 ft. wide
 several families in 1
 shared cooking fires
IROQUOIS
10

Iroquois:
 French
 English

& Dutch: Mohawk, Seneca, Maqua
area:
 northeast
North America
 Erie & Ontario lakes
 St. Lawrence & Ottawa rivers
 Hudson River
IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
11
25 versions (oral tradition)
 1623: Gabriel Sagard, French
 1828, David Cusick – Sketches of the Ancient
History of the Six Nations

IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
12

2 worlds –
 Lower
World
 of
darkness
 the possession of the Great Monster
 Upper
 of
World
sky
 inhabited by “mankind”
IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
13

SKY WOMAN:
 conceives
TWINS
 sinks, pushed, falls from Upper World to Lower
World

Lower World creatures see her falling,
prepare her landing
 get
a patch of earth
 turtle volunteers to catch her in the water
IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
14

TURTLE
 grows
to the size of an island
 w/bushes & trees
IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
15

TWINS
 fight
in the womb
 evil one wants to burst out his mother’s side
 good one prevents it

birth
 she
dies shortly after
IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
16

ENIGORIO –
 good
son
 creator
 sun
from mother’s head
 moon from mother’s body
 stars
 creeks & rivers
 animals
 “Adam & Eve” = “The Real People” (Ea-Gwe-Howe)
 rain, vegetation, game animals
IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
17

ENIGONHAHETGEA –
 evil
son
 creates only bad things, tries to corrupt brother’s
creations
 mountains,
valleys
 (rivers in only 1 direction)
 reptiles – poisonous to humans
 tries to create humans – but APES
 tries again, brother stops, gives them life & souls

“the most knowledge of Good & Evil” (25)
IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
18


Evil Son tries to contain all animals, to keep from humans –
Good Son frees them
Final Battle



Evil Son challenges brother
for governance of entire universe
confess their weaknesses





Good’s = beaten w/corn stalks, rushes, reeds (a lie?)
Bad’s = beaten w/deer antlers
2-day battle
Bad = beaten w/antlers, crushed into the earth
Bad’s last words –


he’ll become Evil Spirit (“Devil/Hades”)
hold equal power over human souls after death
IROQUOIS CREATION MYTH
19

COMPARISON to BIBLE:
 virgin
birth
 good vs. evil struggles
 Creation
 Adam & Eve
 ultimate battle, Good vs. Evil, Armageddon
 Devil, Hades
NAVAJO
20

Athabascan language
 shared
by Canadian & Alaskan tribes
 shared by Apaches

Navajo Nation
 Din-e
 “The
People”
 Navajo = Spanish, Apaches who cultivate fields
(Apachu de Nabajo)
NAVAJO
21
migrated south west
 skills

 farming
& weaving - from Pueblos
 silver-working – from Mexicans
 livestock
– from Spanish
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
22
Washington Matthews, late 1800s
 complex
 5 Worlds
 #1 theme =

 HARMONY
 gods
& BALANCE
& humans & creatures
 man & wife
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
1st WORLD
23
“like an island floating in a sea of mist” (26)
 red
 no sun, stars, people
 only light = the sky

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
1st WORLD
24
 wind
creatures (Nilchi Dine’e)
 the Holy People (Hashch’eeh Dine’e)
 predecessors
4
of Humans (we got their beauty & form)
colors of the day
 white
= eastern sky, dawn (rise & shine)
 blue = southern sky, day (work)
 yellow = western sky, evening (retire)
 black = northern sky, night (sleep)
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
1st WORLD
25


north = death
Great Fountain
center of the world (axis mundi)
 confluence of 3 rivers


#4
•
•
•
4 or 2 pairs
important pattern # to Navajo
signifies completion, wholeness
• Judeo-Christian #7
12 TRIBES
4
in 3 directions
 ants, dragonflies, beetles, bats, locusts
not insects/animals
 but spiritual beings

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
1st WORLD
26

4 GUARDIANS
the water surrounding the 1st World
 Water Monster, east
 Blue Heron, south
 Frog, west
 White Mountain Thunder, north
 in
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
1st WORLD
27

“FALL”
 adultery

resulted in deceit, jealousy, turmoil

* destroys the HARMONY between husband & wife
3x, 4th = banishment
 but they were “lost in their wickedness & did not heed”
 4 Guardians sent Great Flood
 escape east, through small opening into a blue world
 warned

“strange blue head” in the sky
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
2nd WORLD
28
 blue
 barren
& flat
 scouts (like Noah & raven & dove)
 Swallow People (blue beings)
 (supernaturals
who were precursors of today’s birds)
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
2nd WORLD
29
 don’t
learn their lesson:
 take
liberties with head Swallow’s wife
 (adultery #2) 
 kicked
out #2
 White Head appears, go south – crooked opening
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
3rd WORLD
30

white

Grasshopper People
 (supernaturals
who were precursors of today’s insects)
adultery #3  kicked out #3
 Red Head, go west – winding entrance

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
31
black & white
 the Pueblos (the Kiis’annii) –

 lived

in pit houses, houses in the ground
Pueblos teach them @ agriculture
 (corn,
squash, pumpkin, beans)
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
32
*Nilch’i Dine’e behave
 (no adultery, no kick out)

LESSON:
• behave b/c learned a trade
• industry
• idle hands…
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
33

Holy People appear

3x just a voice – 4th x = appear
White Body (Talking God)
 Blue Body (Water Sprinkler)
 Yellow Body (Calling God)
 Black Body (Fire God)

4 days, 4x a day – tried to speak w/gestures & signs –
not understood
 want to make more people, but in better forms
 ND = formed like Holy People: teeth, 4 legs, claws like
insects…

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
34

“smell bad”  purify
 wash
 dry
with sacred cornmeal –
 white
 Holy
for men, yellow for women
People return in 12 days
LESSON:
• how to clean
• purifying ritual
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
35

Creation of 1st HUMANS
2
buckskins
 2 ears of corn (white, yellow)
 buckskin, ears, buckskin
 Sacred Wind came between buckskins
 Mirage people appeared & walked around the
buckskins
 4th turn of the MP  man & woman replaced the ears
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
36

Creation of 1st HUMANS

“ADAM & EVE”


First Man, First Woman
Altse Hastiin, Altse Asdzaan
make a shelter  husband & wife
 rock crystal





to man
symbol of clear thought
to burn for fire
turquoise



to woman
symbol of power of speech
to burn
LESSON:
• 1st humans
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
37

4 days  TWINS
 Nadleeh
 have
both male & female spirit --???
 hermaphrodites?
 men
 every
4
who did women’s work w/o stigma?
4th day
more sets of twins (no more Naleeh)
LESSON:
• populate the
land
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
38

Instructions:
 A&E
taken to east mountains for 4 days
 children taken later, for 4 days
 how to live a good life
 how to conduct themselves (in a manner befitting their
divine origins)
 Knowledge of Good & Evil
 b/c
Holy People were capable of G&E
 taught them witchcraft, too
LESSON:
• Good & Evil in the world
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
39
 religious
rituals:
 A&E
wore masks
 prayed – long life, ample rain, abundant harvests
 ceremonies: prayers, songs, rituals…have NOT changed
LESSON:
• rituals ***
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
40
 marriage:
children of A&E + Pueblos + Mirage People
 4 days  children

 inventions

earthen dam


guardians = Nadleeh
Nadleeh made pottery, baskets while there
 “Millennium”
period of peace
 8 years (long time, 4x2)

LESSON:
• important cultural ritual
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
41

Trouble:
& Sky join  COYOTE & BADGER
 bad & good omens

 Earth

1st argument
LESSON:
• imbalance
• disharmony
• battle of sexes
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
42

1st argument:
 1st
Woman’s “ungrateful remark” regarding his hunting
& providing
 other versions make it seem a “bawdy” joke
 the
vagina (the joosh) = responsible for the successful
hunting & food provision
 1st
Man moves away, separation =
loss of self-control
 (overreaction, pride)

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
43

1st argument:
 1st
Man gathers all men
 take all their weapons & tools
 & move across river (with Nadleeh)
 Let’s see how they “get along w/o us after all!”
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
44

1st argument:
1st
winter:
women
= OK b/c they harvest men’s crops
women taunt men too late in season for men
to plant, ate mush
 spring:
men w/ bigger harvest
 (than before, than women)
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
45

1st argument:

4th year:
 men
had so much they left most to rot in field
 waste = taboo
 women = starving
 women miss men
  dildos of cacti & stones
  creation of monsters
 loss of self-control
 reunion
 for

sake of species (no more children)
feast
 to
commemorate, celebrate
 = “community”
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
46

LESSONS from 1st argument:
 imbalance,
 loss
of self-control x2
 taboo: waste food
 feasts = community
 pray to Holy People
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
47

3 women = missing
mother, 2 daughters
 captured by Water Monster as they were rowing across the
river
 pray to Holy People
 Coyote helps in search of water – 4 chambers of WM’s
dwelling
 found, retrieved, BUT Coyote steals WM’s child  FLOOD
 feast

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
4th WORLD
48

Flood b/c of Coyote’s trick
 planted
trees to climb to safety
 juniper, pinon, pine, spruce
 Old Man, Young Man – w/sacred soil  Great Reed
 from
7 sacred mts.
 32 reeds fused into 1 giant reed
 hole in east side of reed, climb in for safety, sealed
 escape through Sky
 Turkey = last out, white tail feathers = reminder of escape
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
49
glittering
 Holy People, Pueblos, A&E, Nadleeh, offspring
 return Water Monster’s baby
 plant, build houses, scouts, multiply

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
50

divination
HP do test to determine their future
 “magic shell” tossed into water: float = immortality, sunk
= mortality
 Coyote tosses 2nd stone in water when 1st floated
 sinks  “If we do not die, we shall soon overrun the world.
There will be no room for us all.”

people see wisdom, reluctantly agree
 Coyote = responsible for human mortality = across Native Am.
stories
LESSON:
• why we die - mortality
• how to bury

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
51

1st death & burial



Argument #2:



Nadleah
Holy People instruct – prepare body, place in rocky crevice
over seed corm brought from 4th World
vs. the Kiis’aannii
 separation #2



borders, marked by 4 mountains, w/3 interior mts., by A&E
Naming Ceremony (by A&E)
east, south, west, north
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
52
4 color changes of the sky (as before – see 1st
World)
 need more light  Sun & Moon = created

 Old
Man w/sacred soil, reward = Sun God,
immortality, bears sun across sky
 Young Man = Moon God, immortality, bears moon
across the sky
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
53

MONSTERS:
result of women’s unnatural acts in 4th World (stones, cacti)
 horned monster, kicked people off cliffs, killed w/eyes,
flying monster
  only 4 people remain
 1st Man still prays each morning  faith in hardship
(JOB)
 4th morning – White Body told 1st man to go to mountain


NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
54


CHANGING WOMAN:
“the most beloved of all the deities”
a baby, 1st Man takes her home
 4 days = full growth, maturity – moves out
 birth to TWINS
 as
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
55

TWINS:
 sons
of Sun & Waterfall
 Born-for-Water, Monster Slayer
 twins
defeat the monsters (helped by Spider Woman, others)
 MS slew, B4W stayed home protection spells
 Sun gives special weapons to kill Giant, one of his
sons/monsters b/c killing humans
 weapons made of lighting, magic to walk on rainbow
Clash of the Titans
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
56

TWINS:
 last
4 monsters = PANDORA’S BOX-
 Old
Age, Poverty, Hunger, Cold
 spared by the Twins so Humans would not get complacent
 Twins go dwell w/Holy People

become protectors of Humans (still)
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
57

Sun & Changing Woman get married
 after
he agreed that she wouldn’t be long away from
her people
 made more people (replenish earth after the Monsters)
4
Original Clans
NAVAJO CREATION MYTH
5th WORLD
58

Happy Ending:




Changing Woman makes more people
Twins become protectors of Humans (live w/Holy People)
Holy People leave but in touch through PRAYER & SONGS
Sacred Rainbow =




placed around Navajo homeland (Dine’bikeyah)
protection blessing
reminder of sacredness of that land
so long as Dine remain w/in this boundary, they have protection
of Holy People


connection to the land
(Jerusalem as “Holy Land”)
Political aspect of story:
• Andrew Jackson = becomes president
• promise to remove Indians from land
• foresees “Trail of Tears”
LESSONS
59












#4
industry
cleansing/purification ritual
how 1st Man & 1st Woman came to be
prayer
ceremonies & rituals
why there’s good & evil
marriage
be fruitful & multiply
harmony & balance
loss of self-control & results
waste = taboo (esp. waste of food)
LESSONS
60

feasts to commemorate good times: symbol of community, celebration

flood

why turkeys have white tail feathers

why we die – mortality

how to bury

naming ceremony

faith in woe, still pray

sun & moon

twins

why there’s Old Age, Poverty, Hunger, Cold

prayer & song

holy connection to the land
COMPARISON to BIBLE
61
 axis
mundi (Garden of Eden)
 12 Tribes of Israel
 Sodom & Gomorrah
 Fall & banishment
 Great Flood
 scouts = dove & raven from Noah’s ark
 Adam & Eve
COMPARISON to BIBLE
62
 marriage
 industry,
work
 be fruitful & multiply
 millennium
 fall, Serpent-trickster
 Job & monsters (faith in woe/crisis)
 Holy Land