Four Creation Stories
The Iroquois Creation Story
-By Jess R
To start, I want to note that there were many different versions of The Iroquois Creation Story. We decided as a group, to look at the common elements of all versions of the story and create a summary of a version that was told by most of the researched creation stories. Here it is:
Once there was an island high above the water, it was called the Sky-World. The Sky-World was a place where no one was ever sad, no one was ever born, and no one ever died. A very important woman lived in the Sky-World, she was known as the Sky-Woman. One day she told her husband that she was pregnant. Her husband was so angry that he tore out the Tree of Life from the Sky-World and left a giant hole where the tree once was. The Sky-Woman walked over to the hole and saw that she could see far down to the deep waters. All of a sudden her husband pushed her down through the hole and she began to fall down to the deep waters. Two birds flying by caught her right before she plunged into the deep waters. The Sky-Woman was too heavy for the birds so a sea turtle appeared and the birds put the Sky-Woman on the sea turtles back.
The Sky-Woman needed Earth under her feet so she asked the animals of the deep waters for their help. The muskrat was the only animal that could swim the deepest, so he was asked to go down and grab mud from the bottom of the deep ocean. The muskrat grabbed as much as he could and all the other animals helped spread the mud on the sea turtles back. As the animals spread the mud around the sea turtles back the woman began to walk around the sea turtles back and it began to grow larger and larger. It grew so large to be the size the Earth that we know today. The Sky-Woman had a daughter, who was known as the Earth Mother. The Earth Mother had three daughters, Corn, Beans, and Squash, and she also had twin sons, the good-minded Sapling and the evil-minded Flint. Sapling created the good; the sun, the moon, and all the other animals. Flint created the bad, he created all the unpleasant we know if the world we live in. Sapling created each different races out of different materials found on Earth. However, each race was constantly at war and they could not live together. So Sapling put them all in different corners of the World, which is still carried on the sea turtles back over the deep waters to this day.
There were three different predominant endings of The Iroquois Creation Story. The first being the one that is told above. The second ending, involves the Sky-Woman giving birth to a the daughter, Earth-Mother, and the daughter proceeds to have two twin boys. Finally, the third ending involves Sky-Woman falling through the hole on her own, instead of being pushed by her angry husband. All the stories overall incorporate most elements of the story told above. They all involve two twins, a Sky-Woman, deep waters, and the Earth on the turtle’s backs.
Works Cited
“The Iroquois Creation Story.” YouTube. YouTube, 2013. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
“The Iroquois Story of Creation”. Crystal Links. Crystal Links, 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
THE Blackfoot CREATION STORY
-By Jess P
Old man was on a floating raft with his fellow animal friends. He decided that he wanted to make land so he sent his animal friends into the water. None could find land until one, came up out of the water with mud on his paws. Old man dried the land and spread it over water to create land. With that, he made rivers, mountains, prairies, timber, grass and trees, some of which were for the animals to live off of. He then separated the animals into areas that he believed they would thrive off.
Old man then decided he would create a woman and child out of clay. Eventually, he told them to walk and talk, which they did so. One day, woman asked Old man if she will have eternal life to which he hadn’t had an answer. He then told woman that if he threw a buffalo chip into the water and it floated, that people would come alive after four days of death. If the chip sunk, Old man stated that people would one day face death. The buffalo chip floated. Woman disagreed with this. She decided that if she threw a stone in the water and it floated, there would be eternal life. If the stone sunk, all people would die. The stone sank.
At this point, Old man made this the law. Later, Woman’s child passed away. She asked Old man if she could change the law back to the original one. Old man said that the law could not be broken and that her law would remain. After that, Old man decided to make more woman, men and children. He showed them what to eat and how.
One day, Old man saw some buffalo killing humans for food. He decided this should be the other way around and that humans were to eat buffalo. So, he created a bow for humans to kill them with. The people went off with their bows and finally shot at some buffalo. They began eating it raw. Old man created a fire for them and told them to cook their dead buffalo.
Old man decided to make other people and animals in another location. One day, these people asked him what they were to eat. Old man created buffalo for them too. The people asked him how to kill the buffalo. Finally, Old man took the people to the edge of a cliff and showed them piles of stones, which they were to hide behind. He told them that while he deterred the buffalo, they were to stand up and launch at it. Old man was successful in luring the buffalo. As he lured them toward the cliff, they began running. Finally, Old man hid and some buffalo fell off the cliff and died. Old man told his people that they could eat the dead buffalos. The people obeyed and used hammers and stones to cut open the buffalo to eat. They then took the skin from the buffalo, set up poles and put hides over them to make shelter.
Later, Old man marked land for five tribes: Blackfoot, Bloods, Piegans, Gros Ventres and Sarsis. He told the tribes that if other people were to cross into their land, they should put up a battle. Old man explained that if the tribes did not put up a battle, and these people entered in, trouble would last forever.
Works Cited
Weiser, Kathy. Legends of America. 2003. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
The Huron Creation story
-By Susie C
Fore ward: The Huron People have two creation stories – both involve the main character the turtle. One emphasizes the fall of a divine women who has twin boys and they consequently control the narrative. The other emphasizes the wisdom of big turtle, and the fall of a girl from the sky. That creation story is shorter, so I have used the first one.
The Divine woman fell from the sky towards the water. Two loons saw her falling and rushed to her aid. They caught her on their wings and cried for help from the other animals.
The snapping Turtle heard their cry and summoned the other animals to join. “We need to get her land” the animals said.
“Someone should dive down and bring up earth” and that is what they tried to do. Those animal dove down, some died, some came back and when Turtle looked inside their mouths he saw that there was no earth.
Toad decided to try. He dove into the water, stayed too long and nearly died. But when Turtle looked inside his mouth, he saw a little bit of earth. The Divine Woman spread that around the shell of the Turtle, and it grew into a country and then another country, until the Earth was created on the Turtle’s back.
Time passed and the Divine Woman had twin boys. One was born naturally, the other jumped out of her side and she died. Her body was buried and from it grew all the plants needed for life on earth.
As the twin boys grew, it was clear that one was good and the other bad. The good one was named Tijus-kaha and the evil one was named Tawis-karong. Both set out to make the earth liveable for humans, but they could not work together so they separated to different parts of the world.
Tawis-karong, the bad brother, created big, monstrous animals which were fierce and terrifying such as wolves, bears, big snakes, huge mosquitos, and an enormous toad which drank up all the earth’s fresh water. All of it.
Tijus-Kaha, the good brother, made animals that would be of use to human beings such as the dove, the mockingbird and the partridge.
One day, the partridge flew towards the evil brother’s land because there was no water in the good brother’s. Tijus-kaha did not believe the partridge and so he went with him, and he saw what his evil brother had created. The only one he killed was the giant toad so that all the earth’s water could be returned. The other animals he made smaller so that humans could be leaders over them.
The two brothers decided that they could not share the earth. Tijus-kaha’s mother had warned him about this in a dream. The two would have a duel to see who would be master of the earth.
Each brother had a weakness. Tijus-kaha could only be beaten to death with a bag of beans and Tawis-karong could only be killed by using the horn of a deer or other wild animal.
The evil brother beat Tijus-kaha within an inch of his life, but he got his strength back and chased his brother. He beat him with the deer horn until Tawis-karong’s life went away. However, his spirit was not completely destroyed and he said “I have gone far west, the spirits of dead men will follow me there when they die.”
Works Cited:
“Native American Indian Legends – Big Turtle – Wyandot (Huron).” First People- The Legends. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.firstpeople.us%2FFP-Html-Legends%2FBigTurtle-Wyandot.html>.
“Native American Indian Legends – Huron Creation Myth – Wyandot (Huron).” First People – The Legends. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2015. <http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/Huron-Creation-Myth-Wyandot.html>.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Huron.” Encyclopædia Britannica. N.p., 04 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2FEBchecked%2Ftopic%2F277295%2FHuron>.
CREE CREATION STORY
– By Tarana R
In my research, I came across two re-occurring creation stories for the Cree people. I’ve decided to include them both here as they complement each other quite well.
One Story: In the beginning, there was nothing. Then a light shone forth and the Earth Mother of the Cree, O-ma-ma-ma, came into being. She gave birth to the spirits of the world.
First born was Binay-sih, the thunderbird, who creates black clouds, rain and fire flashes in the sky when angered. Second was Ina-Kaki, the frog, who helps control insects in the world. Third was Wee-sa-hay-jac, the trickster, who can transform into many shapes and guises. Then there was Ma-heegun, Wee-sa-hay-jac’s little wolf brother and Amik the beaver. The Earth Mother made flora and fauna from her womb and the earth was inhabited by animals and spirits first. It was only later Wee-sa-hay-jac made the humans.
Another Story: When the earth was still being made, Wesakechak, the trickster, was told by the Creator to look after the creatures and make sure they don’t quarrel with each other.
Wesakechak ignored this. He let the creatures be and soon they were all quarrelling. Displeased, the Creator warned Wesakechak that if he did not keep the world peaceful, he would take everything away from him.
Wesakechak ignored this too. He tricked the animals and ignited more quarrels. They fought so much that the earth turned red with blood. Eventually, the Creator made good on his promise – It started to rain and it did not stop.
The rivers, the streams and seas all overflowed until everything and everyone drowned except one otter, one beaver and one muskrat. They sat down beside the weeping Wesakechak.
Wesakechak did not dare speak to the Creator. After a period of mourning, he had an idea. If he could get a bit of the old earth, he could make an island for the four of them. Taking pity on him, the Creator told him – “I will give you the power to remake everything if you will use the old materials buried under the water.”
Heartened, Wesakechak bribed the Otter to dive down in the water and retrieve some mud. The Otter tried, but was unsuccessful. The same happened with the Beaver. Finally, the Muskrat was asked to try. After a lot of tries and a near drowning, Muskrat was successful. Rejoicing, Wesakechak transformed the bit of mud into an island.
Some people say that Wesakechak eventually found a bit of wood, from which he made fauna and a bit of bone, from which he made the second race of animals. Others say the Creator re-made all things again. He also created mankind. Finally, he took back the powers he gave Wesakechak, leaving him only with the power to transform and deceive.
WORKS CITED
Canada. Alberta Government. Alberta Aboriginal Relations. Aboriginal Peoples of Alberta: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. <http://www.aboriginal.alberta.ca/documents/aboriginalpeoples.pdf>.
“Cree – World Parent.” Creation Stories : Canadian First Nations. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.<http://www.sd91.bc.ca/frenchj/Students/Creation%20Stories%20First%20Nations.html>.
Ermine, Will. “Cree Cosmology.” The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. The Canadian Plains Research Centre, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. <http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/cree_cosmology.html>.