Lesson 1: Creation Myths
One thing that is truly wonderful about Native American myths is the fact that they can vary from tribe to tribe in huge ways or only in small details. The myths relating to the creation of the world are no different. One myth that is seen in many tribes is that the world was covered by water and an animal or insect decides to help out and drag mud up from the ocean's bottoms to create land, these are called the "Earthdiver" myths.
For example, the Iroquois say that in the beginning there was nothing but water as far as the eye could see. In the water lived lots of different creatures such as the muskrat, beaver, otter, and all sorts of fish and water fowl. Well up in the sky the Great Mother Aataensic became pregnant with the first man and woman and she knew sooner or later her children would be born. So she was walking along waiting for this day to come. When she tripped and fell through a hole in the sky and tumbled down to the waters below. The animals stopped what they were doing and looked up. Seeing the sky woman falling alarmed them and they began searching high and low to find some earth for her to land on. In the end though, it was Muskrat that found a piece of earth that was no bigger then a fist and brought it to the surface. So he hurried and called turtle over and placed it on his back. Just then the great mother landed on the turtles back and luckily since the earth was soft it cushioned her fall and she gave birth right there and then. Then magically the piece of land begin to grow and stretch out to all directions making mountains, forests, and valleys, but that first piece of land is known as Turtle Island.
In the Yuchi's version of the myth the Wind asked the animals to bring him earth and it was a team effort. The crawfish went to the bottom of the ocean and brought up mud, then buzzard dried it with his wings, and then Star, Moon, and Sun came to help light the world. People came about when the Sun tried too hard to leap into the sky and his drops of blood became the first Yuchi tribe.
Blackfeet say that it was started by Old Man Napi, he was floating around on a log gazing at the waters when he asked Otter, Duck, Beaver, and Muskrat what was below all the water. One by one the animals dove down but none came back save for Muskrat and he had a clump of mud in his paws. So Napi took the mud and began rolling it until it grew bigger. Finally, he dropped into the water and it spread in all directions becoming land.
On the other hand some myths are completely different, like the Hopi tribe. They believed that there were four worlds and that the first people lived deep underground in the first world. Well after awhile the first world became to crowded, and they cried out in misery. Well in the spirit world Elder Brother and Younger Brother saw how retched it was and felt sorry for them. They decided to make holes in the three roofs of the world and throw down a seed. The seed sprouted and a reed grew and grew until it formed a ladder to the next world. So every man, woman, child, and animal climbed it trying to reach the next world. The ones closest to the top didn't want everyone to come up and crowd the new world so once they reached the top they pulled up the reed trapping the others below. Before to long this world became too crowded too, but since they still had the reed they poked up to reach the third world and began to climb. This world was still underground but for their efforts the Brothers gave them the gift of fire, and people were able to build houses and hold sacred ceremonies. But an odd thing happened and all the women began dancing non stop. They would not care for their children or anything else, so the men got fed up with this oddity and decided to go up to the next world. They pushed and pulled until they got the women and themselves up the reed to the fourth world. When they got to the top the realized there was sky above them and they had reached what we call Earth.
. The creation of day, night, seasons, and the stars are often attributed to the influence of animals. For instance, it is said that the quarrel between Chipmunk and Bear is what causes night to always follow day. Each day the two would mock each other and the Chipmunk would sing "The light must come we must have light,” and Bear would respond "Night is best, we must have darkness. Well finally, Bear became so angry he chased Chipmunk up the tree and his claws grazed Chipmunks back causes the two stripes that chipmunk now has. But since Chipmunk escaped day will always follow night.
The current arrangements of the stars are all Coyote's doing. The nocturnal animals were tired of it being so dark so they asked the Great Mystery to help them. They cried that the day creatures had the sun but all they had was the moon and it wasn't enough to see by. So the Great Mystery told them to all gather pebbles and place their images in the sky. Since coyote was a day and night creature he wasn't there and was told later about the pebbles. Well by this time most of the animals had put their images in the sky and it was running out of room. Coyote was frustrated because he obviously deserved to have his image in the sky and quickly gathered all the pebbles he could. In his hurry though he tripped and the pebbles flew out of his arms and crashed into all the others ruining the other animals art. It was too late though and the sky was stuck that way, so the animals swore not to have anything to do with the selfish coyote that ruined their stars. That is why he howls in loneliness.