Comparing The Kiowa And The Way To Rainy Mountain

A creation myth must fulfill four criteria: it must describe how the universe, the earth, and life began; it explains the workings of the natural world; it supports and validates social customs and values; and it guides people through the trials of living. One of the creation myths, the Kiowa’s from The Way to Rainy Mountain, fits all of these standards. The myth describes that in the beginning, there were eight siblings. Seven of these siblings were girls and one was a boy. One day, the boy gets struck dumb and began growing fur and claws. The boy had turned into a bear and started to chase after his sisters. The sisters found refuge from a great tree and rose them up into the sky until they eventually became the stars of the Big Dipper (Momaday

The Iroquois picture that it was women that initiated the beginnings of the Earth. In their myth, it was a woman who walked around the dirt to make it develop into the Earth, and it was her daughter that gave birth to the right and left handed twins. Also, the Iroquois explain that women were largely involved with the crops. For example, the grandmother raised the first plants in the dirt pile that became Earth, and, when the mother died, the myth describes that “from her head grew the corn, the beans, and the squash-‘our supporters, the three sisters.’ And from her heart grew the sacred tobacco. . .” (Iroquois 37). The Iroquois envisioned that women were responsible for crops. All in all, to the Iroquois, women began the creation of the whole planet and saw that the Earth grew to what it is, and they are still responsible for growing the food. On the other hand, the Kiowa convey a story where women were innocent; they were one with nature; and they were bright. It was the women that were attacked by the man that morphed into a bear. Also, women had such a great connection with nature that the tree saved them from man. Additionally, they were bright enough to escape from the man by becoming stars. Therefore, both of the stories show women as prominent figures in the beginning of the world. However, the Iroquois viewed them more important in a practical way. To the Iroquois, women created the beginnings of the Earth and nurtured the crops, whereas the Kiowa saw them more in an innocent way. To the Kiowa, the women were crucial because they were the foil of the man, the woman’s innocence to the man’s