One of the main reasons why the coming of age ceremony differs is based on the Navajo creation myth. In Navajo, Kinaalda represents a girl transforming into womanhood like Changing Woman. This is because Changing Woman is known as the first woman to have her Kinaalda by creating the first pair of Navajo people (Markstrom 304). Although there are various versions describing Changing Woman, she is known to have thought and speech as her parents, but is raised by First Man and First Woman (Young 225). When she had her first period, it was to be done that a ceremony would signify the “occurrence and significance for the girl’s initiation into womanhood”
In the beginning, there was darkness, chaos and water. To create something from nothing, would take a powerful force, especially to the scale of which the world seemed to these cultures. The world was intimidating and mysterious; therefore, the higher power, or God must be equally as powerful and enigmatic. Regardless of the distance in between these societies, their stories share a lot of similarities. First, being that there is one specific creator responsible for the creation of everything.
“The Iroquois Creation Story” written by author David Cusick and “A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia” written by author Thomas Harriot both show how power can be used in different ways to change the course of events and the ability to control a nation. “The Iroquois Creation Story” shows power which caused a conflict between good and evil, who were known as the good mind and bad mind. “A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia” shows that the British were stereotyping the Native Americans to show the British have more power. The Native American story shows how power can create, while the British story shows that power can be used to convince others of their superiority.
The past gives birth to the present. Myths tend to have deeper analysis, which uncover realistic traits that each culture conveys. Red Jacket’s Reply to the Missionary Jacob Cram and The Iroquois Creation Story are composed by Native American writers, this indicates that through these texts, intense notions regarding how the Native Americans behave and what they think or feel towards certain things. The Iroquois Creation Story reveals what’s essential to the Natives; what they perceive as significant and the idea on how they first came to this world. Over and above that, the Red Jacket’s Reply to the Missionary Jacob Cram demonstrates the inner emotions of the natives towards the whites and how they feel toward themselves regarding the issue.
The Navajo creation myth compared to the Christian creation myth is a bit more complicated. The story of the Navajo creation begins in a dark world, on a piece of land that is surrounded on four sides by water. Each side represented a direction and color; white for the East, blue for the South, yellow for the West, and black for the North. On this piece of land were the insect people. No actual "god" is present at this point but someone or something has to be with the insect people because they are expelled from the first world for arguing too much.
In the Iroquois Creation Story, there are two brothers that are born. one brother Enigorio has the good mind. he starts t make all things that are good such as the sun, the moon, and the stars. Enigorio brings out the good in himself and in others. He has the type of personality of perception, and he is aware of the corruption around him.
I do believe the Native American ways would of seemed foreign to the Europeans but I don’t know if the Europeans would of deemed their views as magical. In fact, since Calvinism is a form of Christianity I think they believe in the creation story that was wrote in the bible. The six days of creation in the bible are similar to the Pima creation story. You did a good job showing your thought process while analyzing the two stories, good
Native Americans could not write or read at the time and so the author of the Native American Creation Myth is actually a European person. This European is writing down what the Native Americans are saying about this story. This is why throughout the myth the words “goddess”, “God”, or “heaven” show up. The European does not believe in what they are saying since they have their own beliefs. That being said, they don’t know what to call the things the Natives are describing to them, so the European twists some of the ideasand writes the story down using some influence from his religion.
There are many different religions and cultures throughout the world, some more similar than others. With different religions and cultures come different beliefs, especially when it comes to the creation of the earth and mankind. Gilgamesh and Genesis are two examples of stories that do so. Gilgamesh is believed by Sumerian religion while Genesis is Christianity. Although these stories are from different religions they do show many similarities and differences throughout them.
Concerning our perceptions of culture and race of people what are the effects of storytelling? Are there positive or negative effects when stories told repeatedly about one culture? Concerning Native Americans what are the effects of storytelling and they are used to correct misconceptions that we have about Native American culture and history. This essay covers my thoughts and opinions on the impact of storytelling potentially correcting or propagating the misconceptions that I had about Native Americans both growing up in the Pacific Northwest to now. First, this essay will describe my preconceptions of Native Americans threw storytelling growing up.
Each culture establishes their own story of creation, as well as their own portrayal of who is “the supreme creator”.
The judeo-Christian story is very well known creation story. The Christian religion is very familiar to this story. The other story is called Iroquois creation this is a Native American story of how the Earth came to a beginning. There is many similarities and differences in this story. One of the differences is that in the Christian story the Earth was made by God.
The Iroquois creation story is a renowned Native American myth written by a Tuscarora historian, David Cusick. He is also the author of David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations, which is known to be the first Indian-written history printed in the English language (Radus). The Iroquois creation myth exists in twenty-five other versions. It describes how the world was created from the Native American perspective. It begins with a sky woman who falls down into the dark world.
Many cultures have different beliefs on how earth came to be. Native Americans shaped people 's society. They give individuals multiple views of how cultures have changed lives. The tribes Huron, Nez Perce, and Medoc share stories of their cultural beliefs. In “The Sky Tree”, “Coyote finished his Work” and “Blackfeet Genesis” all portrayed natural beliefs, complex religious beliefs and social values.
The Iroquois creation story is a renowned Native American myth written by a Tuscarora historian, David Cusick. He is also the author of David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations, which is known to be the first Indian-written history printed in the English language (Radus). The Iroquois creation myth exists in twenty-five other versions. It describes how the world was created from the Native American perspective. It begins with a sky woman who falls down into the dark world.
