Good And Evil In The Iroquois Creation Story

In the excerpt “Skywoman Falling” from the book Braiding Sweetgrass written by Robin Kimmerer, “We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus the most to learn – we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance” (9). Even though the human species think they know almost everything, they have been on earth for the least amount of time in comparison to other species; therefore, humans have the most learning to do. “Skywoman Falling” involves a protagonist, Skywoman, who creates the earth from her bare hands and her knowledge from the Skyworld. Skywoman created the earth from her own ideas, free will, and knowledge. Another creation story is Paradise Lost by John Milton, which involves mainly Satan, God, Adam, and Eve. God has all of the past, present, and future knowledge; however, Satan is trying to ruin all of God’s plans. Satan does this by shapeshifting and tempting Adam and Eve. “Skywoman Falling” involves a protagonist, Skywoman, along with many different animals. In the beginning of this short story, Skywoman falls from a hole in the Skyworld, but soon animals come help her to create a safe landing. The animals then assisted Skywoman in collecting mud from the bottom of the sea, and she then placed the mud on a turtle’s back and began to dance around, eventually creating the earth. Another creation story is Paradise Lost by John Milton. This story is about Satan rebelling against God, and Satan trying to ruin God’s plans. He does

Creation stories are tools used to try to explain the unexplainable. For centuries humans have been searching for answers to the what, when, why, and how questions that encompass life. Genesis and the Iroquois Creation Myth are two different stories that seek to describe the creation of Earth and the universe that surrounds it. Genesis describes a Christian perspective, particularly one of the most popular Western explanations to life on Earth. The Iroquois Creation Myth, on the other hand, takes a less traditional approach, while only mildly alluding to religion. The similarities between the two lie in the timeless battle of good versus evil.

All different cultures have their own creation stories, mostly all containing the elements of a Higher Power of some sort, how the power created the world, and the creation a human man. The Christian belief in the Genesis story has these key elements , as does the Iroquois creation myth, The World on the Turtle's Back. Although these two creation stories share similarities, they also have some stark contrasts. These contrasts include, how the two cultures of the Native American Iroquois tribe and then Christians view life and aspects of good and evil, the way each culture views nature and the impact that has on their culture, and finally the way the Christian God and the Iroquois gods are portrayed to

Before they are even born their differences begin to emerge. One boy is born with a dark mind full of evil and destruction, while the other has a mind for creation and goodness and light. The Good Twin creates the world similar to how the God of the Bible does when it speaks in Genesis of how He created the universe in a period of seven days. The Evil Twin is said to make injurious reptiles to try to hurt the humans that his brother created, and therefore can be compared to Satan who appears as a serpent and destroys the peace of mankind. Good and evil twins are commonly found in several myths of other American Indian tribes as well.

“The Iroquois Creation Story” tells the ancient myth when only two worlds existed. One, in the lower half, complete darkness filled with monsters and the other, the upper world, filled with mankind. There, in the second world, a women conceived twins. As her labor intensified she fell closer and closer to the lower, darker world. While in distress the twins were born and “entered the dark world by compulsion”. Only a few moments later the women fell to her death. As the twins grew older they possessed different minds. One was the good mind and the other was the bad mind. The good mind used the parent for his initial creations. Around the head, an orb was created to “bestow light to the new world”, now known as the sun. Another orb was placed around the body which was “inferior” to the light, now known as the moon. He also created spots of lights to connect the day and night which are now know as stars. All of these were created to help “regulate” the days, nights, season, years, etc.”. The good mind continued his creations by creating animals, oceans, mountains, insects and mankind.

Prior to European influences, many indigenous religions did not dichotomize the world into good and evil, and, as a result, natives interpreted their deities as both good and bad. When the town council describes their indigenous beliefs as “wicked,” this diction represents how European influences affected and shifted how natives interpretation of nature.

Many Native Americans tell stories of the creation of earth that explain how they came to be before the Europeans entered North America. Creation myths vary among all cultures; however, they all have one thing in common; heaven and earth. One of the most popular creation myths was the Iroquois creation myth. The Iroquois or Haudenosaunee meaning “People of the Longhouse” (Iroquois Indian Museum, n.d.) consists of six Indian nations that include the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora tribes. In the beginning, there was a belief that before the creation of earth, there were two realms, the sky, and the lower world that consisted of water and water creatures. From the sky, a young woman named the Sky Woman was

One of the first differences between the Iroquois’ beliefs and Christianity is the theory on “the creation of life”. The Iroquois believe in a creator God called ‘Hahgwehdiyu’, which was the good spirit of the twin Gods of Wind Breath. He shaped the world with the palm of his hands and recycled the corpse of his dead mother to create the sky, moon and the sun. He planted a grain of corn in her to give the world fertility. It is believed that when the Sky Woman, or the mother, fell from the sky she would fertilize the earth so her granddaughters could grow and harvest many things. They also believe in a current God called

Many people wonder about the creation of our world or how it started because it is the place we live in. It is so mass and divergent, so it sparks curiosity in all of our minds. The Iroquois are a Native American tribe that resided in what is now New York. This tribe had many different beliefs on how the world was created. The Iroquois believed in the sky-world, the only thing was the sky-world

The Iroquois had many interesting religious beliefs that were very important to their society and lifestyle. For example, according to Khaleel Mohammed, their religion was characterized by a monotheistic belief in an all-powerful creator known as the “Great Spirit.” (Mohammed, 24) They also believed in a brother of the Great Spirit, who was the evil minded brother whose specific purpose was to cause evil. (Mohammed, 25) Since they believe in spirits and things that are beyond our world, it would explain why the False Face Society fits into their belief system. The legend of the False Face is that a spirit medicine man, who had healing powers, encountered a stranger who he challenged to move a mountain. The stranger was unable too, but the medicine man did, but in doing so he hit the stranger with the mountain and disfigured

Eternal inflation is an alternative theory of creation that is a modification of the Big Bang Theory. The earliest universe was expanding matter, and particles that were next to each other would routinely be sent whizzing away to the farthest reaches of their cosmological horizons. It is no longer like that, however, as the inflation stopped. The theory of eternal inflation is that the expansion did not stop all at once. Rather, little bubbles of space randomly stopped inflating, or fell onto trajectories that led to the end of their inflation. And, since the expansion is rapid, the inflating space creates more space than the bubbles that stop inflating lose -- so inflation never ends. The result is an ever-expanding multiverse, which means not only is Earth not the center of the universe but our universe isn’t the center of the universe.

In Christian story, Adam and Eve had told that they could not eat the food from the good and evil tree. However, they ate it and realized they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then, God found out that what they done and banished them from the Garden of Eden to the ground. After this, Adam and Eve had to live on their own. On the other hand, in Iroquois the two brothers now created a world for them to live. However, whenever the good mind brother - Enigorio created something, the bad mind brother ? Enigonhahetgea must deprive of his. Then, Enigonhahetgea offered a challenge to his brother ? Enigorio and resolved that who gains the victory should govern the universe. Engiorio won and he crushed his brother ? Enigonhahetgea in the earth. Compare these two story, the God punished Adam and Eve which is an education story for us. To remind us if we did something bad, God will punish us in some way. However, Enigorio killed his own brother ? Enigonhahetgea that is a brutal and real-life story. To remind us the real world have two rather people that if you do not protect yourself

All humans are interested in their origins and trying to account for their existence through creation stories. Native Americans tribes are no different from the rest of humanity. The tribes’ stories explain how people came into existence, how they came to be live on the lands they do and the how people interact with nature and each other. These trends can be seen in the legends of three tribes hailing from New England to the Great Lakes Region.

In the Iroquois creation myth, Sky Woman understood that she was pregnant with twins and was pushed by her husband into the Earth’s waters below the above world. Little Toad was able to bring up mud to spread on Big Turtle’s back, and it grew to become the size of North America where Sky Woman created the Iroquois world. Her children, Sapling and Flint, were important in creating the details of the land such as rivers, fish, plants, and even the seasons. The Sky People, Demi-gods of the Iroquois, were critical to the Iroquois people as it helped to define who they were and what they believed. The Iroquois people were happy and peaceful. There was little to no violence within their tribes just as in their myth of creation that tells of the Sky People living on an island floating above the “earth” where there was no sadness, violence, or negativity. This shows the ways the Iroquois applied their myth to their everyday lives and their religion. The myth also explains how the Sky Women’s evil son, Flint, was beaten by his good brother, Sapling, and was required to live on the Big Turtle’s back. North America was carried upon Big Turtle’s back and according to the the myth, bones in fish, thorns on bushes, and volcanos erupting symbolized Flint’s anger. The myth of Sky Woman and her sons is the explanation of how all nature came to be.

A creation story is a supernatural story or explanation that describes the beginnings of humanity, earth, life, and the universe. Religion plays a significant role in the establishment of Creation for both the Native Americans and the Puritans. “The people known collectively as the Iroquois were made up of the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga nations.” (Cusick 21) “The Iroquois creation myth exists in some twenty-five versions.” (Cusick 22). However, there was no concrete indication from a Native American that coincides with the Iroquois’s belief as of how and when the creation of the world began until David Cusick, transcribed and translated an Iroquois cosmogonic myth in the nineteenth century. David Cusick became the first Native American to record on Atotarho. Grounded in nature the Iroquois religion portrays the natural foundations of the world and continue to believe that all things/people should live in harmony. The Iroquois believes that The Great Spirit would indirectly guide the lives of ordinary people and opposed that The Great Spirit and other forces of good were Evil Spirit and other lesser spirits responsible for disease and other misfortune. Corn, beans, and squash were referred to as the three sisters and thought of as deities or spiritual beings. The Iroquois believed that ordinary humans could not communicate directly with Great Spirit but could do so indirectly by burning tobacco, which carried their prayers to the lesser spirits