Myths In Native American Culture

A myth defined is a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature the study of these traditional and legendary stories is called mythology. Now within mythology there are four functions which help us gives it meaning and purpose in life while also helping us understand the concepts presented in the different myths.

“Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.-Native American proverb” This is a Native American proverb that shows how important storytelling and stories are to the Native Americans and their culture. Storytelling was a big way of teaching their lifestyle to their younger generation. Storytelling is very important to the Native American culture because it helps explain their way of life, faith, and helps teach life lessons to the younger generation.

Mythology, as defined by Dictionary, is a set of stories, traditions, or beliefs associated with a particular group or history of an event. Some of the the most well known myths today, were once written and told by ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Theseus, a Greek myth as told by Robert Graves, is a story about a young man gifted with super strength, who sets out to defeat the Minotaur in order to save the people of his home land. Osiris and Isis, written by Padraic Colum, is an Egyptian myth about Egyptians beliefs in how the world came to be. Both myths, although telling different stories, share the same specific purposes, to explain how gods and goddesses interact with humans, and to teach a moral lesson.

As the proverb goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty, as we know it, is subjective to each individual. However, some individuals are primed to perceive beauty as deriving from physique, clothing, and accessories; neglecting more important traits such as honesty and kind-heartedness. Aaron Shephard portrays in his short story, “The Hidden One: A Native American Legend”, that neglecting such traits results in failure. Any woman who makes deceitful attempts at proving they’re capable of seeing the Great Hunter is cast away. Little Scarface’s unpleasant older sister would “hold[] her down and burn[] her arms and face with sticks from the fire” (Shepard 1) and lie to their father about it. She claimed to see the Hunter and lied about that as well. The mistreated little girl is stripped of having appealing clothing and, what some may consider, a beautiful face; yet, only with her pure soul intact, she ultimately succeeds. The image of beauty the author is attempting to paint for you is that physical appearance only gets you to the door; the Hidden One, symbolized as the prize, is obtained with a “good heart”, free from “jealous[y] and cruel[ty]”.

​The reflection of any culture defines the practicality of traditions, passed down from one generation to the next. These customs, which varies, interprets the central connection of the culture itself. Evidently, stories involving legendary figures, commonly known as myths, spreads throughout the civilization and not only captivate the attention of those who believes in these myths, but also provide a belief or a sense of dignity and honor of those representing their particular culture. Chinese mythology is evidential to this pattern. Although many records were not recorded in a systematic way, it is still a hefty amount of evidence of the myths collected by the Chinese. The legends ranged from characters such as dragons to gods who

To start off, myths are stories that have been passed throughout many centuries, and are very popular in the world. A myth is a traditional story explaining some natural or social phenomenon usually involving supernatural beings or events. These legends can go from being almost identical to varying so much from each other. Although stories "Bladur" and "The Spirit Bride" seem awfully alike, there are many contrasting things.

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.

A myth is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. Many myths were believed in by the people that are speaking about it. Since Native Americans only had speech they had lots of myths that had been Strongly believed in. Two Myths of Native Americans is the Navajo origin Legend and the Walam olum. Even though they are both Native American Myths doesn’t mean they are going to have that many similarities.

When the Earth was still young, the animals lived in a world peacefully together in a world made by the Creator. The Creator had built a beautiful world with tall rolling hills of grass to be the land for his animals to live. The hills were made of rich, fertile soil for the animals to plant crops and crystal-clear streams running down the hill-side for the animals to drink and bathe in. The hills stretched for hundreds of miles. Below the hills were long, wide valleys. The animals were pleased to be living in such a beautiful world. The Creator only had one rule for the animals; they absolutely could only stay on the hills. He said to them, “I have made this beautiful world for all the animals to live. I only have one rule. You must stay on the hills and stay off

The themes and typical subjects in the stories from the American frontier during the early eighteen hundreds are rather close to my heart. Stories told around the campfire about historical events, however, embellished and enhanced with a purpose to educate and entertain the audience. Besides tales, myths and legends are spoken as well. These themes remind me of crisp autumn nights when through the frightening tales ghouls and ghost come alive. Luckily those cannot harm you while you are snug and warm around the fire. It is also described in our study material that these stories are comparable to the Native American storytelling where an individual is educated about the history of the society through storytelling. This is also the time when

Myths and Legends are stories written many years ago, by people who witnessed the ancient events thousands of years ago. Their way of sharing the stories to generations were by decorating detailed scenes of daily life with the stories of different Myths and Legends to add on different pots and carry them down, to generations. Myths back then was one of the most commonly used methods to tell stories to younger children, who were then expected to do the same to their younger members of their family when the time arrived. This was one of the only methods used before writing stories down on paper scrolls was invented.

Myths are a way that humans can explain the impossible or the unexplainable. Callisto and Ursa Major is a myth that was used in the past to explain the stars and the constellations. Myths also help people through life by giving them hope, something to believe in, or my inspiring them. An example of a doctor telling a very sick patient that it is possible to get better or that a cure will soon be found for their illness. Myths can be used to explain the origin of life and many other things. The bible for example explains how lives begin on Earth.

A myth is a type of story based on a tradition or legend which has symbolic meaning to culture. A truth is conveyed to those who tell or hear a myth. Some myths are accounts of real events. Myths become shifted in time or place and changed by symbolic meaning. Myths can be used to explain local and universal beginnings, also they can sometimes contain supernatural beings. A myth contains a great power of meaning to the culture from which it blossomed. This is the main reason why myths stay around so long- sometimes even thousands of years.

Myth are traditional stories and are usually concerning people in history or the explanation of natural phenomenon’s. Legends are also stories and are popularly regarded to be about historical figures. Legends can also be stories that over time have been exaggerated. Us as humans have believed in these myths and over time they have become a major part in our lives. Some people believe that they have been a key influence in our religions as well. Because of this people have come to question whether myths and legends are just superstitions from a former time and should be forgotten or whether they are an important part of our culture and heritage. There are many types of myths; natural myths, modern myths and creation myths. They all make up who we are.

“a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.” A myth is a story that can be a fictional story or a real event, depending on who you ask. For example, you could ask a non religious man about the myth of “Zeus” and he might say that an event like that could never happen. Then, you could ask a religious man about it and he might say that it really did happen. No one knows, this is because myths are usually based on old times. This means that no one can prove or debunk these myths properly. With that being said, I will now talk about one of my favorite myths, and one of the most popular;.King Midas and the golden touch.