Native American Creation Stories Summary

The creation story of Chippewa is pretty interesting to research about. Chippewa is really associate Anglo pronunciationcof the word “Ojibwa. By researching about these people I found out that Chippewa calls themselves“Anishinaabe,” which basically means real people or original people. Anishinaabe created their own story which was recorded and passed down to many generations. In the story the central figure is Gitche Manito and she used Mother Earth and herelements to form the animals, the plants, and then the Anishinaabe. Gitche used birds to sent life of seeds to all four directions and to the above and below land. The Mystery created to feed animals, heel plants and give more beauty. Lastly, he took the four parts of rock, water, fire, and

Have you ever wonder how the world was created from another culture’s perspective? Native Americans used creation myths to explained to their people how the world was developed overtime. Creation myths are a big part of the Native American culture. they have been passed down from generation to generation. In the creation myths, harmony with nature, rituals, and strong social values are shown in each myths. The purpose of having strong social value in these myths is to teach younger Native Americans valuable lesson if they ever do something bad. These myths reveals how the rituals were created and their intentions for doing it. Creation myths has harmony with nature in it to show a very close kinship between them

For thousands of years, scientists have tried to interpret the concept of creation. However, before people had access to modern scientific equipment, they told creations stories. A creation story is a myth that explains how and why the earth was made. A few cultures with differing opinions on creation are Europeans, Cherokee Indians, West Africans, and Hawaiians. Europeans tell the story of Genesis and God creating the earth in seven days and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Cherokee Indians believe that the earth was created by a water beetle. In West African culture, they teach the Golden Chain story, and Hawaiians have the Kumulipo story to explain their beliefs on creation. Although each story follows a basic guideline, they all have distinct disparities.

Some Native American creation stories can be contrasted with the book of Genesis from the Bible. For example, the land is made differently in each story. In the Native American stories “How the World Was Made” and “The Sky Tree”, land was made by “animals bringing up soil from the water,” while God “made the heavens and the earth” in the

“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.

There’s tons of debate between which creation story is true. Some people say that the Adam and Eve creation story is true. Others truly think the Native American one is correct. But nobody alive today, has any idea which one is true, probably no one ever will. However, both Native American and Creation stories are similar in many ways. Both stories are different also.

The creation story of the Ojibwa beginning with nothing but absorbing dark void because in the beginning there was nothing besides that. Nothing. Not until Manitou. Before him there was a possibility that everything that we know and also everything that we didn’t know could exist. Our human mind is not able to be capable of thinking such possibility. No person can imagine such unfathomable powers to envision such foresee of creation. It is unpassable for a human to image such a phenomenon thing and bring it all into existence, that’s why people believe in a high power then them. Some call it as God, Allah, Buddha etc. God’s are all (seemingly) super natural, imaginary some would say! and are a creation of humanity to bring a sense of hope.

The arrival of the ‘foreigners’, as referred to by the Native Americans, turned a new stone in Native American diplomacy. No longer did they have to only deal with neighboring tribes, as they were forced to endeavor into politics with strangers who were looking to take their land. The first relationship between the pilgrims and the Native Americans began with the Wampanoag tribe. The relations between the two groups paved the view that the pilgrims had towards the Indians. The decently friendly relationship that stood between the two groups was short lived as the pilgrims felt that the indians were getting in the way of their expansion; and shortly after the friendship ceased to exist (Bell, 37).

Storytelling continues to be an integral part of Native American culture, providing us with an understanding of what was important to the Native Americans. Through their stories, Native Americans expressed an understanding of the environment, and the relationship that existed between themselves and their environment. These stories also provide us with a look at Native American legends, history, and a collection of knowledge critical to their survival. Native American stories are deeply rooted in their relationship with Mother Earth. Their many years connected with land, life, water and sky has created many stories explaining these important bonds with Mother Earth. From ancient times the Native Americans have looked to their

The general purpose for all myths is to bring an understanding of unknown. The ancient people widely used myths to explain new phenomena and occurrences. The lack of scientific modes of theory formulation caused the people of old to come up with myths to fill the vacuum with the knowledge that existed during their time. The need by man to explain his origin and the origin of the universe led him to the formulation of creation and origin myths. Men of olds came up with myths to explain the mysteries they had no clue about including creation.

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.

The Native American’s didn’t have science, their only explanation to life was anything they could come up with because they had no way of knowing anything else. In this story, it is the explanation of how land or “earth” was created. It starts with earth being completely covered by water and the only animals that existed were birds and water animals. There was also sky land which heaven may derive from on today’s biblical works, which included a chief, his pregnant goddess, and the others. In this place they had a massive tree with branches pointing in the four directons. The wife/goddess had dreamed one night it was uprooted, so the couple decided they needed to make her dream a reality and uproot the tree. No one was able to uproot it because

The motifs found in the creation myths are undoubtedly different from those found in any other type of myth. Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of the creation myths is much greater than a primitive attempt to explain the mysteries of creation. Behind each creation myth is a vast variety of symbolism along with a number of motives which are often shared between cultures, despite vast geographical differences. My intention here is not only to discuss the purpose of the creation myths, but also to compare and contrast common themes which can be found in three selected works. These being, an Eskimo creation myth, the Ongwe creation myth and the Navajo creation myth.

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

Each creation story highlights the most important aspects of the cultures that wrote them. Not only do they show the values of the people, but they can give us an insight into how these cultures might have been. Comparing the Atra-hasis, Rig Veda, Genesis, Yijing, and Popol Vuh has uncovered many distinct themes when focusing on the time and place the creation story occurred. Patterns found in creation stories from different parts of the world show how similar human beings are.