Point Of View: The Iroquois Creation Story

Before 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, there were many tribes living in North America. Two equally similar and different ones were the Iroquois tribe and the Cherokee tribe. On one hand, they are similar because of their geographies and their economies. On the other hand, they are different because of their cultures and religious beliefs.

Looking through the Cherokee Creation Story a reader can find three different examples of Cherokee culture. The first example of Cherokee culture in the myth found on line two, was that their heaven is called Galunlati. Most creation stories start with some kind of heaven or sky world. In the second example on line seventeen, it states that a Buzzard created a valley. The Cherokee live in the American southeast region which is mostly flat land. The final example of Cherokee culture found on lines thirty three and thirty four, was that women could only have one child per year. Most Cherokee women today still follow this tradition. Though the story did not give very many details a reader is still enlightened with information about the Cherokee

According to Canassatego, “We know our lands are now become more valuable: the white people think we do not know their value; but we are sensible that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone.” Canassatego is talking about the land surveyors trying to purchase the Native American land for cheap. Canassatego also notes that “Your people daily settle on these lands, and spoil our hunting.” He is talking about the land scalpers trying to take the Native American land while there gone hunting and the people are scaring off the game they hunt. Canassatego writes that “If you have not done anything, we now renew our request, and desire you will inform the person whose people are seated on our lands, that that country belongs to us, in right of conquest; we having bought it with our blood, and taken it from our enemies in fair war…” He is trying to let the English know that they do not appreciate the land surveyors coming onto their land and trying to take the land that they fought and worked so hard for away from them. Canassatego is desperately informing the English that the settlements spoil Native American hunting, as well as that colonial horses eat grass that is meant for deer.

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

There are many familiar archetypes found in the Creation stories of the Native American Indians. The Iroquois and Navajo Creation Stories from The Norton Anthology American Literature Vol. A, contains several archetypes similar to those of the Judeo-Christian Bible. The story of the Iroquois contains similarities such as a virgin mother, characters of good and evil, different steps to creation, Heaven and Hell. Some concepts follow through in the Navajo story, but it also mentions the importance of marriage, twelve tribes, interbred peoples, floods, and a rainbow.

There is an enormous amount of symbolism in the Navajo Creation Story. One important symbol is the number 4. The table below lists several aspects of the story that are related to the number 4.

“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.

The Iroquois tribe also believes that man is sculpted from clay. The twins from the story created man from the Earth’s soils. The Seneca myth confirms that, “Man was made of clay, like pottery, and baked in the fire,” but there were people created who, “always lied, and [they] always did things backward. You could never tell what [they were] trying to do because [they] always made it look as if [they] were doing the opposite,” just as the morally crooked, left-handed twin does (“The World on the Turtle’s

The Iroquois Creation Myth is a detailed and complex myth that has many different versions. The earliest complete transcription and translation of the Iroquois creation myth by David Cusick’s Sketches of the Ancient History of the Six Nations (Cusick, 1828). In different versions of the myth, Sky Woman gives birth to twin boys, and in another, Sky Woman’s daughter gives birth. In similar sequence,

die. The Red Chief was also in charge of the lacrosse games which were called

1). The reason for the construction of the Iroquois confederacy, or the league of the Iroquois, (Haudenosaunee) was the impeding factor of disunity between the tribes. Hienwatha, a Mohawk Iroquois, lived in Ontario and observed the disunity between the Iroquois tribes. In an attempt to unify the nations, he approached rival tribes and argued the benefits of unification. Initially, his idea is shut down by the elders of each tribe. The changing climate that started to occur, however, increased confrontations between tribes. Hienwatha yet again tries to explain to the Iroquois people about the possibility of peace and is rejected again. He then alludes the nations to a weaved belt of wampum shells which supposedly illustrated the connectedness of the five Iroquois nations. He traveled among the nations, of which all then supported the idea of unity, and was able to form a seemingly impenetrable force.

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 difference in writing styles between the Iroquois Creation Myth and Christopher Columbus’ letters is very significant. The Iroquois Creation Myth is much more mystical and entertaining while Columbus’ letters are more formal and simply recounting events. Though the two pieces of literature have their differences, there are still some similarities. The Iroquois Creation Myths focus on nature and animals. Likewise, when Christopher Columbus is writing his letters, he describes the nature around him in great detail.

But, perhaps one may argue that’s at its core the Iroquois Creation Story seeks not to account for the waged between good and evil for authority, but rather that the universe must exists with both, seeing that they can and often do exists within each other. Even before the creation of the world that it is believed mankind exists on today, there was a presence of the good and evils of the world. The myth begins with the existence of two worlds, an Upper World, sustaining the life of mankind, or more accurately godly beings, and the world below populated by monsters and influenced by darkness. The tension is seen almost immediately. One can assume that the inhabitants of the Upper World, the gods in sorts, were good and clearly the monsters below were evil, as implied by their existence in the shadows and darkness.