Storytelling

Many Native American myths commonly emphasized the idea of equality between genders, species, races, and age, in the Native Americans eyes, everything had had a spirit, and no one spirit was better than the other, this allowed the Natives to look at the world, through a deeper spiritual light. In the Native American myth The Sky Tree the chief asks his wife to save him by collecting a fruit for him, and when all goes wrong she is

The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an

Within the two passages, two Native American writers, N.S. Momaday and D. Brown, deliver two contrasting views on the Native American landscape and experience. Momaday’s awestruck diction and peaceful imagery revel in the seclusion of a scenario which promotes creation. On the other hand, Brown’s forlorn diction and passive tone mourn the lifeless landscape and loss of people forcibly detached from their land. While Momaday writes to explain the admirable beauty of Rainy Mountain, Brown writes to mourn the loss of life stripped in the barren landscape.

“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.

For years, the Native Americans lived a very solitary life with their own unique way of living, that was until the European’s showed up with their very complex way of living. Harmony with nature was a very important aspect of Native American culture. The Native people embraced nature with no intention to modify it unlike the Europeans. They simply cared more about nature and what it had to offer. The spiritual connection between the land and these Natives were distinctive from the Europeans also due to the fact that to the settlers, land meant wealth. As a European, if you owned any land you were considered a wealthy upper class human being. As a Native, no one owned the land and anyone could benefit from the land.

Nature is a very important aspect to many Native Americans, especially in “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” where they value nature to a great extent. On page 20 the author introduces the story with the background about how “they believed that each living thing possesses a unique power that sustains it and affects other”. To further explain this, what they meant was that each living thing has a purpose in nature and that each purpose is very important and help lean to help and affect other. For example in the story the tree affects the people because it was hope for them that it would uproot, and when she falls the seeds she grabs affects the soil because it helped to grow several trees. After bringing the Muskrat to the Great Turtle’s back, to

“One general truth that threads throughout the Native American spiritual beliefs is the belief of the Mother Earth spirituality” (Coll). They often called earth their mother and called father the air. The earth to the Natives is very sacred to them and is the most important thing to them. Most of the ceremonies were in some way revolving around the earth and they called earth “home.” Most of the ceremonies were practiced for many years and were passed down through generation to generation. The Native Americans didn’t have a book like the bible or any language that was written. One big thing they had was Totems. These were everywhere in their tribes and it was supposed to represent people and the animals that represented them. The Indians were supposed to have 7 spiritual animals and the many animals on the totems were supposed to represent all the person’s spiritual

Native Americans have an intimate relationship with the Earth that is very unusual to western culture. For centuries before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans lived off the land in North America, without claiming ownership or creating massive environmental destruction. They have both a deep love and fear for the power of nature, and try to live as one with the environment. Because of this common value among tribes, Native Americans are often stereotyped as being the first environmentalists, which is not entirely true. Native Americans do value and treasure the environment, but not always in the way western environmentalists imagen. Modern environmentalists grew up in a different culture, one that embraces development and progress

Like a coin dropped between the cushions of a couch, traditional oral storytelling is a custom fading away in current American culture. For Native Americans, however, the practice of oral storytelling is still a tradition that carries culture and rich history over the course of generations. Three examples of traditional oral stories, “How Men and Women Got Together”, “Coyote’s Rabbit Chase”, and “Corn Mother”, demonstrate key differences in perspectives and values among diverse native tribes in America.

The creative tales and wonders that Natives told were creative in nature and the way they cherished life. Native Americans’ religions varied, but different tribes believed being developed from a higher power and believed life came from the earth. Some examples of Native tales about religion start out, “In the beginning there was only darkness, with sky above and water below”(26) from the “Navajo creation Story,” and, “The lower world was in great darkness the possession of the great monster, but the upper world was inhabited by mankind,”(27) from the “Iroquois Creation Story.” Furthermore Natives had weaker immune systems and when the Europeans came across the Natives, they became very ill and many died from these new diseases. Natives Americans would trade raw materials and food with others, whereas the Europeans traded weapons and iron materials.

Often, people rely on mythological and scientific beliefs to explain everyday occurrences, however, myth and science contradict one another. Thesis: Reality, in the eyes of Native Americans, is determined by the past, by the stories/myths their culture has preserved, while modern science contradicts their ideals with facts, creating a conflict of belief. Transition: Anniversary utilizes

When was the last time you were down on your knees, worshipping a cat? What about burning a sacred goat as a gift for the gods? In our contemporary American culture, you may not see very much of this, but believe it or not, it was a vital part of some cultures in ancient societies. Throughout history, animals have appeared to be a significant component of culture, either economically, religiously, spiritually, mythically, and other ways. Animals are of high significance and importance to culture, and without their rich symbolic essence, perhaps various cultures would have died out. In this essay, I will explore the tightly bonded relationship between animals and human cultures through multiple perspectives and practices around the world: in the Native American culture, Hindu religion, ancient Egyptian society, and the worship of animals through sacrifice in ancient Greece.

The Native American people are split up in many tribes over the land but do have one thing in common: everything relates back to the earth and those, human alike and unalike, who thrive from it. Their logic is so very simple and wise. If you want to live a strong life, take care of the things that make you strong. I believe that is why the Native American people tell stories using animals as the main character. I made this assumption before even looking up the actual reasoning. I then found a quote from Sitting Bull explaining that “every seed is awakened and so is all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our animal neighbors the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land”. Their thinking may include that

In correlation to this point, on the topic of storytelling—particularly oratory stories told throughout a culture—it is necessary for one to be eloquent, both to tell and to consume the tale. To be a bard in any age is to be a wordsmith and an actor, a writer, and a reader, as they must know the web they weave so intimately that they can then bring it to life. This intimate understanding is developed through study and practice, as speech is nuanced in ways an ineloquent person would not realize. The capability to speak—and speak well—is the culmination of the laborious studies of literature. “Even when you have mastered words and diction sufficiently, it is still very difficult to put each thing in its proper place, to lower some things and raise up others…” If one does not speak well—pausing or pushing when necessary—or if words are changed with inequivalent partners, then the meaning of their words fall flat. This is seen in novels, films, and speeches on a social and political scale every single day. They prove their lack of eloquence with each fumbled definition or hazy comparison; it is lazy to not understand the words one uses, and yet it is accepted and reinforced throughout modern media.

Native Americans have a deep respect for nature. The Onondaga tribe learned ways to work together by observing the animals. In the story “The earth on a Turtle's Back”, the animals sacrificed their lives in effort to save the Ancient Chief of the Skyland’s wife. To do so, they retrieved soil by swimming deep down in the water. When the soil was finally retrieved, the animals placed the tiny bit of soil on the turtle’s back, where the earth could grow for the woman to live on. In “When the Grizzlies Walked Upright”, The Modoc revealed Mt. Shesta, the first volcano, it replicated their home. By having a place to live, nature is providing shelter and safety. The Iroquois “From the Iroquois constitution”, planted a tree called the Tree of the Great Long Leaves. Where the five nations would gather. The roots stretched to the