The Iroquois Myth Story

There are various diverse creation myths from Native American cultures, though many hold similar characteristics. One of the more common forms of creation myth seems to be emergence myth. Generally, in the emergence myth, instead of seeing how the world is created, we see how the people arrive in an already created world. This particular story type is commonly found in Native American cultures from the southwest (Ryan). The Tewa Pueblo version of this myth, entitled How the People Came to the Middle Place, has been collected and written down by the anthropologists Alice Marriott and Carol K. Rachlin in their book, American Indian Mythology. The myth was told to them by two separate sources, Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso and Leonidas

Before the arrival of Europeans in the 1600’s, the Five Nations of the Iroquois lived under a constitution that had three main principles, peace, justice, and the health of mind and body. The Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy offered compelling evidence of Native American rich and sophisticated cultures with their well established democratic government with a form of religion and a strong matriarchal system before the advent of Europeans.

How come they have never met each other? Hey, but they all live in Canada and all met the Europeans! I wonder if the Europeans ever mentioned one tribe to the other? Anyway, the Inuit, Haida, and the Iroquois are the same in many ways but are a lot different.

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.

In her book American Indian Stories, Zitkala-Sa's central role as both an activist and writer surfaces, which uniquely combines autobiography and fiction and represents an attempt to merge cultural critique with aesthetic form, especially surrounding such fundamental matters as religion. In the tradition of sentimental, autobiographical fiction, this work addresses keen issues for American Indians' dilemmas with assimilation. In Parts IV and V of "School Days," for example, she vividly describes a little girl's nightmares of paleface devils and delineates her bitterness when her classmate died with an open Bible on her bed. In this groundbreaking scene, she inverts the allegation of Indian religion as superstition by labeling

A belief is defines a true statement, something that exists, or the trust and faith in someone or something. We all have beliefs and have obtained those believes individually in many different ways and whose to say that belief is right or wrong, or true or false. As with a myth, a traditional story, mostly believed to be a false idea or false believe.

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,

The Iroquois nations, one of the oldest and most prestigious tribes in the history of all Native Americans. In this paper I will be showing why the Iroquois ended up siding with the English through the French and Indian, and Revolutionary wars through factors of colonization. I will also be showing some features of their culture, considering the iroquois are not well known in the western United States, and discussing the fall of the once great tribes. The main reason I 've chosen the Iroquois is because of my own prior knowledge of the Iroquois, and their relationship to lacrosse. I started playing lacrosse my freshman year of highschool. The very first thing I learned, before any stick skills or any basics of the game, was the history of it. Our coach insisted that we knew the history and the culture of the game, and that we respected it. I was intrigued by how interesting the game was. The game was made as a form of war. Lacrosse was sometimes even referred to as “Little brother of war”. It would be called this because injury, even death were common during a lacrosse game. When two tribes had a disagreement, but didn 't feel the need to have a legitimate war, the opposing tribes would send their best warriors to the battlefield and play a lacrosse game. Games would be played to a score of 5-7, but considering how long the fields could be, these games could take hours, days even, however long it took for one of the tribes to win,

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.

The League of the Iroquois is a historic confederacy comprised of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and later the Tuscarora tribes. Coming with the message of peace, Deganawida tried to convince the tribes to become “one mind, one heart, one law.” He saw the advantages of coming together as a united people and the foolishness of the constant infighting. Upon the formation of the league, the Mohawk chief Hiawatha made strings of wampum as a symbol that became significant in diplomatic meetings and treaties.

The Iroquois creation story there exists two planes the Nothing and the Great Blue. In the Great Blue there lived a woman who dreamed dreams has a dream about a tree that brings the light, but the blossoms on the tree blocked the light and this frightened her. When she awoke she begs the men of her village to cut down the tree, but not understanding the men dig around of the tree to allow more light to shine through. The tree fell through the hole the men dug and left only darkness. The men blamed the dreamer of dreams for there being no more light and the men grabbed her and threw her through the hole where the tree used to be. As the woman fell a hawk caught her and slowed her fall. The hawk unable to carry her forever called to the other creatures to help find solid land for the woman to live upon. Unable to find dry land the animals dove into the depths and came up with mud which they began to pile on the back of a gigantic turtle. The animals became excite by their work and made the entire Earth. Till this day the Earth

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.

There were many natives living in North America long before Christopher Columbus found/ stumbled upon it. The ones I want to focus on are the Iroquois Indians. They are quite unique in the way they hunt, eat, practice their faith, and many other aspects of their community. The most interesting about them is their creation story, sky woman. Not only is there more than one version of the story, but it has had such an impact on the way they live.

Throughout history, and all over the world, mythology has been developed as a way of explaining the unknown and coping with one’s existence. Why does the sun shine? Well, seemingly, to generations past, something is controlling the universe, so there must be a god in charge of the sun and many other natural phenomenon. During the creation of Native American myths, “there was much in the way of free-range food, but hunting wasn't as easy as getting up in the morning, taking a stroll and shooting a few passing bison with your bow” (Godchecker). Times were tough, “even Plains societies who lived off the prolific buffalo fell under the threat of starvation at times” (Godchecker). Finally, “when herds were found, the people were grateful and

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.