The Functions Of A Native American Myth A myth is known as the dramatic of culturally important truths in narrative form. Myths represent dramatized shared visions of the world for people that told them. In this essay I will be discussing the functions of a Native American myth in relation to the myth, “ The World On a Turtle's Back.” Some of those functions are; to instill awe; to explain the world; to support customs and rituals; and lastly to guide people. The first function that I will be discussing is; to instill awe or disbelief. To instill awe or disbelief means to do something unimaginable, almost as if it were a miracle. The reason why Native Americans use awe and disbelief is, because they really don't know how things form. So …show more content…
In present times when someone says to explain the world we think of the big bang theory, but the native americans had a different definition. Their definition of explaining the world would lie under the concept of someone making it or discovering it. In my text, when the woman fell out of the sky this shows how they believe the world came to be. The myth also explains how animals, plants and humans were created. When we go back to the text we find that it says, “she leaned down and stuck her head through the whole and looked around...some say she slipped. Some say her husband, fed up with all the demands she had made on him, pushed her.” I also saw in another portion of text that explains how the native americans thought the world was created.The text said “the world the twins made was a balanced and orderly world, and this was good. The plant eating animals created by the right handed twin would eat up all of the vegetation if their number was not kept down by the meat eating animals, then they would starve, for they would run out of meat. So the right and left- handed twins built balance into the world. Those two examples show how the world was founded and how humans, plant and animals came to …show more content…
Now to most people when they think of what it means to guide people they think of someone like the president, because he is basically the leader of all of the united states of america. He guides us in the battles and communications that we have with other countries. The Native Americans had a similar idea, however the way that most of them received guidance would be through “spirits.” the spirits to them would be the force they would come to if they ever had a problem. In the text we find that the twins made a balanced world with good and evil. Not following what the twins rules where could make the world unbalanced. Through the twins ruling the world and watching man was their way of guiding people. The story states “ The world the twins made was a balanced and orderly world,” and “These two beings rule the world and keep an eye on the affairs of
Comparing The Earth on Turtle's Back, When Grizzlies Walked Upright, And the Navajo Origin Legend
To explain the unexplained the Kiowas had myths, and Momaday tells these myths of their journeys in a historical voice. One of their myths explained how they came into this world and why their numbers are so small: “the Kiowas came one by one into the world through a hollow log. They were many more than now, but not all of them got out. There was a woman whose body was swollen up with child, and she got stuck in the log. After that, no one could get through, and that is why the Kiowas are a small tribe in number”(16). The few of them that managed to come out of the log saw so many things that it made them glad to which they decided to call themselves Kwuda, and later Tepda, both of which mean “coming out”(17). The Kiowa saw an amazing new world as they came out of the hollow log; Another of the unexplained that they explain through the myths is the story of how the big dipper came to be, “Eight children were there at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws, and his body was covered with fur. Directly there was a bear where the boy had been . . .The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper”(8). This story shows how they explain the unknown of nature through stories. With this story Momaday uses a great deal of
In Momaday's work, the reader is on a journey through myth, past and present, as the author draws on oral traditions of Native American storytelling to align-in-parallel a personal journey for understanding of himself, and perhaps the nature of man. Through an inventive technique, Rainy Mountain serves as a way to collect, preserve and disseminate the oral storytelling traditions of Native American storytellers. Momaday has attempted to bridge the oral traditions to written form by weaving three continual strands as a single long braid throughout the text.
For the Native Americans to explain their existence, they created stories that described how things came to be. These stories are much like the ones that you would find in the Bible, and are very insightful in getting a better understanding of the Native Americans religious viewings. The Native Americans strongly believed in spirits and beings of another world. In the Iroquois Creation Story, these believes are strongly represented by telling the story of two brothers. This story is a representation of how the world was created. There is a good minded brother and a bad minded brother, which are not just brothers but twins. These unborn brothers and their mother were sent to the back of a turtle that in order to secure them from the dangers of the dark world she fell to. In a hurry to be born, the bad minded brother murders
It also shows how different animals come together in harmony to create a new land that was once destroyed. The creation story teaches about different animals such as the loon who catches its food by diving underwater yet floated to the top weak and nearly unconscious, the hell diver who tried but also failed, suddenly the little muskrat came forward and accomplished what they all failed. This helps us understand the text’s social role and importance as the legend teaches about courage of all the animals to volunteer; bravery displayed by the muskrat as he disregards the more powerful and bigger animals as they taunted him, yet he strived to prove to them that he can do it. Ultimately muskrat resurfaces very weak from air and a few minutes later his spirit passed on to the spirit world; in his paw was a smallball of earth. The animals are regarded as one that people should posses such as bravery and courage. The theory makes the text more understandable as it creates a base on how the world and the people in it should
Considering historical evidence, the notion: Native –Americans was not the first inhabitant of America is a complete false. For centuries, history kept accurate and vivid accounts of the first set of people who domiciled the western hemisphere. Judging by those records, below are the first set of Native-American people who inhabited America before the arrival of another human race; the Iroquois: The Iroquois of Native Americans was one of the tribes that lived in America before other people came. Based on historical evidence, it is believed that the Native Americans came from Asia way back during the Ice Age through a land bridge of the Bering Strait. When the Europeans first set foot in America, there were about 10 million Native Americans
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 Christianity.
From before the dawn of civilization as we know it, humanity has formed myths and legends to explain the natural world around them. Whether it is of Zeus and Hera or Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-mikoto, every civilization and culture upon this world has its own mythos. However, the age of myth is waning as it is overshadowed in this modern era by fundamental religion and empirical science. The word myth has come to connote blatant falsehood; however, it was not always so. Our myths have reflected both the society and values of the culture they are from. We have also reflected our inner psyche, conscious and unconscious, unto the fabric of our myths. This reflection allows us to understand ourselves and other cultures better. Throughout the eons of humanity’s existence, the myths explain natural phenomena and the cultural legends of the epic hero have reflected the foundations and the inner turmoil of the human psyche.
Kind and selfish, deep and shallow, male and female, and foolish and wise aren’t always words that are associated with each other, quite the opposite in fact. However, when it comes to the trickster tales of Native Americans, each word is associated with the other and describes more or less the same person or animal. To Native American people a trickster affects the world for an infinite number of reasons, including instruction and enjoyment. A trickster, like the name implies, is a cunning deception. A trickster can be a hero. However, at the same time he could introduce death. How is that heroic? Why would a group of people want to remember a person that brings punishments such as death? The function the trickster tales have/ had on Native American communities is still powerful today quite possibly because of their context, the lessons they reap, and the concerns they address. As the tales are told, the stories unravel showing the importance of a trickster and the eye-opening experiences they bring.
It was approaching dusk as the conspicuous line of dark vans entered the reservation. These vehicles served the purpose of furnishing transportation for about 30 members of a Cleveland area youth group, whose mission was “to bring good news to the badlands';. In short, the group was ministering to the Indian children of the Pine Ridge Reservation, which was in close vicinity to the natural wonder found in the foothills of “the badlands';. The trip became a tradition for my church and I traveled there on three separate occasions. Each year, the team received a welcoming that could be described as anything but inviting. In fact, the first year the trip fell on the Fourth of July and as we drove in, our vehicles were bombarded with fireworks. I could never really grasp why we were so despised. After all, our intentions were commendable. The matter became clearer after I read Zitkala-sa’s “American Indian Stories';. Within this text, a Native American expresses her beliefs that actions similar to ours serve merely in altering culture.
I have decided to discuss the topic of Spirituality in Native Americans. To address this topic, I will first discuss what knowledge I have gained about Native Americans. Then I will discuss how this knowledge will inform my practice with Native Americans. To conclude, I will talk about ethical issues, and dilemmas that a Social Worker might face working with Native American people.
The significance of the four directions and the duality of worlds is essential in understanding Native American cosmology as they are the two most unifying themes in the cosmology of the Americas. These were general themes that guided a tribe’s culture, intellectual and political situations, and their way of life. With this in mind, cosmology becomes a description of the different personalities and ideologies of each of individual tribes, while also highlighting and showcasing the intricate relationship and similarities among them. Because of these parallels, one can see how the widespread themes of having four significant directions and believing in the duality of worlds influenced the Native American theological culture throughout the Americas
Indigenous people around the world have been affected by colonization, Christianization, and the advancement of technologies and development more than any other group. This has caused untold harm as Native peoples have suffered staggering rates of poverty, violence, and suicide. The Native people have not given up. Many indigenous people from tribes around the world are standing up and saying “no more”. They are reclaiming their heritage, their language, traditions, and spirituality and sharing it with the world to encourage a healthier, more balanced way of being.
In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will discuss the major themes of the book and why the author wrote it, it will describe Native American society, its values and its beliefs and how they changed and it will show how Native Americans views other non-Natives.
Native American religion tends to center around nature. The scene, creatures, plants, and other natural components assume a noteworthy part in the religion of Native Americans. Many of the legends passed down were an attempt to explain events that occurred in nature. Native American religion incorporates various practices, services, and conventions. These services might be to pay tribute to various occasions. The act of taking certain psychedelic drugs was usually used to increase more prominent knowledge or speak with the divine beings. Functions may incorporate feasts, music, dances, and different exhibitions. Imagery, particularly with creatures, is frequently a typical piece of Native American religion. Creatures were utilized to speak