The World on the Turtle’s Back is a story created, told, and passed down by the Iroquois in order to explain how the world came to be through their own cultural perspective. “In the beginning there was no world, no land, no creatures of the kind that are around us now”pg.1. For there to be the world in which we reside there must have been a way in which it began. Such things are often explained through what is known as creation myths. A symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, formally, it does not imply falsehood. Cultures generally regard their creation myths as true. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth …show more content…
is usually regarded as conveying profound truths, metaphorically, symbolically and sometimes in a historical or literal sense with the story of The World on the Turtle’s Back being no exception. As it too retains the four pillars of what classifies any story as a creation myth.
Near the beginning instilling a sense of awe as it describes the creation of the earth, “Thus it was the muskrat, the Earth-Driver, who brought from the bottom of the ocean the soil from which the earth was to grow.”pg.26. The woman from the sky world placed the dirt on a Turtle's back and performed a ritual to create it. A feeling felt composed of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder, in other words awe. For that is the impression gradually but firmly established in a person’s mind as they are to acknowledge the significance of such an example of the …show more content…
unimaginable. Often at times in relation to the four pillars of the creation myth such stories are also used to describe not only how the world came to be but also the inner workings of everyday phenomenon. For example at one point of the story as one woman dies during childbirth it is explained how some vegetables in our world came to exist, “And from her grave grew the plants which the people still use. From her head grew the corn, the beans, and the squash”. A fact that is observed to exist and happen. Through this Iroquois are able to explain why such an occurrence happens to begin with through their own belief and reason of understanding. To continue on with yet another one of the four pillars being one of the most prominent captivated by the ones who have chosen to believe in said myth.
In this case the story of The World on the Turtle’s Back, moments within the myth are taken and put to practice as tradition. A way to maintain a connection to the past. Often now a reenactment of something that once had an actual purpose the part of the story in which brings about the honoring and worship of the sun and the moon come from that of when the two brothers began to rule in separate parts of the day. “In the daytime, the people have rituals which honor the right-handed twin. Through the daytime rituals they thank the Master of Life. In the nighttime, the people dance and sing for the left-handed twin.” Only the result of strong belief and the transmission of customs from generation to generation could maintain such long held
customs. Finally, last but certainly not least further supporting that once more this is in fact a story which could be defined as a definite creation myth is the lesson of moral values it has to offer. With such morals of right and wrong being represented by the two brothers through their actions and differences in character. As they are if not anything polar opposites of one another, “The right-handed twin has many names. One of them is Sapling. It means smooth, young, green and fresh and innocent, straightforward, straight-growing, soft and pliable, teachable and trainable. These are the old ways of describing him. But since he has gone away, he has other names. He is called “He Holds Up the Skies,” “Master of Life,” and “Great Creator.” The left-handed twin also has many names. One of them is Flint. He is called the devious one, the one covered with boils. Old Warty. He is stubborn. He is thought of as being dark in color.” Together they are representative of anyone individual’s moral compass, however to the iroquois they were indeed the manifestation of indifference and concern a model of how and how not to act in life. Seeing as though all four pillars could be found and sighted it is with absolute certainty that the story The World on the Turtle’s Back could be classified as a creation myth.
“Birth in the Dawn” and the “World on the Turtle’s Back” are stories about the creation of Earth and how it became what it is with all the animals and plants. These stories have different ideas of how the world came to be, but both have creativity. They may seem a tad astonishing, but the people who created them clearly believed them.
The World on Turtle’s Back is a creation myth written by the Iroquois, a Native American Tribe. As I read this myth, I realized the many parallels to the Book of Genesis from the Bible. Upon further analysis, it is evident that The World on Turtle’s Back has a multifarious amount of similarities to the Book of Genesis. There are multiple parallels and similarities between the two myths, while there are some noticeable differences between the two that don’t necessarily match up.
What does one think of when the word “turtle” is mentioned? This adorable creature is usually thought of as slow, futile, and the unsung hero of “The Tortoise and Hare.” However, Kay Ryan argues in her poem “Turtle” that turtles are more than just these things: they are strong but unfortunate creatures that must put up with many obstacles in order to survive. Despite the struggles that she faces, the turtle exhibits a multitude of different strengths to overcome them, as seen as the poem progresses.
In the novel, Turtles All The Way Down by John Green there are two types of conflict: person vs. self, and person vs. person. Aza Holmes is the main character in the novel and she experiences conflict with herself everyday. She has high levels of anxiety and outbursts of overthinking which she calls a ‘thought spiral’. In the beginning of the book, Aza introduces her thought process. She hears her stomach making noise in the cafeteria and immediately thinks it’s “Clostridium difficile, which can be fatal” this line demonstrates how the slightest changes to her body send her down a never ending spiral of nerves (Green, p. 4). The thoughts alone aren’t what consume her daily life, ever since she was little she “pressed [her] right thumbnail into the finger pad of [her] middle finger, now there is this weird callus over [her] fingerprint” (Green, p. 5).
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
Betrayal is being disloyal to others and even oneself, therefore betrayal can cause many emotional fallouts and baggage within relationships. In the story, The World on the Turtle's Back, betrayal is a huge factor in how the story plays out, as it is in the song The Letter by Kehlani, Genesis 4:1-16, and Matthew 26:14-16 . Three ways in which betrayal is portrayed in the story, the song, and the Bible is by the actions people take to one another, disconnections in relationships that lead to betrayal, and emotional baggage.
When you were 11 years old, have you ever thought what kind of person you have chosen to become in the future?" If you want to answer this question, you need to have the ability to consider what background, values and personal evolution are. Turtle Island" by Joseph Boyden also talks about the story about an 11-year-old aboriginal boy who caught between the rough world of the Indian Posse and his dawning affection for his little brother’s pet turtle, named Island (Joseph 1).At the beginning, he was a rebellious and Impulsive person who was against cultural belief. In the end, of the story, he had chosen to become a person who was brave, responsible and mature.
The creation story in Aristotle’s views affected the thinking and behavior of Native Americans and Europeans when they first encountered each other and their thoughts of humankind’s relationship to nature. For instance the Native Americans had two stories of creation. Both dealt with animals and plants helping humans or being one with each other. In the story Ramon Pane humans lived in caves and would turn into animals or a part of nature when they were exposed to the sun. In the other creation story, “A women who fell from the sky” has a woman who falls from heaven onto the sea. Animals that live in the water come together to rescue her and because of this they create a place for her to stay which then becomes the earth. The women then has a daughter which planted potatoes East instead of West and therefore becomes pregnant with twin boys. The boys grow up and create land, animals and plants for the earth, because of this Europeans could have perceived Native Americans as satanic human beings because the Natives did not believe that God created the wo...
Hesiod’s Theogony and the Babylonian Enuma Elish are both myths that begin as creation myths, explaining how the universe and, later on, humans came to be. These types of myths exist in every culture and, while the account of creation in Hesiod’s Theogony and the Enuma Elish share many similarities, the two myths differ in many ways as well. Both myths begin creation from where the universe is a formless state, from which the primordial gods emerge. The idea of the earth and sky beginning as one and then being separated is also expressed in both myths.
Williams Paden discusses the world building character of myths and their capacity to shape time and delineate scared and profane space for the communities that believe and transmit them. In William Paden, “Myth,” in Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion, he explains that within religious worlds, myths set a foundation that advance to shape a person’s way of life. Subsequently, they shape their belief and conscience. His theory relates to an element an indigenous story which is the creation story precisely the story of the turtle island. For the Ojibway and Anishinaabe people, the creation story was used as a grounding prototype to shape their belief and their outlook on how the world was created. The story shows how myth is being
The Maori myth is a Polynesian story about the creation of the universe which according to Rosenberg was different from other creation myths because it begins with nothing and then progresses through a process of “nonbeing to thought to the creation of the universe and human beings” (351). Even though it may be different because it goes from “nonbeing to thought” instead of nothingness to a spoken word or action, it has many similarities to other creation myths in how it explains the origins of the Gods and how each one represents a natural event or aspect of nature and humanity. The myth begins with an “idea” that “was remembered” and then “became conscious” and then “a wish to create”, all of which created a “power to live and to grow, even in emptiness” (352). At this point there was still no being, only thought and desire which gives the idea that what is being addressed are the human attributes of feeling, sensing, desire and thought, this is where this story is different from other creation myths.
In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up - for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground - t...
In this paper I will discuss three similarities and four differences between Enuma Elish-The Epic of Creation (King,1902) and Genesis 1:1-3:24 as described by Michael Fishbane (Fishbane, 1979). These writings are selected to describe the story of creation of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth. However, each author has a very different view and way of explaining what they have interpreted the sacred texts to mean.
Every ancient society and civilization has creation myths that were passed down and keep alive throughout the passing of time by word of mouth. These myths are the world’s oldest stories and are vital to these cultures because they explain their beginnings and give purpose to their existence. By analyzing and interpreting different creation myths it becomes easier to understand different cultures and their connections and relationships with heir beliefs and god(s).
'[A]nd indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame the earth seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.