Trickster In Native American Culture

Unit 1 Essay: Native American Trickster Tales

A Trickster is a troublesome or deceitful character in myth or oral history who typically makes up for not being able to be physically capable to do much with being deceitful and destructive. A Trickster switches around between being intelligent to being dumb, nice to mean, to an imposter playing people to being the one getting played, who broke the rules yet created an incredible culture for the Native American people. In almost every oral tradition in the world tricksters play a vital part in the characteristics of what a trickster actually is. Tradition always begins somewhere and with something, that is what makes every culture and every tradition so unique.

The tricksters took what the African people made in the U.S. which was focused primarily on traditions practiced by small foot, homogenous, rural groups living in

relative isolation from other groups this was called by the African people folk tradition. Tradition is made up of many different factors in the world, each with different customs and beliefs based on different ideas they have developed within time. Tricksters are defined as characters or animals in many different traditions within the African American beliefs. Many in cases made to seem weak yet would be very successful in getting the best from their opponent in many circumstances. Tricksters where very intelligent in the way in which they did certain things to get away with many things all by just fooling their opponent.
“Cycles of stories relate to the Native Americans’ subsistence experiences—planting, hunting, and fishing—and to life experiences—birth, puberty, and death. Other stories explain the more distant origin of the world and emergence of the people, the development of the particular Native American population and crucial events in the history of that population, and the uncertain nature of human existence.”( Wiget) We as humans have yet to learn all of what is told and said throughout the years in history. The Native American people had different cultures which impacted the world throughout the years because they were very different from the Europeans. Unlike Europeans, Native Americans could name many more forms of “literature.” Some of them were “ Winnebago trickster tale cycles, Apache jokes, Hopi personal naming and grievance chants,Yaqui deer sings, Yuman dream songs, Piman shamanic chants, Iroquois condolence rituals, Navajo curing and blessing chants, and Chippewa sings of the Great Medici ne Society, to nam only some of the types of the Navtive American verbal expression.”(Baym and Levine 7)
The oral tradition of the tricksters involves much more than what one may actually believe. The Winnebago people who spoke Siouan came to their homelands at the Western end of what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Baym and Levine 101) These people believed in two different tricksters, the first being the Wakjanga and the other being the Hare trickster. The Wakjanga receives his name because it is so said that he was failing to keep the people safe from the so called “ evil being” . Wakjanga means “The foolish one” to the Winnebago tribe. As tricksters they were seen as a sort of supernatural creatures who were considered myths.
The Sioux speakers of Nakata, Dakota and Lakota, which make up the seven Native nations.( Baym and Levine 111) The tricksters mentioned as the “main” trickster was Iktomi which was seen as a danger to the welfare of the people. () Another mentioned in the Sioux tales was the coyote which also served a vital part in the Sioux people’s life. The Sioux believed that they brought the evil which caused bad things to happen to their people because of the fact that Iktomi was trying to get rid of Iyo who was the one he met as they were both headed towards the same village. With different trickster tales and different traditions the Sioux people and the Winnebago people seemed to both have the same idea for the so called “Trickster tales”.
“Cycles of stories relate to the Native Americans’ subsistence experiences—planting, hunting, and fishing—and to life experiences—birth, puberty, and death.

Other stories explain the more distant origin of the world and emergence of the people, the development of the particular Native American population and crucial events in the history of that population, and the uncertain nature of human existence.”( Wiget) We as humans have yet to learn all of what is told and said throughout the years in history. The Native American people had different cultures which impacted the world throughout the years because they were very different from the Europeans. Unlike Europeans, Native Americans could name many more forms of “literature.” Some of them were “ Winnebago trickster tale cycles, Apache jokes, Hopi personal naming and grievance chants,Yaqui deer sings, Yuman dream songs, Piman shamanic chants, Iroquois condolence rituals, Navajo curing and blessing chants, and Chippewa sings of the Great Medici ne Society, to nam only some of the types of the Navtive American verbal expression.”(Baym and Levine

7)
In these Native American communities that where formed by the people such as the Winnebago, Sioux, and Navajo the trickster tales were for the most part pictured into the peoples mind due to the creative and dramatic telling of what the tales were. These tales were used as a sort of entertainment for the people due to the fact that since the tales were in many cases related to something in the interest of the people, there was no snoring to be heard as the stories where told. It was believed that the tales were show to be interested as “ morality tales” to the children to prove certain points between the good and the evil and from what is right to was is wrong. Tales were seen as a easy and efficient way to get certain points across to the people including children. Many tales proved certain beliefs the people had and the reasoning to why they had them. Tales are told as story and many ways can be seen as certain reflections to the real world, therefore making it harder for the people to know whether or not the tales were fictional or non-fictional.
The communication which was used to narrate the different tales fell into impacting the American Literature we see today. Tales are told all around the world some fiction and some non-fiction to tell about different topics and stories which catch the audiences ear and eye to pay attention to what is going on around them. Literature is read and heard for many reasons some for entertainment others to grasp knowledge to be better informed of the real world which we are surrounded by. It is better to be well informed than misinformed.
Literature is read to be understood and to be interpreted by the people in many ways. Starting from the most fictional stories who in some cases can be doubted of their credibility, to those which are non-fictional and can be proven with specific facts from different sources.