3 Native American Myths you Didn't Learn in School
Blackfoot Myth of Creation
There are numerous creationalism myths surrounding Native American lore. One of which is the myth involving Napioa. Napioa is known by many names such as the sun, old man and lastly Napi.
Napioa is said to have created the earth using mud from a turtle’s mouth from a river Napioa was floating on. Not only did he create the earth but he is also believed to have created man and woman as well. He is also believed to have created all the animals and vegetation as well.
The Origin of Light
Back in early times, there was only darkness and no light what so ever. At the end of the ocean was a woman and one day she set out to get some water. As she was scraping in the snow she noticed a feather floating near her. She opened her mouth while the feather floated in. From that time onward she became pregnant. She had a baby and its mouth was that of a raven’s bill.
The woman tried as hard as she could to find toys for her baby. She noticed in her father’s house there was an inflated bladder hanging up. Now the baby known as tulugaak (Raven), pointed at it and cried for it. The woman did not want to give the child the bladder but he kept crying. Finally, she gave in and took the bladder from the wall and let the child play with it. But the child broke it immediately, it began to get light.
Now there was light in the world, and now there was darkness too. When the woman’s father came home he scolded his daughter for being too careless and giving the child the bladder. But when the light came tulugaak had disappeared.
The First Fire – Cherokee
In the beginning of time, there was no fire or heat source. The animals along with the people were often cold. Only the Thunders, who lived in the world beyond the earth had fire to keep warm.
At last, they sent lighting down the world. Lighting put fire into the bottom of a sycamore tree. The animal people knew that the fire was there, they saw smoke rising from the tree but didn’t know how to get it from the top of the tree. They could not get to it on account of the water. The animal people held a council to decide how to get the fire.
At the time Raven was white and he flew high and far over the water to reach the top of the tree. He sat there wondering what to do, the heat burned his feathers black. This scared Raven and he flew home without bringing the fire back.
Ever since then Raven’s feathers have been black. Then the council sent the screech owl. He flew to the island where the fire was. When he was looking down into the hollow tree, a blast of hot air came up and almost blinded him. He flew home from then on his eyes have been red.
Then Hooting Owl and Horned Owl flew off island together. But the smoke almost blinded them. The ashes carried up by the wind made white rings about their eyes. They flew home and were never able to get rid of the white rings.
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