Native American Mythology A to Z, Second Edition

161 Pages·2010·6.6 MB·English

by  Patricia Ann Lynch

Native American
Mythology
A to Z
second edition
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Native American
Mythology
A to Z
second edition
8
Patricia Ann Lynch
Revised by Jeremy Roberts
[
Native American Mythology A to Z, Second Edition
Copyright © 2004, 2010 by Patricia Ann Lynch
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lynch, Patricia Ann.
Native American mythology A to Z / Patricia Ann Lynch; revised by Jeremy Roberts.—2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
e-ISBN: 978-1-4381-3311-9
ISBN 978-1-60413-894-8 (hardcover: alk. paper)
1. Indian mythology—Juvenile literature. I. Roberts, Jeremy, 1956– II. Title.
E59.R38L85 2010
398.2'0973—dc22 2009047833
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Text design by Lina Farinella
Cover design by Alicia Post
Map by Patricia Meschino
Composition by Mary Susan Ryan Flynn
Cover printed by Bang Printing, Brainerd, MN
Book printed and bound by Bang Printing, Brainerd, MN
Date printed: June 2010
Printed in the United States of America
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Contents
8
Introduction vii
Timeline of North American Cultures xviii
Map of Native American Culture Areas xx
A-to-Z Entries 1
Selected Bibliography 128
Index 131

Introduction
8
When the first European explorers arrived on the North American continent
in the late 15th century, they did not find an empty land. More than 2 million
Native Americans representing at least 1,000 different tribes were living in North
America. Native Americans inhabited regions ranging from the frozen Arctic to
subtropical Florida, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. They lived on the
tundra, in the mountains and woodlands, on the plains and prairies, in the swamps
of the Southeast and the deserts of the Southwest. Far from being the single
culture labeled “Indian” by Europeans, Native Americans represented a multitude
of highly developed cultures and spoke hundreds of different languages.
Wherever they lived, Native Americans of North America developed lifestyles,
worldviews, religions, traditions, and mythologies as varied as the environments
they inhabited. In the Arctic, where people depended on the creatures of the sea
for sustenance, myths identified the powerful beings that controlled the supply of
these animals, who needed to be honored and obeyed. Along the Northwest Coast,
people who fished for salmon developed a mythology in which salmon played a
primary role. In the Southwest, where a corn-based agriculture predominated,
legends about corn were prominent. Groups whose lives depended on hunting
told stories about the origin, loss, and recovery of game animals. The climate,
the weather, the geography, the sources of food, and the people’s way of life all
influenced the legends people told.
Humans use mythology and ritual to establish a sense of community and
identity and an understanding of their place in the universe. These tools maintain
the traditions of a culture and reflect what is most important in people’s lives.
We read myths not only to learn about the culture in which the myth originated
but to discover the hearts and minds of the mythmakers. This book explores the
surviving mythological traditions of Native North Americans (referred to in this
book simply as Native Americans) ranging from the northern border of what is
now Mexico into the Arctic Circle and from the earliest known myths to the most
recent. The myths of Native Americans give us a glimpse into the ways of life and
worldviews of North America’s first people.
native americans: a Brief History
In the history of a people lie the roots of the people’s culture, religion, tradi-
tions, rituals, and mythology. Little, however, is known about the early history
of Native Americans. Native Americans were not native to the North American
continent. Fossil remains of dinosaurs dating back millions of years have been
found in North America. However, no fossil evidence has been found of human
presence in North America earlier than about 38,000 years ago. Details about the
vii
viii  Native American Mythology A to Z
first Americans’ arrival are lost in prehistory. Through various scientific methods,
however, a picture has begun to develop. Radiocarbon dating of artifacts and sites
where animals were killed, DNA studies comparing Native Americans to other
population groups, and studies by linguists of similarities and differences among
Native American languages have led scientists to conclude that the first humans in
North America began arriving from Asia about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. (These
findings conflict with the religious and cultural beliefs of some Native Americans
who dispute this conclusion.)
During the last Ice Age, which lasted until about 10,000 years ago, enough of
the planet’s water was locked up in glaciers to lower the level of the oceans as much
as 300 feet. Land that is now submerged was above sea level. Between Siberia and
Alaska a bridge of land called Beringia stretched across what is now the Bering
Strait. Based on radiocarbon dating of archaeological sites in the Yukon and along
the Pacific coast, it seems likely that bands of Paleolithic hunters migrated across
this land bridge. Another theory suggests that some groups crossed the Pacific by
boat before the land bridge existed. A site in New Mexico dating back 38,000 years
and one in Chile dating back 33,000 years support this theory. People migrating on
foot across Beringia could not have reached these sites so quickly. Signs of human
habitation on some Pacific islands dating back 20,000 or more years indicate that
early humans were capable of crossing long stretches of open sea. According to
evidence based on the length of time sites have been occupied, the most recent
arrivals—the Inuit and Aleut—migrated across the Bering Sea from Siberia in
skin boats and wooden dugout canoes between 2500 and 1000 b.c., after the ocean
waters again covered Beringia.
Archaeological, DNA, and linguistic analysis suggests that some waves of
people migrating onto the North American continent settled where they first
arrived. Others continued on, migrating across the continent and continuing south
into Central and South America. They followed the paths that opened up as the ice
sheets that covered North America melted and withdrew. As various passageways
developed, the first Americans migrated south along the Pacific Coast, east across
what is now Canada, and southeast into the heart of the continent. These migra-
tions became part of the mythology of later cultures.
For the first arrivals, called Paleo-Indians, the dominant way of life was
nomadic and consisted of foraging and big-game hunting. Paleo-Indians hunted
mammals of the Pleistocene epoch that later became extinct in North America:
woolly mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed tigers, American lions, camels,
dire wolves, long-horned bison, horses, and giant sloths. Archaeologists and
anthropologists have learned a great deal about the lives and migrations of these
early people from artifacts and bones found at campsites and kill sites. Over the
centuries, the Paleo-Indians improved the weapons they used to hunt their prey.
Spear points chipped from stone, now identified as Clovis and Folsom from the
sites in New Mexico where they were first found, are among the best known of
Paleo-Indian artifacts. Clovis points have been dated as 12,000 to 15,000 years old
and have been found throughout North America. Other spear-point cultures were
the Sandia (ca. 9100–8000 b.c.), which was also centered in the Southwest, and the
Plano or Plainview (ca. 8000–4500 b.c.), which was primarily associated with the
Great Plains.
Between 10,000 and 8000 b.c., the Ice Age ended with the final retreat of the
northern glaciers. During this time, the big-game species that had been the primary
prey of Paleo-Indian hunters became extinct. As the climate warmed, new animal
and plant species filled in the gaps left by those that died out. The Clovis and other
spear-point cultures began to give way to regional variants generally called Archaic
cultures, which flourished from about 5000 to 1000 b.c. The Archaic, or Foraging,
Introduction  ix
This 1876 illustration reveals a wide range of dress and facial features of more than two dozen different
Native American tribes. (Original art first published in 1876 edition of Nordisk Familjebok)
Period was characterized by migratory hunting, trapping of small game, fishing,
and gathering of edible wild plants. As animal prey became scarcer, people became
more dependent on plant foods. The cultivation of crops such as squash, beans, and
maize (corn) was introduced. In some parts of the continent, people began to settle
in permanent villages. During this period, people of the Southeast began making
pottery. The practice gradually spread throughout North America.
The change from a nomadic, hunting and gathering culture to a more sedentary,
agriculture-based culture was the beginning of what is called the Formative Period.
In addition to the establishment of villages and the development of agriculture,
the Formative Period was characterized by pottery making, weaving, and trade.
Across the continent, cultures became more diverse. Ceremonies and ritual gained
increasing importance in people’s lives, and carvings in stone expressed people’s
beliefs. As the people’s way of life changed from hunting to agriculture, it is likely
that their myths changed as well. The mythology of hunting societies is dominated
by tales about the game animals so important to life. Myths of agricultural societies
focus more on the fertility of crops and rainmaking.
In the Southeast, the Ohio River valley, and along the Mississippi River and
its tributaries, unique mound-building cultures arose beginning around 1800 b.c.
These cultures were characterized by the construction of huge earthworks, some
in geometric shapes and others—called effigy mounds—in the form of animals