Mythology of the Cultural Regions

1. Mythology of the Cultural Regions

2. In general: • There is not a single, unified body of mythology • Each tribe had its own version of creation, appearance of first people, lives and deeds of heroes and deities. • spiritual forces can be sensed through the natural world—including clouds, winds, plants, and animals—that they shape and sustain • actions of gods, heroes, and ancestors , how death came into the world

3. Each region contains many different peoples and languages, • some elements of mythology are shared across the region • and certain kinds of stories are particularly important. • Characters like tricksters and animals can be both positive and negative. • Primary gods are usually responsible for the basic needs: Father Sky and Mother Corn • Secondary gods are personifications of natural sources: wind

4. Arctic and Subarctic region: • Sedna, a deity known as the mistress or mother of sea animals • Igaluk, the moon god • trickster stories • Stories of heroes who transform, or change, the world into its present state, and the origins of the clans.

5. The Great Basin, Midwest and California Region • trickster and "transformer" myths • animals and deities who started the process of creation • female heroes and about gods who die and are reborn

6. The Great Plains: heroes and tricksters predominate • Southeast region: stories about councils of animals • Northeast: stories cluster around culture heroes. • Southwest: „dying gods, Myths about migrations, heroes who rid the world of monsters, and the origins of humans within the earth are also important

7. Important to know: • Mythology, religion, history, and ritual were not separate • Function: defined peoples' identity and gave order and meaning to their lives • passed from generation to generation in oral form • Different types of tails: some can be told anytime, some only onspecial occasions • Tricksters: The appear in almost all region’s stories. It is always male and animal representing uncertainty.

8. Tricksters: • The appear in almost all region’s stories, but mostly in hunter-gatherer peoples • It is always male and animal • represents uncertainty. • Loves upsetting things and causing confusion • Occasionally he ends up being tricked himself. • Eastern regions: rabbit; Plains and Southwest: coyote and spider; Pacific Northwest: raven

9. Examples: • Northeast: Iroquois: The woman who fell from the sky • Southeast: Cherokee: Why does the rabbit have short tail • Great Plains: Apache: Coyote gets rich off the white men • Southwest: Navajo: Song of the horses • Great-Basin: Shoshone: Wolf tricks the Trickster • Plateau: Yakama: The Owl-Woman Monster • California region: Chumash: The boys who turned into geese • Nothwest: Chinook: The Raven and the Gull

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