Essay About The Native American Creation Story

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Native American stories about the creation of the world and human beings different tribes. There are so many and they all vary. Some have goddesses and gods, spirit being, animals and mystical creatures. They are all very interesting and tell us a little bit about the tribes. The Cherokee tribe has an interesting creation story. In “Native American Legends” animals came first, already living in the sky. They became curious with what was below and began to discover water and land. With in no specific series of events the Earth was formed. With the wings of a buzzard the mountains and valleys were formed. The animals also called for the sun because of the darkness. They lived in a world above earth and decided to occupy this new world.1 In “Cherokee Indians” another version of the Cherokee creation story, man came after the animals and the plants and trees. In the new world it was only two humans at first, a brother and a sister. The brother hit the sister with a fish and told her to multiply and she had a child seven days later. She continued to bear children every seven days until things became too dangerous. They decided then only to have one child a year.2 The creation story from the Cherokee tribe varies a little from where it is told. There are over three versions slightly different from one another that can be found online. The historic Cherokee region; Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, is the considered Cherokee land in these stories. These two stories illustrate some of the same concepts we see in most creation stories of Native Americans; animals were present first and a generation of Cherokee men and women were created shortly after. These two stories ... ... middle of paper ... ...hich animals found or created the earth and how man procreated. In the Chinook story a half-man half- being started mankind. In the Cherokee story man just appeared and it was more about procreation. In the Chinook story the many pairs of men and women split up and went different ways. There is only one family in the Cherokee story and they stated there on the Cherokee lands. Some similarities are revolve around the animals playing a big part in how the earth was formed and discovered. The animals in both stories were present first according to the stories. Both of these great stories represent how the Indian Americans view there relationship with their lands throughout history. They are very attached to and connected to the lands they were born and raised on. There creation stories suggest they were the first people in America and the first to occupy the land.

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