Creation Myths of Primitive America

Jeremiah Curtin

• Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9783849644543
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Mysticism
• Index: Social Sciences

Mr. Jeremiah Curtin's book was his first on the unwritten mental productions of primitive America. It contains twenty long myths taken down word for word by him from Indians who knew no religion nor language save their own, and the chief of whom had not seen a white man until years of maturity. These myths are all of remarkable beauty and exceptional value; among the more noteworthy is "Olelbis, " containing an account of the creation of the heavenly house in the Central Blue, the highest point in the sky above us. In this mythis described also the great World Fire which was extinguished by a flood; and next a reconstruction of the face of the earth, which gave the form existing at present.In addition to their intrinsic beauty, these masterpieces of the primitive human mind in America antedate by many ages the earliest forms of thought represented to us in the records of Egypt and Assyria, hence their value may be easily inferred; they explain to us things which had become unintelligible to the priests of Egypt and Assyria in the religious systems which they themselves taught and studied. The volume contains an elaborate introduction and all necessary notes

Creation Myths of Primitive America

Jeremiah Curtin

Contents:

Creation Myths of Primitive America

Introduction

Olelbis

Olelbis And Mem Loimis

Norwan

Tulchuherris

Sedit And The Two Brothers Hus

Hawt

Norwanchakus And Keriha

Kele And Sedit

The Winning Of Halai Auna At The House Of Tuina

The Hakas And The Tennas

Ilhataina

Hitchinna

Tirukala

Sukonia's Wives And The Ichpul Sisters

The Finding Of Fire

Haka Kaina

Titindi Maupa And Paiowa, The Youngest Daughter Of Wakara

The Two Sisters, Haka Lasi And Tsore Jowa

The Dream Of Juiwaiyu And His Journey To Damhauja's Country

The Flight Of Tsanunewa And Defeat Of Hehku

The First Battle In The World And The Making Of The Yana

Notes

Creation Myths of Primitive America, J. Curtin

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Creation Myths of Primitive America

Introduction

THE creation myths of America form a complete system; they give a detailed and circumstantial account of the origin of this world and of all things and creatures contained in it. In the course of the various narratives which compose this myth system an earlier world is described to us, with an order of existence and a method of conduct on which the life of primitive man in America was patterned.

That earlier world had two periods of duration, one of complete and perfect harmony; another of violence, collision, and conflict. The result and outcome of the second period was the creation of all that is animated on earth except man. Man, in the American scheme of creation, stands apart and separate; he is quite alone, peculiar, and special. Above all, he belongs to this continent. The white man was unknown to American myth-makers, as were also men of every other race and of every region outside of the Western Hemisphere.

Described briefly and by an Indian, the American myth system is as follows: "There was a world before this one in which we are living at present; that was the world of the first people, who were different from us altogether. Those people were very numerous, so numerous that if a count could be made of all the stars in the sky, all the feathers on birds, all the hairs and fur on animals, all the hairs of our own heads, they would not be so numerous as the first people."

These people lived very long in peace, in concord, in harmony, in happiness. No man knows, no man can tell, how long they lived in that way. At last the minds of all except a very small number were changed; they fell into conflict,--one offended another consciously or unconsciously, one injured another with or without intention, one wanted some special thing, another wanted that very thing also. Conflict set in, and because of this came a time of activity and struggle, to which there was no end or stop till the great majority of the first people--that is, all except a small number--were turned into the various kinds of living creatures that are on earth now or have ever been on earth, except man,--that is, all kinds of beasts, birds, reptiles, fish, worms, and insects, as well as trees, plants, grasses, rocks, and some mountains; they were turned into everything that we see on the earth or in the sky.

That small number of the former people who did not quarrel, those great first people of the old time who remained of one mind and harmonious, "left the earth, sailed away westward, passed that line where the sky comes down to the earth and touches it, sailed to places beyond; stayed there or withdrew to upper regions and lived in them happily, lived in agreement, live so to-day, and will live in the same way hereafter."

The American system, as we see, begins with an unknown great, indefinite number of uncreated beings,--in other words, of self-existent personages or divinities. Those divinities were everything at first; there was nothing except them, nothing aside from them, nothing beyond them. They existed unchanged through untold periods, or rather through a duration which would be periods were there a measure by which to divide it. They lived side by side in perfect concord, in the repose of a primeval chaos of quiescent mind which presents a most remarkable analogy with the attenuated, quiescent, undifferentiated matter which, according to the nebular hypothesis, filled all points of space in the physical universe before the first impulse of motion was given to it.

At last this long period is ended, there is mental difference among most of the first people, character is evolved and has become evident; rivalries, collisions, and conflicts begin.

The American creation myths, as far as we know them, form simply a series of accounts of the conflicts, happenings, and various methods by which the first world was changed into the world now existing. This change was effected in various ways. In the myths of certain tribes or nations, it is mainly by struggles between hostile personages. One god of great power and character overcomes a vast number of opponents, and changes each into some beast, bird, plant, or insect; but always the resultant beast or other creature corresponds in some power of mind or in some leading quality of character with the god from whose position it has fallen. In certain single cases opponents are closely matched, they are nearly equal in combat; the struggle between them is long, uncertain, and difficult. At last, when one side is triumphant, the victor says, "Hereafter you will be nothing but a ----"; and he tells what the vanquished is to be. But at this point the vanquished turns on the victor and sends his retort like a Parthian arrow, "You will be nothing but a ----"; and he declares what his enemy is to be. The metamorphosis takes place immediately on both sides, and each departs in the form whic...

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