Native American Stories

The post is by Tyson Wine

I'm finding it increasingly interesting to learn about Native American stories. I find it especially fascinating to learn their ideas about various animals. Animals are often treated as if they have attributes similar to humans - for better or worse. We see this in stories such as Turtle Island and the story of the Fat Beaver told by Delbert Miller. Anyway, my interest in these personifications shows that the culture/nature dichotomy is not present in native cultures in the US. American Indians are part of nature, in touch with nature, and willing to learn from nature.

The stories I'm going to share are from a new book I've been reading called "Native American Stories of the Sacred" retold and annotated by Evan T. Pritchard. The stories I specifically tell are "How Deer Got His Horns" and "Why Deer's Teeth are Blunt" partially because they are really two parts of one story (showing that everything should be in balance, it appears) and greatly because I am trying to learn as much about Cherokee history as possible, as I am a descendant of a Cherokee. I will likely refer to other parts of the book indirectly, so if you are interested, I highly encourage you to read it!

"How Deer Got His Horns"

Before deer had his horns, it was wondered wether deer or rabbit were faster, since both were fast but in different ways. Deer could run fast, but rabbit was a great jumper and moved pretty rapidly through the woods. What's more, rabbit was clever. To find out who was faster, a race was divised with a grand prize of a nice pair of antlers. The day of the race, Rabbit asked to take a look around the thatchet where the race was to take place - claiming not to know this neck of the woods. As the other animals waited, it occured that the tricky rabbit might be up to something, and so a messenger was sent to figure out where rabbit was. He did so, and discovered rabbit attempting to dig a short-cut through the thicket. It was in this way that deer won the race - not through speed but by innocence - and to this day Deer wheres his antlers that he won. Rabbit did not lose the race for lack of speed but for trickery and disqualification.

Analysis:

I forgot to mention that this story actually contains analysis of these stories, but not in the context of environmental anthropology. Nevertheless, it's a pretty great book.

First of all, the book says that the Cherokee say, "To serve others, to be of some use to family, community, Nation, and the world, is one of the main purposes for which human beings have been created ... True happiness comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others." The point is that servitude and kindness and an objective position are the purpose of life, not personal gain. While I don't want to turn this particular blog into a political one, the implications of capitalism as destructive self-interest are evidenced by this story. This story takes the personalities of animals and applies them to ethics. In this way, the Cherokee were able to show that ethics were more important than personal gain and pride. More importantly, this story shows that the rewards ultimately go to those who are fair and honest.

This is a different approach to TEK than we've seen. Instead of merely showing that the Cherokee understand TEK, we see that the Cherokee used their understanding of nature to express ethics. This is important because there was no legal punishment for criminal behavior in American Indian communities. What you had was a populous of people who say through stories what was right and wrong. These stories were the connection between TEK and ethics. Another point, by the author, is that excellence attracts jealousy. "Jealousy is best dealt with by cautious, gradual power-sharing in the Native tradition, not with naivete or hostility.

Alright, so I admit that I included this particular photo because these bunnies are obviously up to no good ...

This story flows into the next, showing that no story should be considered separate from any other. What's more, no story should be considered merely for its portrayal of the winner. (There are losers, and when they are as cute as the up-to-something bunnies above, we definitely want to consider them to ...)

Why Deer's Teeth Are Blunt

I'll make this story short because I'm getting kind of long-winded here. The rabbit, being entirely jealous and a little hurt, tricked deer into believing that he could cut through some tough vine and that deer could not because his teeth were too blunt. Rabbit then convinced deer that he needed his teeth to be sharpened, and promptly filed down deers teeth so that he too could cut through the vine. Unfortunately, he didn't sharpen but filed dull, and deer was left able to eat nothing other than grass and leaves. Rabbit claims "now you've paid for your horns," implying that some loss has to come with deer's gain of his horns.

The obvious side of deer that we see here is the naivety that simplicity can lead to.
What's more, there is a balance in the universe that is very well portrayed here. More importantly, the moral seems to be that you shall never trust the clever as their cleverness is often used for the wrong pursuits, such as greed or jealousy. Nevertheless, deer's naivety shows us that if we are not careful we can pay for our achievements. The Cherokee believe this to be a great truth - that excellence attracts jealousy - and thus encourage "gradual power-sharing" which sounds to me like a truer version of democracy than our own. I certainly did not feel as if the last eight years were ones comprised of "power-sharing" but none-the-less, the Cherokee form of governing and even encouragement of perseverence of that power-sharing is impresive.

To quote Pritchard; "As I have been told, "The Mi'kmaq didn't have jails or mental institutions, they had ahdooga'an" (teaching tales). When people are raised right on strong stories, they grow up strong, ready to deal with small problems before they get big. That way, tyranny never gets a foothold."

Last, I would like to ask a question (for reply or just thought): Did the Cherokee learn from the mistakes of the animals, or did they merely create "stories" out of their interpretations of personalities represented by animals? It appears that the Cherokee understood animals to have personalities just like humans, with the necessity of learning from their mistakes.

Images To Go With the Hopi Creation Story From Caitlin Margitan

I attached links to images that support the Hopi story and and my analysis because blogger would not let my upload the actual images. It makes my post less exciting, but still gives you a chance to see these beautiful things.



Map of Hopi Territory http://www.nau.edu/~hcpo-p/images/HOPIMAP.GIF?

Image of spider woman a main individual in the story http://www.crystalinks.com/spiderwoman.jpg

artistic interpretation of the story http://www.greatdreams.com/hopimy.gif

View of the land http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/hopibuttes/HopiButtesLow.jpg

Hopi Corn http://www.jungleseeds.com/images/SweetCornHopi.JPG

Hopi Creation Story and Analysis By Caitlin Margitan

The Four Creations

      The world at first was endless space in which existed only the Creator, Taiowa. This world had no time, no shape, and no life, except in the mind of the Creator. Eventually the infinite creator created the finite in Sotuknang, whom he called his nephew and whom he created as his agent to establish nine universes. Sotuknang gathered together matter from the endless space to make the nine solid worlds. Then the Creator instructed him to gather together the waters from the endless space and place them on these worlds to make land and sea. When Sotuknang had done that, the Creator instructed him to gather together air to make winds and breezes on these worlds.

      The fourth act of creation with which the Creator charged Sotuknang was the creation of life. Sotuknang went to the world that was to first host life and there he created Spider Woman, and he gave her the power to create life. First Spider Woman took some earth and mixed it with saliva to make two beings. Over them she sang the Creation Song, and they came to life. She instructed one of them, Poqanghoya, to go across the earth and solidify it. She instructed the other, Palongawhoya, to send out sound to resonate through the earth, so that the earth vibrated with the energy of the Creator. Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya were despatched to the poles of the earth to keep it rotating.

      Then Spider Woman made all the plants, the flowers, the bushes, and the trees. Likewise she made the birds and animals, again using earth and singing the Creation Song. When all this was done, she made human beings, using yellow, red, white, and black earth mixed with her saliva. Singing the Creation Song, she made four men, and then in her own form she made four women. At first they had a soft spot in their foreheads, and although it solidified, it left a space through which they could hear the voice of Sotuknang and their Creator. Because these people could not speak, Spider Woman called on Sotuknang, who gave them four languages. His only instructions were for them to respect their Creator and to live in harmony with him.

      These people spread across the earth and multiplied. Despite their four languages, in those days they could understand each other's thoughts anyway, and for many years they and the animals lived together as one. Eventually, however, they began to divide, both the people from the animals and the people from each other, as they focused on their differences rather than their similarities. As division and suspicion became more widespread, only a few people from each of the four groups still remembered their Creator. Sotuknang appeared before these few and told them that he and the Creator would have to destroy this world, and that these few who remembered the Creator must travel across the land, following a cloud and a star, to find refuge. These people began their treks from the places where they lived, and when they finally converged Sotuknang appeared again. He opened a huge ant mound and told these people to go down in it to live with the ants while he destroyed the world with fire, and he told them to learn from the ants while they were there. The people went down and lived with the ants, who had storerooms of food that they had gathered in the summer, as well as chambers in which the people could live. This went on for quite a while, because after Sotuknang cleansed the world with fire it took a long time for the world to cool off. As the ants' food ran low, the people refused the food, but the ants kept feeding them and only tightened their own belts, which is why ants have such tiny waists today.

      Finally Sotuknang was done making the second world, which was not quite as beautiful as the first. Again he admonished the people to remember their Creator as they and the ants that had hosted them spread across the earth. The people multiplied rapidly and soon covered the entire earth. They did not live with the animals, however, because the animals in this second world were wild and unfriendly. Instead the people lived in villages and built roads between these, so that trade sprang up. They stored goods and traded those for goods from elsewhere, and soon they were trading for things they did not need. As their desire to have more and more grew, they began to forget their Creator, and soon wars over resources and trade were breaking out between villages. Finally Sotuknang appeared before the few people who still remembered the Creator, and again he sent them to live with the ants while he destroyed this corrupt world. This time he ordered Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya to abandon their posts at the poles, and soon the world spun out of control and rolled over. Mountains slid and fell, and lakes and rivers splashed across the land as the earth tumbled, and finally the earth froze over into nothing but ice.

      This went on for years, and again the people lived with the ants. Finally Sotuknang sent Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya back to the poles to resume the normal rotation of the earth, and soon the ice melted and life returned. Sotuknang called the people up from their refuge, and he introduced them to the third world that he had made. Again he admonished the people to remember their Creator as they spread across the land. As they did so, they multiplied quickly, even more quickly than before, and soon they were living in large cities and developing into separate nations. With so many people and so many nations, soon there was war, and some of the nations made huge shields on which they could fly, and from these flying shields they attacked other cities. When Sotuknang saw all this war and destruction, he resolved to destroy this world quickly before it corrupted the few people who still remembered the Creator. He called on Spider Woman to gather those few and, along the shore, she placed each person with a little food in the hollow stem of a reed. When she had done this, Sotuknang let loose a flood that destroyed the warring cities and the world on which they lived.

      Once the rocking of the waves ceased, Spider Woman unsealed the reeds so the people could see. They floated on the water for many days, looking for land, until finally they drifted to an island. On the island they built little reed boats and set sail again to the east. After drifting many days, they came to a larger island, and after many more days to an even larger island. They hoped that this would be the fourth world that Sótuknang had made for them, but Spider Woman assured them that they still had a long and hard journey ahead. They walked across this island and built rafts on the far side, and set sail to the east again. They came to a fourth and still larger island, but again they had to cross it on foot and then build more rafts to continue east. From this island, Spider Woman sent them on alone, and after many days they encountered a vast land. Its shores were so high that they could not find a place to land, and only by opening the doors in their heads did they know where to go to land.

      When they finally got ashore, Sotuknang was there waiting for them. As they watched to the west, he made the islands that they had used like stepping-stones disappear into the sea. He welcomed them to the fourth world, but he warned them that it was not as beautiful as the previous ones, and that life here would be harder, with heat and cold, and tall mountains and deep valleys. He sent them on their way to migrate across the wild new land in search of the homes for their respective clans. The clans were to migrate across the land to learn its ways, although some grew weak and stopped in the warm climates or rich lands along the way. The Hopi trekked and far and wide, and went through the cold and icy country to the north before finally settling in the arid lands between the Colorado River and Rio Grande River. They chose that place so that the hardship of their life would always remind them of their dependence on, and link to, their Creator.

Source:

Fredericks, Oswald White Bear. "The Four Creations." Creation Stories from around the World. July 2000. University of Georgia. 30 Nov 2008 .

 

 Analysis

Over the course of the story the reader gets an understanding of the great respect and connection that the Hopi have to the earth caused by the repeated discipline for deviation by the creator.  They have learned if they do not control their population or only use what is allotted to them there are strict consequences from not only their creator, but also their co-inhabitants.

Due to these factors the Hopi have developed a means of subsistence were in they can live without harming the earth or disrespecting the other plants and animals they share the planet with.  Examples of the methods they use to do this are “Flood-water farming crops …[which] are planted in fields and in the major washes and [are] watered as snow melts and through summer cloudbursts, Akchin farming crops… planted in areas where floodwater spreads out at the mouth of an arroyo (gully), and irrigated gardening crops [which] are grown in stepped, rock-walled terraces on the sides of the mesas and irrigated by gravity fed ditches.” (Vasquez)

From the story it is seen that all have a duty to take care of the land and live to serve their fellow man and wilderness, not just themselves.  This is shown by the punishment of those that fight over resources such as in the water wars, and the constant protection of those that try and live within the bounds they are given (an example of which is when spider woman sealed the good humans in reeds and let the rest be wiped out by the creator).  Looking at physical Hopi practices this can be seen in the equal division of labor between men and women in the community.  Men are responsible for “clearing the fields, [the] planting and maintenance of the corn, and harvesting the corn” meaning their burden is heavy, but not unique to their gender.  Women are “responsible for [the] caring of the seeds, distribution of harvest products, Planting and gathering of vegetables and fruit from terraces, and assisting men in the fields” (Vasquez)   Those that share these duties are the ones from the story that “trekked far and wide, and went through the cold and icy country to the north before finally settling in the arid lands between the Colorado River and Rio Grande River.” (Fredericks)  They settled here so “the hardship of their life would always remind them of their dependence on, and link to, their Creator.” (Fredericks)  An example of the Hopi’s determination to stay true to the earth and their spiritual livelihood is found in this reference to another creation story “as the Hopi moved from the third to the fourth way of life (referencing the transition referred to as new worlds in the story above), they were offered corn by Ma'saw. The other peoples took the largest ears of corn and Hopis were left with the short blue ear. The Hopis knew that their fourth way of life would be difficult and that they must submit to the corn as a way of life.” (Vasquez)  As a people the Hopi have something that anthropologists can translate for the rest of society to not only gain respect for our fellow humans of different cultures, but also to help us understand the environmental need to use less and live not just for oneself. The methods that the Hopi use to live create much less of a mark on the planet because they find value in the world that surrounds them spiritually.  As world citizens it is our responsibility to find value in that and to look to place based societies for instruction.

This story is of anthropologic value because it shows how “these agricultural activities also reinforce traditions and customs in each new generation, for as one Hopi gardener said, ‘This is not about growing vegetables; it is about growing kids.’ ” (Vasquez)  This story has environmental anthropologic value because it gives deeper insight into the impact of this society on the rest of the environment compared to the rest of society, and they can continue to discover which groups are most adapted to the earth for continued co-inhabitation.  An example of the lessons that are passed down to preserve culture and have environmental benefit comes from the part of the story in which Sotuknang “opened a huge ant mound and told these people to go down in it to live with the ants while he destroyed the world with fire (possibly a reference to the asteroids that once impaled the earth as balls of fire), and he told them to learn from the ants while they were there. The people went down and lived with the ants, who had storerooms of food that they had gathered in the summer... This went on for quite a while… as the ants' food ran low, the people refused the food, but the ants kept feeding them and only tightened their own belts, which is why ants have such tiny waists today.” (Fredericks)  In this little section of the story we see native entomology in the description of the ants figure, the importance of storing food to both subsistence and culture,  and the spiritual belief connected to the importance of preserving food.  If they did not preserve food they would starve in the winter when there is less to find, but if the youth were told just that they would value it less then if they had a moral reason as well.  Thus this story has value for all people, but those that can use and value it to the deepest degree are those that belong to the culture it comes from.  Anthropologists can use these stories to, but understand people’s relation to earth, but they must realize that without an emic perspective they will not understand fully.

            There is a lot more that can be discussed about in this story such as the reference to their being more then one planet and historical natural processes such as the ice age (when the creator froze the planet) and the fact that the earth rotates, but these are just side bars that show the depth of Hopi knowledge of the global and universal environment.  The focus of all three of my posts will be the use of the creation story to create a foundation for a society of sustainable subsistence, and therefore I will not stray to far into these other topics.  The reason for my focus on this aspect is that this seems to be a constant message within the creation stories of different groups, and also is an aspect that I think if looked at enough will cause the general field of anthropology to value creation stories more, and use them more in the research of the societies they belong to.  

Other source cited in analysis besides the creation story itself:

Vasquez, Dr. Miguel . "Hopi Agriculture." the Official Hopi Cultural Preservation Office home Page. 2007. The Hopi Cultural Preservation Office. 30 Nov 2008 .

 

Pan Gu and Nü Wa

Post by Rebecca Mortensen

This story is a synthesis of three stories from classical Chinese mythology. The stories come from The Classic of Mountains and Seas, an anthology of stories collected in the first century B.C. that were nearly as ancient then as the anthology seems to us today.

Pan Gu and Nü Wa

 

Long, long ago, when heaven and earth were still one, the entire universe was contained in an egg-shaped cloud. All the matter of the universe swirled chaotically in that egg. 

Deep within the swirling matter was Pan Gu, a huge giant who grew in the chaos. For 18,000 years he developed and slept in the egg. 

Finally one day he awoke and stretched, and the egg broke to release the matter of the universe. The lighter purer elements drifted upwards to make the sky and heavens, and the heavier impure elements settled downwards to make the earth.

In the midst of this new world, Pan Gu worried that heaven and earth might mix again; so he resolved to hold them apart, with the heavens on his head and the earth under his feet. As the two continued to separate, Pan Gu grew to hold them apart. For 18,000 years he continued to grow, until the heavens were 30,000 miles above the earth. For much longer he continued to hold the two apart, fearing the return of the chaos of his youth. Finally he realized they were stable, and soon after that he died.

With the immense giant's death, the earth took on new character. His arms and legs became the four directions and the mountains. His blood became the rivers, and his sweat became the rain and dew. His voice became the thunder, and his breath became the winds. His hair became the grass, and his veins became the roads and paths. His teeth and bones became the minerals and rocks, and his flesh became the soil of the fields. Up above, his left eye became the sun, and his right eye became the moon. Thus in death, as in life, Pan Gu made the world as it is today.

Many centuries later, there was a goddess named Nü Wa who roamed this wild world that Pan Gu had left behind, and she became lonely in her solitude. Stopping by a pond to rest, she saw her reflection and realized that there was nothing like herself in the world. She resolved to make something like herself for company.

From the edge of the pond she took some mud and shaped it in the form of a human being. At first her creation was lifeless, and she set it down. It took life as soon as it touched the soil, however, and soon the human was dancing and celebrating its new life. Pleased with her creation, Nü Wa made more of them, and soon her loneliness disappeared in the crowd of little humans around her. For two days she made them, and still she wanted to make more. Finally she pulled down a long vine and dragged it through the mud, and then she swung the vine through the air. Droplets of mud flew everywhere and, when they fell, they became more humans that were nearly as perfect as the ones she had made by hand. Soon she had spread humans over the whole world. The ones she made by hand became the aristocrats, and the ones she made with the vine became the poor common people.

Even then, Nü Wa realized that her work was incomplete, because as her creations died she would have to make more. She solved this problem by dividing the humans into male and female, so that they could reproduce and save her from having to make new humans to break her solitude.

Many years later, Pan Gu's greatest fear came true. The heavens collapsed so that there were holes in the sky, and the earth cracked, letting water rush from below to flood the earth. At other places, fire sprang forth from the earth, and everywhere wild beasts emerged from the forests to prey on the people. Nü Wa drove the beasts back and healed the earth. To fix the sky, she took stones of many colors from the river and built a fire in which she melted them. She used the molten rock to patch the holes in the sky, and she used the four legs of a giant turtle to support the sky again. Exhausted by her labors, she soon lay down to die and, like Pan Gu, from her body came many more features to adorn the world that she had restored.


Source:
Jan Walls and Yvonne Walls (translators and editors), 1984, Classical Chinese Myths: Hong Kong, Joint Publishing Company, 135 p. (BL1825.C48 1984)

Relation to Environmental Anthropology

In this Chinese creation story, all of Pan Gu's body turned into different parts of the world. Meaning every part of the world today is very important as Pan Gu gave his life to create the earth. His veins, his bones, and even his skin turned into parts of the world that exist today. As when Nu Wa died, she turned into more features of the earth. This shows how much care and respect the Chinese have for the earth. The healing of the earth and heaven that Nu Wa does shows that there are still problems in the earth which will need to be fixed. Showing a never-ending cycle of repair for the earth and the heavens. As in Tom Porter's piece on a Mohawk creation story, this Chinese story does incorporate a turtle into helping the people and the earth to survive. Unlike his story, this one starts with the creation of the earth before there were people, plants, or animals. Possibly showing an equality between the three in the hierarchy with the Gods Pan Gu and Nu Wa.

These are just some interpretations I had of the story and if I am incorrect on some point, please let me know and I will do my best to fix it.

The Water Wagtail and the Ainu

Post by Arreana A.

The Ainu people of northern Japan (a population centered mostly within the large northern island of Hokkaido and the Kuril island chain just north of it) have faced discrimination and forced assimilation for centuries. And though older generations turn to the new, the issue of Ainu indignity and their sovereign rights has yet to be fully discussed within the nation.

To begin, I will lay out the Ainu creation myth, following will be a brief look at subsistence practices within the Ainu culture and then I will close with Japan's response to this indigenous culture.

CREATION

Please note that the following creation tale was taken from ethnography written in 1949 titled “Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan.”

Ainu creation stories vary place to place, with the fine details seemingly interchangeable and contextual, but the root of the story remains the same. Just as in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology and in the Hebrew Religion, we see that the Ainu believed “chaos reigned before creation.” The world before creation was nothing more than a large quagmire. This large body was a mixture of water and earth; in essence, a huge chaotic swamp. However, nothing lived in this primordial swamp. This chaos was desolate, and yet above it Thunder gods lived in the clouds and the creatures flew through the skies. The creator lived in the highest of heavens, “a mighty host of subordinate deities.”

One of these “subordinate deities”, the small water wagtail, would assist in the creation of the earth. He flew down from the skies and “fluttered over the waters with his wings, trampled upon the muddy mass with his feet, and beat it down with his tail.” Thus, separating earth and water and creating dry land. The earth was then called moshiri which means in Ainu language “floating land.” It is interesting to note that the Ainu language (which is widely considered a language isolate) has no word for the “whole world” but rather considers each island a world within itself. Each of these island worlds was thought to have been governed by its own god.

Over time, something appeared in the water rising from the bottom of the sea. It materialized, hardened, and took the shape of the mountain. On top of this mountain the creation god settled just as Yahweh. Shortly thereafter a goddess visited the mountain, arriving on a cloud of five colors. She tosed these colors away, this is what they became. Black fell into the water and became the rocks of the sea. The yellow cloud well into the water and became soil. The white cloud turned to fish and lobsters. Blue formed the grass and trees. From red came the metals, silk, brocade and jewels.

A pair of crows flew to the god and goddess of the mountain and the deities gave the crows control over thunder and rain.

Thus finished, the god and goddess returned to heaven leaving the crows which today are know to the Ainu people as Kamui-Chikafu (Kamui means “god” and Chikafu means “bird”). This pair of birds (often referred to as the divine bird) remains in the land, teaching good morals. Even today – at the very least as late as 1949 - Ainu people are very careful not to harm crows.

Though Wikipedia as a source should always be closely evaluated, as a cross-reference I found that the website's rendition of this tale was a little more comprehensible.

“The Ainu people of Hokkaidō recount the demiurge with a cosmology consisting of six heavens and six hells where gods, demons, and animals lived. Demons lived in the lower heavens. Amongst the stars and the clouds lived the lesser gods. In highest heaven lived Kamui, the creator god, and his servants. His realm was surrounded by a mighty metal wall and the only entrance was through a great iron gate.

Kamui made this world as a vast round ocean resting on the backbone of an enormous trout. This fish sucks in the ocean and spits it out again to make the tides; when it moves it causes earthquakes.

One day Kamui looked down on the watery world and decided to make something of it. He sent down a water wagtail to do the work. By fluttering over the waters with its wings and by trampling the sand with its feet and beating it with its tail, the wagtail created patches of dry land. In this way islands were raised to float upon the ocean.

When the animals who lived up in the heavens saw how beautiful the world was, they begged Kamui to let them go and live on it, and he did. But Kamui also made many other creatures especially for the world. The first people, the Ainu, had bodies of earth, hair of chickweed, and spines made from sticks of willow. Kamui sent Aioina, the divine man, down from heaven to teach the Ainu how to hunt and to cook.”

CULTURAL CONTEXT AND PHILOSOPHY

Whatever retelling you look at when examining Ainu creation stories, there remain two important points I'd like to discuss:

1. The significance of animals as in seen in the water wagtail.

2. The idea that each island is a world within itself.

The wagtail, just as we saw in the little brave muskrat of Turtle Island, is the animal teacher; the non-human participant in the creation of the “worlds”. The Ainu recognize and honor animals such as the Kamui crows. To this day offerings are still made before meals of non-catholic families (a growing number of Ainu people are being heavily influenced by nearby Russia into adopting Orthodox Catholicism as their means of belief). Just as American Indigenous societies have upheld time honored subsistence practices (or at least try to), so have the Ainu. Which leads to my second point.

It is clear to see that the Ainu view islands as separate and equally complex worlds. While perhaps not possessing the same terminology used by western environmentalists, they indirectly acknowledge the existence of a complex biodiversity through their lexical specialization. The cloud of five colors that the goddess rode to the mountain also speaks of the strong ties between the people and the ocean. Coming from a strong island past, it is doubtful that anyone would find this surprising, both Hokkaido and the Kuriel island chain is cold and rather bleak by our Washington state standards. But the Ainu people have existed and thrived within this “barren” context in thanks to the ocean that surrounds them and the grasses and reeds that grow near its salty shores. However, the Ainu culture is severally threatened by the prominent Japanese government.

MODERN STRUGGLE FOR SUBSISTENCY

Just as whale hunting turned into a controversial subject here in Washington state, so too did deer hunting become a taboo within Japanese society. Deer, which made up a large part of the native diet, are increasingly endangered on the islands of Japan. Though in reality this is due to the expansion and environment degradation of modern Japan, the government has blamed the diminished population of the Hokkaido Sika deer on native hunting. In 1999 the Ainu people were banned from hunting the Sika.

Aside from there ever shrinking territory and fishable waters (thanks in part to growing commercial endeavors by Russian and Japanese fishery companies) the Ainu have had to struggle against continuing efforts on the part of the National government to forcibly assimilate Ainu people and the mandation of the Japanese language in Ainu schools.

A QUICK AND EARNEST DISCLAIMER

I am not part of the Ainu society, so I wanted to take a moment to say that if I portrayed anything incorrectly or (I sincerely hope not) offend someone with my preceding post I offer my most sincere apologies. As a someone who has studied abroad in Japan, I have only great respect for my Japanese host family and - in extension - all the wonderful people I met and befriended throughout my stay.

As sources I used the following:

The article by S.C.H. Cheung Ainu Culture in Transition

The Ethnography by Carl Etter titled Ainu Folklore: Tradition and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan

Wikipedia was consulted for the simpler creation story sited and quoted in the post.

The Creation of the Maya

This post is by Tyson Wine

MAYAN STORIES

I will be posting a few blogs on the Mayans, although I do not intend on considering all of these blogs to count for my entire credit.

I returned from the Yucatan Peninsula three days before the quarter started, so I'm still twitterpated by the amazing ruins I visited and the stories I've heard and read. Although the Mayas were highly advanced, they were also very connected with the Earth. Their understanding of the cosmos is nearly unmatched, but few realize that this understanding comes from a necessity to understand a delicate growing season for maize!

The stories below are from a National Geographic Collector's Edition called "mysteries of the Maya: the rise, glory and collapse of an ancient civilization." This edition should be displayed until the 3rd of November, and I hope anyone interested in this amazing culture finds a copy!

THE MAYA CREATION STORY:

In the Mayan creation myth, two brothers who were exceedingly skilled at the Mayan ballgame made too much noise for the gods and ended up getting defeated at the ballgame, sacrificed, and buried under the court. All except one brother's head, which was hung on a tree to await the young goddess Xquic. Hun Hunahpu, the brother (or at least his head) spat into the hand of Xquic and impregnated her with the brothers who became known as the "Hero Twins." For some reason, maybe their increasing skill at the ballgame of their stubborn refusal to die, the gods defeated them once again, this time to grind them up and throw them into the river. Of course our heroes were not so easily killed, and they returned as fish and again later as performers.

The gods resided in the underworld, known as Xibalba, which actually refers to underground caves, but is translated as "the Place of Fright." Much of the Mayan territory, including the Yucatan Peninsula, is completely flat, allowing for no rivers or lakes above the surface. The water permeates down to form underwater rivers and pools, known commonly as "cenotes" but cenote can refer to any cave, regardless of whether it contains water. While in these stories, the dark forces of nature live in these caves, they are also highly regarded due to the fact that they are the only source in much of the northern Mayan world to get fresh water. Many of these cenotes later held special purposes, including some for sacrificial purposes (such as the famous one at Chichen Itza), but they were highly respected and necessary for the survival of this culture.

Because they're awesome and extremely refreshing in the humid jungles of Yucatan and Quintana Roo, I have joyfully included a photo of a cenote. This portal to the underworld was quite refreshing, albeit it was in the middle of the city of Valladolid. This is called Cenote Zaci, and it truly feels magical and spiritual. This photo is by Julie Creagor, my travelling companion, Anthropology major at Western.

To continue with the story, the twins went to Xibalba and showed the gods an impressive trick in which Xbalanque cut off his brother's head, but quickly put Hunahpu back together, impressing the gods wildly. The brothers offered to do this for the gods as well. The gods all got their turn at getting killed and beheaded by the brothers, but the brothers failed to put them back together ...

This story is shows the necessity of balance. As NGM puts it, "with good thus triumphing over evil, the Earth was now ready for the creation of human beings." The brothers became the sun and the moon as gifts for the Mayans, showing daily their path into the underworld and their return the following day as a reminder of their success! The balance of night and day, of good and bad, seems to be a theme of many indigenous cultures. I can't help but see this among many indigenous cultures. What's more, this story shows that strength and power do not always triumph over evil - you need to be clever an quick-witted, which the Maya may have understood to a greater degree than many cultures. Not they they didn't make mistakes (I'll tell a story about environmental degradation later...) but it appears that the strength of their culture and the vast, advanced culture that they developed was due to their wit much more than having been given much in the way of natural resources or ideal climate.

The above drawing of the brothers' trick by John Jude Palencar. For more drawings and some amazing photos of many Mayan ruins, visit National Geographic Special Maya Issue Online. Discovered at San Bartolo, Guatemala, this painting is the oldest known painting of the Mayas, radiocarbon dated at 100 BC. This painting is of the creation story and the Maize God who became king. For a brief bit on this painting go to The Iran Daily. There is also a larger portion of this painting copied and pieced together using a flatbed scanner!!! To see this, go to National Geographic Special Maya Issue Online.
Lastly, the Mayans believed themselves to have emerged from the ground itself in the form of the maize god, as god and king were one. Although the Mayans ate corn due to its nutrition content and starchiness, it had a spiritual significance to them as well since it appeared to have similarities to themselves. The new stalks sprouting from the ground was similar to themselves coming from the ground; cutting the grown stalks humbled them with the awareness that all life must die in the life cycle.

This post is getting long, but I'll post another explaining some of the TEK that may be the reason the Mayans became one of the most advanced ancient civilizations. You'd be surprised to know that it's all about corn!

This post is by Tyson Wine

Source: National Geographic Staff. "Rediscovering the Maya" and "The Birth of Kings." National Geographic. p. 16 to 45. 2008. For more info visit NGM online.