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
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
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