Native American Myths and Beliefs

by Tom Lowenstein

  E

  eagles, feathers as ritual objects, 112, 114; in myth, 85, 91, 110; spirits of, 94; talisman, 119; Tlingit moiety, 194; vulnerability of, 98, see also Thunderbird

  Earth, sanctity of the, 47, 48-50; spirit, 119 earth, and semi-underground dwellings, 14-15, 16, 17 earthdivers, in creation myth, 21, 22-3

  Earthmaker, 77 elders, 17, 75 elk, guardian spirit, 97; in myth, 53, 86; souls of, 68 emergence myths see creation myths

  English settlers, Jamestown established, 15; and Native Americans, 9, see also British settlers environment, and Native American culture, 137

  Eskimo-Aleut language, 17

  Eskimos see Inuit Europeans, early views of Native Americans, 132-3; explorations of Eastern coastal area, 15; impact on Native American culture, 8-10, 15

  Evening Star, Skidi Pawnee god, 31, see also Bright Star

  F

  falcon, in creation myth, 21

  False Face Society, 89, 120 fasting, 109 fawn, Iroquois south wind, 60

  Feather Woman, Blackfoot Sun Dance myth, 126-7 fertility, and Changing Woman, 26

  Final Judgment, 72 fingers, origin of, 40 fire, in Sioux ritual, 33; spirit of, 124; theft stories, 65 fishing, coastal tribes, 14, 133; co-operation of fish, 54-5; Northern tribes, 12, 17; rituals, 55, 124

  “Five Civilized Tribes”, 14

  Flint Rock, in Yana geese myth, 66 flood, in Caddo myth, 54

  Florida, tribes, 14 flute, in emergence myth, 27 four ages, in Sioux ritual, 33 four directions (Quarters), 27, 28, 31, 60, 119 four winds, in Sioux ritual, 33, see also Wind fox, in Iroquois myth, 110

  French settlers, 12 frogs, clan crests, 106, 107; the Frog Sisters and the moon, 36-7 fulmar, in Inuit myth, 117 fur trade, 8, 9, 17

  G

  Gaiwiio (Good Word) movement, 130

  Gambler of Pueblo Bonito, 130 games, 53, 67, 83

  Ga-oh, Iroquois Wind Giant, 60 geese, origin of, 66 genocide, in gold rush areas, 9

  Geronimo, Chiricahua Apache leader, 88

  Ghost Dance Movement, 7, 10, 34, 49, 58, 73, 100-1, 109, 119, 129, 130, 131, see also dancing; rituals ghosts, 73, 120, 129, 130

  Gitksan, shamanic initiation, 115

  Giver, Tutuni creator, 39

  Gluskap, Algonquian creator, 48 gold rushes, and the Great Basin region, 16; impact on Californian Native Americans, 9, 15

  Gonaquadet, sea monster, 91

  Goose Women, Native Society, 120 gopher, in Apache hero myth, 86

  Goyathlay see Geronimo

  Grand Canyon, sacred place, 47, 72 grave guardian, of a Tlingit shaman, 45

  Great Basin region, shamanic initiation, 114; tribes and cultures, 16, 111

  Great Gambler of Pueblo Bonito, 130

  Great Hare, in Algonquian afterlife myth, 69

  Great Lakes, midewiwin ceremony, 121; tribes, 9, 12

  Great Man, Maidu creator, 64

  Great Medicine, Cheyenne creator, 36, 38

  Great Medicine Society, 121, see also Midewiwin

  “Great Mystery” (Wakan Tanka), 119, 129

  Great Northern Diver (loon), in creation myth, 22, see also Hell-diver

  Great Serpent Mound, 48

  Great Spirit, 15, 30-3, 47, 49, 50, 56-7, 124, 125, 126, see also Old Man

  Great Star, 52, 56, see also Morning Star

  Great Thunderer, 52

  Great-Father-Above, Caddo creator, 80 grebe, as “earthdiver”, 21, 23

  Greenland, 17

  Gros Ventre, recovery of language, 17 guardian spirits, 69, 72, 84, 97, 113, 116, 117, 123, see also helping spirits

  Gulf of Mexico, tribes, 14

  Gwich’in, moon myth, 58

  H

  Haida, art and culture, 16, 102, 105; myths, 25, 54, 78, 96; Raven mask, 82; ritual objects, 112; shamanic powers, 113-14; totem poles, 53, 105 halibut, Tlingit clan crests, 104

  Hamatsa (Cannibal) Society, 105, 120, 122 hand drum, Ghost dancer’s, 34; shaman’s, 10

  Handsome Lake, Seneca chief, 15, 130

  “happy hunting grounds”, 69, 124 hares, in myth, 69, 76, 77, 79 hat see headdress

  He-Dog, Brulé Sioux chief, 7

  He-Who-Picks-Up, and the eagles, 98 headdress, Blackfoot Sun Dance, 126; Cheyenne Sun Dance, 128; Kwakiutl, 64; Lakota Sioux, 32; Tlingit, 91, 103, 106; and warfare, 100-1, see also clothing healing, shamanic, 69, 109, 110-13, 112, 114; societies, 120; and the Sun Dance, 129, see also curing rituals; diseases

  Hell-diver, in myth, 22, 77, see also Great Northern Diver helping spirits, 69, 107, see also guardian spirits

  Heroes, in history, 87-8; in myth, 83-7, see also Tricksters heron, in Yana geese myth, 66

  Hidatsa, daily life on the plains, 90 hoarders, 21, 25, 34, 83, 103

  Hohokam culture, 14, 15

  Hokhokw, mythical bird, 106, 122

  Hollar, Wenceslas, artist, 133

  Hollar’s Foreign Portraits, 133

  Homes of the Buffalo People, 136 homesteading, and the Dawes Act, 10

  Hopewell, mound culture, 14

  Hopi, 11, 15; afterlife beliefs, 72; creation and migration myths, 26-8, 32; kachinas, 72, 121; powamu dance, 121; ritual shield, 35; sacred site, 19, 27

  hopi, meaning of, 27 horses, 10, 14-15, 85; in myth, 85

  Houdenosaunee (Iroquois), 137

  House Made of Dawn, 136 houses see dwellings

  Howe, Oscar, artist, 17

  Hudson Bay Company, 133 human beings see people human sacrifice, 32 hummingbird, in Yana geese myth, 66

  Hunkpapa Sioux, 88 hunting, 9-10, 12, 17, 26, 31, 38-40, 56-7, 58, 62, 63, 68, 94, 95, 96, 107; cooperation of animals, 62, 122-3, 124, 125; cooperation of spirits, 92; myths, 122-4, 125; rituals, 17, 62, 68, 94, 95, 96, 106-7, 124; taboos, 123, see also buffalo; whales

  Hupa people, fishing ritual, 124

  Huron, healers’ societies, 120; rainbow myth, 64

  I

  Ice Ages, 14

  Idaho, 64 igloos, 17

  Iglulik Inuit, Inukshuk pile, 124; shamanic initiation, 115; soul flight, 116-17 illness see diseases

  Indian Removal Act (1830), 9, 15

  Indian Reorganization Act (1934), 129

  Indian Territory, 9, 15 initiation, shamanic, 109, 113-15, 122, see also passage rites

  Inuit, butchering ritual, 124; cosmos dance mask, 37; culture and society, 17, 124; dominant spirits, 61-2; guardian spirits, 69, 117; Iglulik Inuit, 115, 116-17, 124; incised comb, 38; myths, 23, 25, 34, 38, 55, 57-8, 72-3, 76, 83-4, 91-2, 96, 117; nonsense tales, 67; seasonal spirits, 61; shamanic healer, 110; shamanic initiation, 115; soul flight, 116-17; spirits of place, 60; taboos, 62; Tomalik mask, 62

  Inukshuk, stone pile, 124

  Inupiat, hunting myth, 122

  Iroquois, culture and society, 12-14; False Face Society, 89, 120; and the fur trade, 9; myths, 24-5, 36, 37, 60, 64, 69, 110; spirits of the four directions, 60; and the US constitution, 137

  J

  Jamestown Settlement, 15

  Jicarilla Apache, hero myth, 86

  Jonayaiyin, Jicarilla Apache hero, 86

  Joseph, Tomah, artist, 75

  K

  Kaakha’achgook, Tlingit myth, 135

  Kablaya, Sun Dance vision, 129

  Kachina Society, 120, 121

  kachinas, dolls, 11; nature spirits, 60-1, 72, 121

  Kane, Paul, artist, 49, 84, 133

  Kansas, 9

  Kareya, Karok creator, 66

  Karok, creation myth, 66-7

  Kathlamet, sky myths, 53

  Kato, origins of people story, 41

  Keepers of Creation, 36

  Kiowa, Great Spirit site, 47

  Kiowa Apache, Sun Dance, 112

  Kishelamakank, Lenape creator deity, 36

  Kispiox village, totem pole, 98

  kivas, Hopi ceremonial centres, 28, 121

  Klallam, shamans, 84

  Koyukon, culture and society, 16-17; trickster myths, 78; view of the cosmos, 47

  Kutchin, culture and society, 16-17

  Kwakiutl, art and c
ulture, 102, 106; bear hunter, 68; carved headdress, 64; dance masks, 44, 106; Hamatsa (Cannibal Society), 105, 120, 122; initiation rites, 120; rituals, 106; shamanic initiation, 115; Sisiutl myth, 55, 106; Thunderbird costume, 92, 106; totem pole, 76, 104

  L

  lacrosse, 83

  ladle, Tlingit Raven, 23

  Lake Erie, 87

  Lake Michigan, 82 lakes and rivers, creation of, 25

  Lakota Sioux, 32; giving of religious traditions, 129; purification rites, 120, 129; rituals, 33; and Thunderbird, 65; war with the Crow, 101; and the Wounded Knee massacre, 7, 130

  Lalawethika, Shawnee prophet, 130 land, identification with, 134, 136 land rights, treaties, 15 language, origins and forms of, 17; suppression of Native American languages, 10, 15; written, 14, 17

  Last of the Mohicans, 136 lean-to dwellings, 16 lemmings, 67, 68

  Lenape, creation myth, 36, 89 life and death, cycle of, 42-3 light, in Northwest Coast tradition, 52; release of in myth, 25, 34, 82 lightning, 52, 64, 98; Skidi Pawnee god, 31; and Thunderbird, 65

  Lillooet, culture and society, 16; moon myth, 36-7 literature, contemporary, 136, see also art

  Little Big Horn, battle of, 7, 33, 88 lizard, in Apache hero myth, 86; in creation myth, 40 locusts, and emergence myths, 26, 27 lodges, ceremonial, 33; Cheyenne communal, 87; see also sweat lodges

  Longhouse religion, 15 longhouses, 12

  Lyons, Oren see Oren Lyons

  M

  Maguas, 133

  Maidu people, myths, 64, 65; and the Sierra Nevada, 21

  Maine, 47, 75

  Makah, canoes, 133 man see people

  Manabozho, 76-7, 82, 83, 121

  Mandan, O-kee-pa ceremony, 30; women’s societies, 120

  manitou, creator, 62, 69, 112, 120 marriage, between animals and people, 96-7, 123-4, 125

  Masaw (Masau’u), Hopi guardian spirit, 28, 72 masks, 11, 44, 109; Bella Coola sun mask, 57; Haida, 82; Inuit, 37, 62, 70, 94; Kwakiutl, 44, 106, 122; Medicine Mask Dance, 84; Tlingit, 54; Tsimshian, 52

  Master of Life, Seneca deity, 60; Shawnee supreme deity, 87

  Mayun, Cheyenne Sun Dance myth, 128, 129

  Meadow Lark Woman, 66

  Medicine Deer Rock, 88

  “Medicine Dog”, horse, 10 medicine men/women, 109, 110, see also shamans

  Medicine Rite, 126

  Menomini people, myths, 57, 82 mental illness, and bad spirits, 70 mescaline, 130

  Mexico, and the peyote cult, 130

  midewiwin ceremony, 112, 121, 126 migis shells, 112, 121 migrations, forced, 87-8 see also resettlement in Pueblo origin myths, 28-9, 55

  Mimbres painted pottery, 7 mineral resources, discovery of, 9

  Mischief-Maker, Seneca trickster, 124

  Mississippi river, and the Choctaw, 49

  Mississippian culture, 8, 14, 15, 60; horned snake myth, 92

  Mistassini Cree, myths, 122-3, 123, 125

  Modoc people, origin of old age and death, 42

  Mogollon, culture, 14; pottery, 7

  Mohawks, 9; rabbit dance, 67 moles, and emergence myths, 26

  Momaday, N. Scott, novelist, 136

  Mono people, creation story, 21 monsters, 86, 89-93

  Montagnais people, beaver spirit, 123

  Montana, 17, 30, 34, 51, 56, 75, 88 moon, 31, 33; Blackfoot Sun Dance myth, 126; in Cherokee myth, 53; contrasting views of, 56; and hunting, 94; Inuit myths, 34, 56, 58, 76; in Lillooet myth, 36-7; Tlingit origin myth, 34; Tsimshian mask, 52 moose, Iroquois east wind, 60

  Morning Star, Blackfoot Sun Dance myth, 126-7; cradleboard headrest, 36; in Sioux ritual, 33; Skidi Pawnee god, 31, 32, see also Great Star mortuary poles, 103, 105

  Mother Earth, 47, 48-50; in Sioux ritual, 33

  Mother Night Men, healing society, 114 mother of sea beasts, 62 mound cultures, pre-Colombian, 8, 14, 48, 92

  Mount Shasta, 66 mouse spirits, 70 myth, contemporary relevance of, 134-7; origins of, 75

  N

  Nagaitcho, Kato creator, 41

  Nanih Waya, Choctaw sacred place, 49

  Napi, Blackfeet “Old Man”, 30, 51

  Nass River, 103, 112

  Nass-Shaki-Yeil, creator god, 21

  Natchez, the origin of corn, 25

  Native American Church, 15, 129, 130

  Native Americans, artistic traditions, 11; attempts at Americanization, 10; cultural reevaluation, 137; cultural revival, 11, 129, 134-7; cultural variety of, 12-17; dispossessions, 15; early history of, 8, 15; economic activities, 8, 9-10; human rights violations, 9; ideas of cosmic harmony, 47, 73; identification with land, 134, 136; impact of European settlement, 8- 10, 15; importance of ritual, 109-31 languages, 10, 14, 15, 17; political lobbying, 137; possible Christian influences on mythmaking, 38; prophecies, 49, 73, 87, 130; resettlement west of the Mississippi, 9, 14; resistance to white authorities, 7, 15, 33, 48, 87-8; suppression of religious traditions, 15, 135; time-charts of history, 14, 15; tribal elders, 17, 75; tribal self-government (1934), 15

  Navajo, blankets, 25, 45; ceremonial trays, 45; language, 17; myths, 25, 26, 32-3, 34, 36, 64, 79, 98; and peyote, 130; and Pueblo culture, 15, 25, 27; sacred site, 19; sandpaintings, 80, 136; textiles, 15, 79

  Nebraska, 9

  Neolin, Delaware shaman, 87

  New Mexico, 8, 28, 50

  New York State, 22

  Newitti village, 116

  Nez Percé, creation myth, 89; culture and society, 16

  Niatum, Duane, poet, 136

  Niehardt, John G., on Native American culture, 137

  Nihansan, Arapaho trickster, 77

  Ninstints village, Haida settlement, 105

  Nipinouke, Inuit seasonal spirit, 61

  Nootka, Raven myth, 78-9; rituals, 106; salmon ritual, 55; shamanic initiation, 115; and vision quests, 119

  North Carolina, fishing, 133

  North Dakota, 31, 137

  Northeast region, healers’ societies, 120; ideas of cosmic harmony, 50; myths, 60, 89; Sun Dance, 126; tribes and cultures, 12-14

  Northwest Coast, artistic tradition, 11, 16, 44, 52, 64, 65, 66, 69, 80, 106; Dreamers Cult, 73; ideas of cosmic harmony, 50; myths, 21, 23, 25, 34, 36-7, 39, 42, 53, 54-5, 59, 64, 65, 66, 69, 70, 76, 78-9, 82-3, 91, 97; sacred societies, 120; shamanic initiation, 115; shamanic powers, 113-14; shamanic societies, 105-7, 116; tribes and cultures, 16, 102-7; and vision quests, 119 novels, contemporary, 136

  Ntlakyapamuk people see Thompson Indians

  Nuliayuk, Inuit sea deity, 25, 55

  nuna, 23

  O

  O-kee-pa ceremony, 30 octopus, clan crest, 107; Tlingit mask, 54

  Octopus woman, and Raven, 78-9

  Oglala Sioux, 33, 49, 88, 118, 119

  Ohio valley culture, 48 oil see mineral resources

  Ojibway, 9; and the afterlife, 69; cosmic geography, 52; culture and society, 16-17; Midewiwin ceremony, 112, 121, 126; myths, 60, 76- 7, 121; rock carvings, 28; totem animals, 123

  Oklahoma, 9 old age, origin of, 42

  Old Man, 21, 30, 32, 38, 51, 56-7, see also Great Spirit

  Old Man’s Sliding Ground, 51

  Older Brother, trickster, 76

  Oneida, 9

  Onondaga, 9, 37

  Oraibi see Grand Canyon

  Oregon, Crooked River petroglyphs, 19; myths, 39, 93

  Oren Lyons, Houdenosaunee chief, 137 oriole, in Iroquois myth, 110

  Osage, 10

  Ottawa people, 87 owls, Tsimshian charm, 115

  P

  Paiute, culture and society, 16; effect of the gold rush, 9; institution of the Ghost Dance, 7, 130; myths, 65, 81 palm thatch dwellings, 14 panther, Iroquois west wind, 60

  Papago, salt pilgrimage, 55 passage rites, 105, 106, 120, see also initiation

  Passamaquoddy Indian Reservation, 75

  Paviotso people, curing ceremony, 111; shamanic initiation, 114; soul flight beliefs, 113

  Pawnee, Arikara Pawnee, 90, 114; and buffalo hunting, 10, 90, 125; cosmic geography, 52; Great Spirit beliefs, 30-2, 52; my
ths, 85, 125; sacred bundles, 32, 112, 125; Skidi Pawnee, 30-2, 99

  Peace-Maker, in Seneca myth, 124

  Pend Oreille River, 12 people, creation of, 21, 22, 38-41, 54; relations with animals, 94-9, 110-11, 122-5

  Peterborough County (Ontario), rock carvings, 28 petroglyphs, 19, see also rock carvings peyote cult, 130 pictographs, 17

  Pima people, 15; moral tale, 67; revolt against the Spanish, 15; vanishing creators, 32-3

  Pine Ridge Reservation, 7 pipes, ceremonial and sacred, 31, 32, 33, 95, 129

  Pipounouke, Inuit seasonal spirit, 61

  Plains region, buffalo hunt, 95, 125; Great Spirit beliefs, 30-3, 51; healing society, 114; myths, 25, 34, 55-7, 65, 76; Sun Dance, 126; tribes and cultures, 14-15

  Plateau region, creation myths, 89; tribes and cultures, 16

  Pleiades, in Iroquois myth, 36, 37, see also stars

  Pocahontas, 45 poetry, modern Native American, 136 polar bear, in myth, 91, 96, see also bears pole star, 52

  Pomeiooc village, Virginia, 132

  Pomo people, 15; basket, 41

  Pontiac, rebellion against the British, 15, 87 porcupine, in Tahltan myth, 25 possum, Cherokee sun myth, 35 potlatch, 16, 105, 106, 135 pottery, depictions of myth and legend, 11; Mimbres painted, 7; Zuni water jar, 97

  powamu dance, 121

  Powhatan, Confederacy, 15; leather mantle, 45 powwow, gathering, 137 prairies see Plains region prayer see Sun Dance; visions and vision quests prayer sticks, 27, 29, 55 prophecies, 49, 73, 87, 130

  Prophet’s Town, 87

  Pueblo peoples, 8, 14, 15; afterlife beliefs, 72; cosmic geography, 52; emergence myths, 25, 26-9; kachinas, 11, 60-1, 72, 120, 121; Madonna painting, 135; midwinter ritual, 121; puberty rites, 120 pumpkin, spirit of, 124 puppets, 120, 121 purification, in the afterlife, 72; Lakota Sioux, 120, 129 pueblo, Anasazi culture, 14

  Q

  quails, Pima fable, 67

  Quebec, 122, 123, 125

  Queen Charlotte Islands, 105

  Quotskuyva, William, kachina figure, 72

  R

  rabbits, in creation myth, 40; Mohawk rabbit dance, 67 railways, effect on Plains culture, 10 rain, 60, 65 rainbow, 52, 64 rainmakers, among spirits of the dead, 72

  Raleigh, Sir Walter, 132 rattles, Iroquois, 89; as ritual objects, 112, 114; Tlingit, 23, 73, 107; Tsimshian, 66, 112

  Raven, clan crests, 104, 107; myths, 21, 23, 24, 25, 34, 38, 54, 72-3, 78-9, 82-3, 92, 103; rattles, 66, 107; Tlingit moiety, 104, see also Raven-Man; Tulungigraq