Native American Myths and Beliefs

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Native American Myths and Beliefs Page 20

by Tom Lowenstein


  Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass, 103

  Raven-Man, 34, 72-3, see also Raven rebirth, 109, 121, 124, see also reincarnation

  Reed, Roland, photographer, 27, 42 reed, and emergence myth, 26, 27 reincarnation, 72-3, 96-7, see also rebirth reservations, 7, 15, 75, 130 resettlement, 9, 14, see also migrations revivalist movements, 7, 11, 15, 87, 130-1 ritual objects, 112, 114, 129 rituals, Apache, 95, 112, 113; Arikara Pawnee, 114; butchering, 68, 95, 124; ceremonial lodge, 33; Cheyenne, 86; curing, 89, 110, 111-13, 112, 114; of the earth, 48; female puberty, 120, 129; fish harvest, 54-5, 124; Hopi, 35; hunting, 17, 62, 68, 94, 95, 96, 106- 7, 124; Kwakiutl, 106; Lakota Sioux, 129; Medicine Rite, 126; midewiwin ceremony, 112, 121; and myth, 109; Nootka, 106-7; O-kee-pa ceremony, 30; offerings, 32, 33, 55, 92, 99, 124, 129; Oglala Sioux, 33; of the Paviotso, 111; potlatch, 16, 105, 106, 135; rites of passage, 105, 106, 120, 129; sacred societies, 120-1; and sacred totality, 47; sacrifice, 32, 121; shamanic initiation, 109, 113- 15, 122; shamanic societies, 105-7; Skidi Pawnee, 31-2; smoking, 32, 33, 129; suppression of, 10, 15, 135; and tobacco, 32, 33, 92, 99, 111, 124; and warfare, 100, see also Ghost Dance; revivalist movements; Sun Dance rivers and lakes, creation of, 25 robes, depictions of myth and legend, 11, 65; shamanic ritual, 112, see also blankets; clothing rock, carvings, 28; see also petroglyphs; in Sioux ritual, 33

  Rustling Corn, Cheyenne Sun Dance myth, 127-8

  S

  Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Ton, Maguas king, 133 sacred bundles, 32, 33, 34, 87, 112, 119, 125, 136-7 sacred monsters, 91-2 sacred pipes, 31, 33, 95, 129 sacred places, 18-19, 28, 49 sacred societies, 120-1 salmon, 54-5, 69, 124; mask, 70; Tlingit rattle, 73

  Salmon people, Haida myth, 54-5; Tlingit myth, 69

  San Emigdiano, rock painting, 109, 113

  San Francisco Peaks, 121

  Sandia spear points, 14 sandpaintings, 26, 80, 136 schools, 10 sculpture, carvings, 17, 27, 28, 55, 64, 80, 123; in copper, 15 sea mammals, origin of, 25, 55, 117 sea myths, 55, 117-18 seals, 55, 62; in myth, 25, 58, 117; offerings, 124; shamanic mask, 94 seasons, Tahltan myth concerning, 25

  Sedna (Takanakapsaluk), sea goddess, 55, 117-18

  Selu, Cherokee nature goddess, 63

  Seminoles, culture and society, 14

  Seneca, 9; Gaiwiio movement, 130; Green Corn Dance, 60; myths, 22, 124

  Senels, afterlife myth, 69

  Sequoyah, and Cherokee phonetic script, 17 serpent, horned snake myth, 92, see also snakes serpent bridge, to the afterlife, 69 seven great rites, 33 shamans, Blackfeet, 99; divination, 111; dress, 69, 84, 99, 107; equipment, 112; hand drum of, 10; healing, 69, 99, 109, 110-13, 112, 114; and heroes, 83-4, 87; initiation, 109, 113-15, 122; Inuit, 55, 110; masks, 11, 37, 44, 44, 52, 54, 57, 62, 70, 82, 84, 94, 106, 109, 110; Medicine Mask Dance, 84; and Nuliayuk, 55; Papago, 55; ritual, 69, 95, 105- 6, 109-15; secret societies, 105-7; as soul doctors, 70-3; soul flight, 70, 109, 111-13, 116-18; and spirits, 62, 69, 70, 73, 105, 107, 109, 111, 112, 115; Tlingit, 23, 45, 73, 107; and warfare, 100

  Shasta, Mount, 66

  Shawnee, armed insurrection, 130; and the sanctity of the earth, 48 sheep herding, 15 shields, 35, 56, 68, 81, 100, 112, 118 shirts, of Ghost Dancers, 7, 58, 100, 131

  Shoshoni, buffalo hunt, 125; culture and society, 16; effect of the gold rush, 9; and the Sun Dance, 129

  Siberia, 17

  Sierra Nevada, 21

  Silko, Leslie Marmon, Pueblo writer, 134, 136 singing, and hunting, 94; and Papago pilgrimage, 55; shamanic, 70, 106, 111, 115, 116

  Sioux, and Battle of the Little Bighorn, 7, 15, 33, 88; Brulé Sioux, 7; and buffalo hunting, 10, 85; Dakota Sioux, 9; displaced by the Ojibway, 9; Great Spirit beliefs, 30, 33; horse doll, 85; Hunkpapa Sioux, 88; Lakota Sioux, 7, 32, 33, 65, 101, 120, 129; Oglala Sioux, 33, 49, 88, 118, 119, 126; purification rites, 120, 129; sacred pipe, 31, 33, 129; shields, 56, 68, 118; Sun Dance, 126, 129; and the Wounded Knee massacre, 7, 11, 15, 33, 119, 130

  Sioux Reservation, break up of, 7

  sipapu, place of emergence, 72

  siqinim inua (sun person), 58

  Sisiutl, Kwakiutl serpent myth, 55, 106

  Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Sioux chief, 7, 33, 88, 101, 130, 134

  Skaowskeag, Haida sculptor, 96

  Skate, star, 53

  Skidi Pawnee, 30-2, 99 skins, 68 skunk, in Maidu myth, 65 sky, origin of, 49, 52-3; people, 22, 53; spirit, 119

  Slave, culture and society, 16-17 slaves, of the Haida, 16 smallpox, epidemic among the Assiniboine, 10, see also diseases

  Smohalla, Wanapum holy man, 49-50, 73 smoke, offering, 32, 33, 129 snakes, horned snake myth, 92; Snake people, 29, 130, see also serpent

  Snow Bird, Kathlamet sky myth, 53 snuff box, 25

  Sotuknang, Hopi deity, 32 soul catchers, 112 soul flight, 45, 70, 109, 111-13, 116-18 soul-villages, 68, 69 souls, of animals, 62, 68-9, 94; of humans, 69, 70-3, 109, 111, 113, 116, 122, 129

  South Dakota, 7, 19, 84, 130

  Southeast region, myths, 34, 91; tribes and cultures, 14

  Southwest region, myths, 34, 76; tribes and cultures, 15

  Spain, Christian missions, 15, 135; encroachments in North America, 15

  Spider Woman, Cherokee sun myth, 35; and emergence myths, 26, 27; and weaving, 45 spiders, in Apache hero myth, 86 spirit beings, 11, 39, 41, 44, 45, 107, 119, 124; ancestors, 62, 73, 110, 129, 130; of animals, 19, 31, 62, 66-7, 70, 84, 88, 102, 122, 123; celestial, 52-3, 56-9; of fish and marine animals, 54-5; guardians, 69, 72, 84, 97, 113, 116, 117, 123; helping spirits, 69, 107; kachinas, 61, 72, 121; monsters, 91-2; of nature, 60-71; of place, 60, 62; the seasons, 61; vegetable, 124; weather forces, 64-5

  “Spirit Dog”, horse, 10 spirit journeys see soul flight

  Spirit-star, 52

  Spokane people, fishing, 12

  Spotted Eagle, in Sioux ritual, 33 spruce tree, and emergence myth, 27

  Squirrel, in creation myth, 40 squirrels, souls of, 68

  Standing Rock, eagle’s eyrie, 98

  Standing Yellow Horn, Sioux chief, 33

  Star Boy, Blackfoot Sun Dance myth, 126-7

  Star Chief, 52 stars, myths about, 34, 36, 37, 52-3, 59

  Stek-ya-den, mountain, spiritual site, 19 storage boxes, depictions of myth and legend, 11 storytelling, its place in Native American culture, 11, 135-6

  Subarctic region, tribes and cultures, 16-17; trickster myth, 78 sun, Blackfoot Sun Dance myth, 126-7; contrasting views of, 34, 56; in myth, 26, 31, 33, 41, 56, 57, 80, 103

  Sun Dance, 10, 109, 112, 119, 126-9, see also dancing; rituals swan maidens, Inuit myth, 96 sweat lodges, 39, 40, 120, 129

  Sweet Medicine, Cheyenne hero, 84-7

  T

  taboos, 62, 113, 120, 123

  Tahltan, myths, 25, 42

  Taiowa, Hopi creator god, 32

  Takanakapsaluk (Sedna), sea goddess, 55, 117-18

  Taku Tlingit, headdress, 103

  Tatanka Iyotake see Sitting Bull

  Tecumseh, Shawnee chief, 48, 87 temple mounds, 92

  Ten Grandmothers, Kiowa Apache myth, 112

  Tens, Isaac, Gitksan shaman, 115

  Tenskwatawa, Shawnee prophet, 87

  Tewa people, afterlife beliefs, 72; myths, 26, 28, 29, 60-1

  Texas, tribes, 14 textiles, Navajo, 15, 79 theatre, 136

  Thompson Indians, animal marriage and rebirth myths, 96-7, 123-4

  Thunder, Kato creator, 41; Skidi Pawnee god, 31

  Thunder Boys, 52

  Thunder Spirit, Cheyenne Sun Dance myth, 128, 129 thunder spirits, 52-3, 64, 75

  Thunder-being, Creek myth, 64

  Thunderbird, 53, 55, 64, 65, 92, 102, 104, 106, see also eagles

  Thunderers, and rain, 60

  Tie-Snake, Creek myth, 64

  Tikigaq, creation story, 23 tipis, 12, 15, 74, 86; sacred pipe house, 31

  Tirawa, Pawnee Great Spirit, 30-2, 52, 56, 99, 125

  Tlingit, art and culture, 102, 107, 134-5; clans, 103-4, 106; guardian spirits, 69; headdress, 103, 106; myths, 25, 34; octopus mask, 54; raven ladle, 23;
ritual objects, 112; shaman, 107; shaman’s grave guardian, 45; shaman’s rattles, 23, 73, 107 tobacco, 25, 60; offerings, 92, 99, 124; ritual use, 32, 33, 111; use in creation, 39

  Tokonaka, Hopi guardian spirit, 72

  Tomalik, Inuit wind making spirit, 62 tongues, as offerings, 32; residence of the spirit, 69 tools, 68, 80 totem animals, 102-4, 123 totem poles, 11, 16, 53, 76, 98, 102-4, 105 towns, in the pre-Colombian period, 8 tracking, 60

  “Trail of Tears”, 14 transformations, and heroes, 84; monster spirits, 91; shamanic, 69, 84; and tricksters, 76, 77

  Travels into the Interior of North America, 100, 133 trays, wedding or ceremonial, 45

  Treasure Hill [archaeological] site, 7 tree, story of creation, 22

  Tricksters, 11, 76-83; Alingnaq, 58; Coyote, 24, 25, 26, 38, 40, 43, 65, 67, 76, 80-1, 89; Great Gambler of Pueblo Bonito, 130; Hare, 76, 77, 79; Inuit Moon spirit, 76; Manabozho, 76-7, 82, 83, 120; Mischief-Maker, 124; Nihansan, 77; Old Man, 32; Older Brother, 76; Raven, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 34, 38, 54, 76, 78-9, 82-3, 92, 103, see also Heroes

  Tsimshian, art and culture, 52, 102; frontlet, 21; myths, 34, 59, 73; salmon-welcoming ceremony, 55; shamanic initiation, 115; shaman’s rattle, 112

  tulugaq, 23

  Tulungigraq, Raven Man, 23, see also Raven turkeys, in myth, 91 turtle, in myth, 22, 89

  Turtle Island, 89 turtle-shell rattle, 89

  Tuscarora, 9; corn spirit, 63

  tuunraq, Inuit helping spirit, 69

  Tuwanasavi, centre of the cosmos, 28

  Two Medicine Lake, 75

  U

  Ukunniq, Inuit hero, 83-4 underworlds, in Pueblo afterlife myths, 72; in Pueblo emergence myths, 26-8

  United States Army, 7th Cavalry, 7, 33; response to Geronimo, 88

  United States constitution, 137

  United States Government, annexation of Great Basin region (1864), 16; Bureau of Indian Affairs, 10; Code of Religious Offences, 135; Dawes Act, 10; detribalization policy, 7; Indian Removal Act (1830), 9, 15; Indian Reorganization Act (1934), 129; land rights treaties, 15; and the Sun Dance, 10, 129; and Tecumseh, 87; tribal self-government (1934), 15

  United States Independence, 15, 87 unity, of the cosmos, 47

  Upright Horns (Tomtivsi), 128

  Utah, 8; Church Rock, 19

  Ute, culture and society, 16; effect of the gold rush, 9; migration myths, 28; and the Sun Dance, 129

  Uvavnuk, Iglulik shaman, 115

  V

  Vancouver, 102

  Vancouver Island, 104, 106, 116

  Verelest, J, artist, 133

  Victorio, Chiricahua Apache leader, 88

  Virginia, 132, 133 visions and vision quests, 19, 73, 87, 88, 109, 118-19, 120, 129, 130, see also dreams

  W

  Wabanakis nation, 47, 50

  wakan (sacred), 33

  Wakan Tanka, Sioux Great Spirit, 30, 33, 48, 119, 129

  Wakinyan, Lakota Thunderbird, 65 walrus, 62; carved Inuit amulet, 55; in myth, 25, 58, 117

  Wanapum people, sacred pact with the earth, 49 wapiti, 97, see also elk war, against white authorities, 7, 15, 33, 48, 87- 8; Anglo-American (1812), 87; Anglo-French colonial, 15; between Crow and Lakota Sioux, 101; of Independence (1775-83), effect on Native Americans, 9; symbols of, 60 warfare, 100-1

  Wasco people, myths, 93, 97

  Washington State, 12, 31, 50, 102

  Washo people, modern storytelling, 136; shamanic initiation, 114

  Watcher, Tututni creator, 39 water, in myth, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25; Pima fable, 67; in Sioux ritual, 33; spirit of, 124; and White Shell Woman, 26 water beetle, in Cherokee creation story, 22 weapons, 68, 85, 86, 90, see also arrows; bows weather forces, 64-5 weaving see Spider Woman; textiles

  Welch, James, novelist, 136

  Wenima afterlife resort, 72

  Weninock, Yakima chief, 31

  Western Apache, identification with land, 134; rituals and taboos, 113, 123; storytelling, 135 whales, 55; clan crests, 104, 107; guardian spirit, 123; hunting by Nootka, 106-7; Inuit carving, 123; in myth, 23, 24, 25, 58, 65, 96, 117, 122; souls of, 58, 62, 68

  White, John, artist, 132, 133

  White Buffalo Cow Society, 120

  White Buffalo Woman, 129

  White Shell Woman, 26 wigwams, 12

  Wind, Skidi Pawnee god, 31

  Wind Giant, of the Iroquois, 60 winds, Kathlamet myth, 53, see also four winds

  Winnebago, Medicine Rite, 126; myths, 38, 76, 77, 79

  “Winter Count” calendars, 9, 129

  Wintu people, shamanic initiation, 114

  Wisconsin, 57, 76 wisdom, spiritual, 11 witches, 109, see also shamans

  Wolf, rituals, 106-7; Tlingit moiety, 194 wolves, spirits of, 62, 106

  Woman, in creation myth, 22; Sioux wakan woman, 33

  Woman of the Sea, in Iglulik myth, 55, 117-18 women, Dakota Sioux, 133; puberty rites, 129; societies, 120; and the Sun Dance, 127; taboos, 62, 120; tasks of, 9, 14, 40, 121; and tobacco, 25

  Woodland cultures, 14 woodpecker, in myth, 35, 53, 60

  Wounded Knee Creek, massacre at, 7, 11, 15, 33, 119, 130, 131

  Wovoka, Paiute holy man, 7, 73, 130

  Wyoming, 9, 84; Kiowa sacred site, 47

  Y

  Yana, myths, 38-40, 66

  Young Chief, Cayuse chief, 50

  Yuma people, 15; creation myth, 49

  Yurok people, shamanic initiation, 114

  Z

  Zuni people, 15; afterlife beliefs, 72; agriculture, 121; and dreams, 118; myths, 26, 28, 124; water jar, 97

 

 

 


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