Native American Mythology

The term Eskimo was used to describe a member of the artic nomadic race, which appears to be the Algonquin Indian. The term means “raw-meat eater,” which was adopted by the early French explorers, being first recorded in 1611, and then by the English. Today most Eskimos regard the name pejorative and prefer to be called Inuit, meaning simply “man.” A.G.H.

Source:

Burland, Cottie. North American Indian Mythology. “Library of the World’s Myths and Legends.” {Revised by Marion Wood) New York. Peter Bedrick Books. 1965. p. 16

Through Shamanistic communication according to some traditions the dead live in an underworld, which is not too happy, resembling this word, but darker. There is much hunger because descendants failed to give offering from their good hunting. The life of the Inuits was like that, and they expected it to continue in similar manner after death.

In Native American creation myths the underworld is occasionally associated with the womb, a place in Mother Earth where humans, plants, and animals are conceived and gradually mature from a seed-like state in darkness until they are ready to be born. Such myths are especially important within agricultural tribes such as the Hopi (see Spider), although other tribes of the Apache and Navajo have similar myths, who have ceremonies celebrating curing being significant of new beginnings. A.G.H.

Sources:

Burland, Cottie. North American Indian Mythology. “Library of the World’s Myths and Legends.” {Revised by Marion Wood) New York. Peter Bedrick Books. 1965. p. 20
Leeming, David, Jake Page. The Mythology of Native North America. Norman. University of Oklahoma Press. 1998. p. 89

Tungrangayak, in Alaska, is a spirit or divinity know as the wisest of the wise; as is depicted with his body covered by circles or eyes with which he can see everything: “my whole body is nothing but eyes…I look in every direction.” A.G.H.

Source:

Grimal, Pierre, Larousse World Mythology, Secaucus, New Jersey, Chartwell Books, 1965, p. 446

Tulungusaq, in one Inuit (Eskimo) creation myth, is the creature who came alive in the dead, silvery sky. He met the Swallow who came prior to him that showed him the deep abyss with hardening clay at the bottom. Afterwards he disguised himself as a crow with artificial feathers, wings, and beak, a disguise that he could easily remove. All vegetation sprang from bits of clay which the crow as he few had previously dropped in the soil. Out of the same material he fashioned animals and men. This is why he has been called Father Crow. The first four men emerged fast, either through spontaneous generation or by some absence of a governing will, even surprising the crow by the lightening speed by which they emerged from their husks. Hurriedly he created four wives for them and other people to populate the earth. Soon the earth overflowed with inhabitants causing the crow to increase the land by cutting up a monster and throwing pieces of him into the sea which changed into islands that netted to the coast.

(Relative is the fact that the crow cycle was characteristic of the Palaeo[old]-Arctic Siberians and part of the North-American Native mythology of the north-east coast; and was only known to Alaskans, not to the Inuits of that territory, therefore, in the latter case it is of foreign origin.) A.G.H.

Source:

Grimal, Pierre, Larousse World Mythology, Secaucus, New Jersey, Chartwell Books, 1965, p. 441

The character of the trickster is prominent in Native American mythology even though it has a far reaching history in that it is considered to be a general god archetype. Joseph Campbell called the trickster “the chief mythological character of the Paleolithic world.” Carl Jung referred to the trickster as the expression of a “preconscious” state. Antisocial and dangerous behavior of the trickster is often worked out in shamanistic rituals where they sever good tribal or communal purposes. Among the Pueblo people of Arizona, for example, the tricksters evolved ritualistically into clowns, Koshare, Koyemshi, and Newekwe, who display open sexuality and gluttony but are confined in ritual ceremony and made less dangerous.

Some suggest that both the trickster and shaman may be related to the mythic and ritual forms associated with the Animal Master, the powerful animal such as the bear, buffalo, dear, and even salmon, cast in the role of the protector and enabler of the hunter. The role of the shaman-Animal-Master-trickster has a prolonged history as indicated in the ancient cave drawings like the renowned The Sorcerer painting in the Trois Freres Cave in France, c.a. 14,000 BCE. In this particular depiction one has an apparent human form, dressed in an animal costume, displaying typical phallic aspect of the trickster. Also mythical representations of the trickster are known throughout northern Europe such as Hermes in Greece, and Reynard the Fox in European folklore. Another pertinent example is Kokopelli, the hunchbacked flute player who begs for food and sometimes displays ithyphallical tendencies.

The trickster’s unbridled desires for food, sex, as well as his social inhibitions frequently made him a useful assistant to the world creator, and at times is the creator himself. Most tribes practicing shamanism have tricksters who are cultural heroes; those depending hunting, their tricksters usually take form of Animal Masters appearing in their prehuman forms though sometimes mistaken as humans. Since many tricksters assume their forms from Animal Masters it is obvious that various tribes associated with different animals (see Totem) would share similar mythologies. These myths can have both a religious and entertainment significance: the antisocial traits of the trickster can but use to teach children morality and in storytelling be entertaining to grownups as well. Sometimes the trickster receives the blunt of his own antics. Popular tricksters among the North American tribes are Manabozho, the Raven, Coyote, Hare, and Spider. A.G.H.

Sources:

Kokopelli. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokopelli>.
Leeming, David, Jake Page. The Mythology of Native North America. Norman. University of Oklahoma Press. 1998. pp. 46-48
Reyard the Fox. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynard>.
The Sorcerer. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer_%28cave_art%29>.
Trois-Freres. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Fr%C3%A8res>.