The World On The Turtle's Back Sociological Analysis

There are various diverse creation myths from Native American cultures, though many hold similar characteristics. One of the more common forms of creation myth seems to be emergence myth. Generally, in the emergence myth, instead of seeing how the world is created, we see how the people arrive in an already created world. This particular story type is commonly found in Native American cultures from the southwest (Ryan). The Tewa Pueblo version of this myth, entitled How the People Came to the Middle Place, has been collected and written down by the anthropologists Alice Marriott and Carol K. Rachlin in their book, American Indian Mythology. The myth was told to them by two separate sources, Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso and Leonidas

The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an

Mi’kmaq and Abenaki people use their creation stories to tell how things came to be in the world. These traditional stories are shared from generation to generation to help natives help define who they are as a unique group of people. Art, sculptures, carvings, songs, stories, and spiritual rituals are all ways where both native groups celebrate their culture and tell their creation story.

Native American storytelling has very many important reasons behind it, like teaching lessons that can help the children later on in life. The elders tell the children stories that teach them moral lessons they can

Creation stories are tools used to try to explain the unexplainable. For centuries humans have been searching for answers to the what, when, why, and how questions that encompass life. Genesis and the Iroquois Creation Myth are two different stories that seek to describe the creation of Earth and the universe that surrounds it. Genesis describes a Christian perspective, particularly one of the most popular Western explanations to life on Earth. The Iroquois Creation Myth, on the other hand, takes a less traditional approach, while only mildly alluding to religion. The similarities between the two lie in the timeless battle of good versus evil.

American literature has evolved greatly from the Native Americans to 1870’s. American literature has changed, it teaches us how we have become more independent ourselves. The World on a Turtle’s Back, a myth, The Scarlet Letter, a book in a puritan setting, and A Rose for Emily is a southern gothic story. American literature would not be the same today without these forms of writing. The teachings from these are passed down generation to generation.

The general purpose for all myths is to bring an understanding of unknown. The ancient people widely used myths to explain new phenomena and occurrences. The lack of scientific modes of theory formulation caused the people of old to come up with myths to fill the vacuum with the knowledge that existed during their time. The need by man to explain his origin and the origin of the universe led him to the formulation of creation and origin myths. Men of olds came up with myths to explain the mysteries they had no clue about including creation.

All humans are interested in their origins and trying to account for their existence through creation stories. Native Americans tribes are no different from the rest of humanity. The tribes’ stories explain how people came into existence, how they came to be live on the lands they do and the how people interact with nature and each other. These trends can be seen in the legends of three tribes hailing from New England to the Great Lakes Region.

Native Americans believe that all living things are important. They think living things are a main creditor as to why Native Americans are existing today. The authors of “The Earth On Turtle's Back” and “When Grizzlies Walked Upright” both have retold legends on what the Native Americans believed. “The Earth On Turtle's Back” and “When Grizzlies Walked Upright” both have some differences, but mostly are similar.

This unique religion was centered around ceremonies and the spirituality of plants and animals, displayed in the countless writings which dominated America prior to colonization. In the story Coyote Finishes His Work, a coyote is personified to have “told everyone he was a great warrior,” amongst other acts of animation. The aforesaid tale of a nearly-omnipotent coyote demonstrates the bond of literature and belief in the Native culture. Another Native American tale, The Sky Tree, tells of a woman whose husband is ill and can only be saved by the fruit of a tree. The tree, a source of life for all, fell through a hole in the ground. Again showing the previously-mentioned alliance, the animals such as Turtle and Beaver have the ability to speak to one another, comprehend the troubles of the woman, and solve the problem. To conclude, Native American religion was not only a substantial element of daily life, but in

The number of explanations of the origin of the Native American populous is as various as the number of tribes there are throughout the land. Most tribes have their own belief on where they came from. The reason for why there are so many might be because the stories usually pertain to that specific tribe; they do not explain the reasoning behind the creation of other tribes on the other side of the continent. There are countless “versions of these creation and emergence stories,” (Calloway, 2012, p. 42) that seem to share common themes. Two common themes expressed would be, the creation of the land and animals to better the tribe’s way of life, and that humans and animals were created more equally and there is no bias amid them. While some

We can start for the Bible story. It consists basically that God has created the world in which we live now. What, He used seven days, and the last one, He rested. In those days, He started to create the light and He called it “day” and darkness too, and He called it “Night” the first days. Then He created the “Sky” and the “Earth”. He continuous and created the stars, he created all the animals and him last creation, the humans: Adam and Eve. On the other hand, we have Iroquois, a story of creation but told

All around the world many cultures may find the story of the creation myth, as well as have their own interpretation of it. The Native Americans have rich history and many myths, but the one legend that is common throughout every tribe is the creation myth. The mythology and culture of the Native Americans was influenced strongly by the Creation myth, which was the foundation of many other myths related to various aspects of the natural world. In Native American mythology, Fred Ramen says of the Native American Indians, “Their creation myths are notable for two reasons: the stories explain how people came to this world from some other, magical place, and they detail a close cooperation between animals and humans” (19).

In the Iroquois creation myth, Sky Woman understood that she was pregnant with twins and was pushed by her husband into the Earth’s waters below the above world. Little Toad was able to bring up mud to spread on Big Turtle’s back, and it grew to become the size of North America where Sky Woman created the Iroquois world. Her children, Sapling and Flint, were important in creating the details of the land such as rivers, fish, plants, and even the seasons. The Sky People, Demi-gods of the Iroquois, were critical to the Iroquois people as it helped to define who they were and what they believed. The Iroquois people were happy and peaceful. There was little to no violence within their tribes just as in their myth of creation that tells of the Sky People living on an island floating above the “earth” where there was no sadness, violence, or negativity. This shows the ways the Iroquois applied their myth to their everyday lives and their religion. The myth also explains how the Sky Women’s evil son, Flint, was beaten by his good brother, Sapling, and was required to live on the Big Turtle’s back. North America was carried upon Big Turtle’s back and according to the the myth, bones in fish, thorns on bushes, and volcanos erupting symbolized Flint’s anger. The myth of Sky Woman and her sons is the explanation of how all nature came to be.

The creation stories are very fascinating to learn about. There are so many different creation stories that explain how man and earth are made. People have different view point of how the earth was created. So let me give some examples, the Iroquois creation story tells of a father god and a mother god that are caretaker They lived high above the endless sea next to a tree of light. Then one day the winds blew away the tree and the mother caretaker fell into the endless ocean. She landed on a giant sea turtle. Creatures of the ocean began to help her create the earth in addition, she made the land on top of the turtle. She also gave birth to mother earth and this started the creation of man from mother earth’s two sons. One created all the