...Tiange Zou English 100 Dr.Backman May 14, 2012 The Origin of Native Americans When the famous Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus, first landed on the continent of America in 1492, he thought he had just arrived in East India , therefore, he called the indigenous people living there “Indians”. Columbus never knew that he had discovered the continent of America, later known as the “New World.” Later explorers continued to adventure America and got interested in the Indians. These explorers were curious about Indian’s culture, religion and its origin. Unfortunately, Indians lived in isolated lives and did not want to expose themselves to outsiders. Indians gradually became a mystery to other people. Nowadays, Indians prefer other people to refer to them as Native Americans. The reason is that they claim to be the original inhabitants ofAmerica; according to their tribe’s legends, they did not travel from other parts of the world to reside in America. On the contrary, many scientists and scholars have agreed on the Bering Land Bridge theory that the majority of Native Americans migrated to America from Asia via a land bridge between Alaska and Eastern Siberia around 20,000 years ago. There have been other theories involving the origins of the Native Americans. One theory suggests they were the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel while another says that they were an ancient Chinese people who migrated to America a long time ago. After comparing...
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...have produced stories and works of literature about their beliefs and ways of life. Two stories that we discussed in class, “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” and “When Grizzlies Walked Upright” show how the Native Americans passed down their stories and were able to spread their culture to others. Reading stories from the Native American culture helps us learn more about others, teaches us to respect cultures that are different from our own, and reflects on the beliefs of people from that time period. Through the use of origin myths and oral tradition, the Native people of North America were able to keep their culture alive even to today. In the first story, “Earth on Turtle’s Back”, the beliefs...
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...such of its characteristics as space, time, causality, and freedom (Drew).” The second definition of cosmology is: “the branch of astronomy that deals with the general structure and evolution of the universe (Drew).” Therefore, cosmology is the study of the origin of the universe, and it can be interpreted through a philosophical or scientific perspective. But for this essay, I will interpret cosmology in a philosophical, literary perspective to study “cultural perspective which the universe is shaped, ordered, operated, and men's role in it.” The goal in this essay is to illustrate philosophical, literary similarities and differences between Eastern and Western cosmologies by using King James' The Fall and David Cusick's The Iroquois Creation Story. The Eastern and Western cosmologies are defined by philosophical and literary perspectives, not based on geography, culture, and language. The Eastern cosmology is based on collectivism and Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang is Chinese philosophy which describes “opposite or contrary forces and actually complementary, interconnected, and inter-depended in the natural world (Palmer, 25).” This means that evil is necessary for good to exist and vice versa because they complement each other. Collectivism is “the idea that the individual's life belongs not to him but to the group or society of which he is merely a part, that he has no rights, and that he must sacrifice his values and goals for the group's 'greater good (Biddle)'”. For example...
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...disjointed throughout the universe.” (Welker, Aztec Creation Story) This story doesn’t contain much that is similar to the Genesis story. Coatlique could be compared to Eve, in that they both gave birth. Coyolxanuhqui was killed by Huitzilopochtli a fiery god of war. This could be analogous to the snake that tried to trick Eve into eating the apple in the Garden of Eden. Both the fiery god and the snake were successful in their thirst for doing evil. The snake caused humans to seek power for themselves and he was banished to crawl on his belly forever. Both characters created chaos for the universe. In the Aztec story, the children were torn apart by fratricide then scattered and disjointed throughout the universe, comparable to the wars, hatred and evil that happens to humans after the fall in the Garden of Eden....
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...religion is the main purpose for why people are colonized in North America. Although most creation stories involve very similar purposes, the religions are very different, and there are different ways of worship and study of a religion. Some groups are very violent and disrespectful, to the Native Americans, as they travel through North America finding land to settle on. There are also groups that are very peaceful and make amends with the Natives. All of these things are described in the Iroquois Creation story, Bartolome de las Casas’ excerpt, and Bradford’s writings....
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...Humans tell stories for a multitude of reasons. Stories can warn us of impending dangers, such as the war stories of Vietnam. Stories can also be employed to help us understand our purpose in life, just as the Native American creation myths do. Relaying these stories can also instill a variety of emotions unto the listeners, as well as the storyteller. Some stories make the storyteller feel such strong, raw emotions that they are almost unable to tell them. First hand stories from Vietnam veterans are a prime example of such stories. In Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried, Tim shares powerful war stories that he found to be difficult to talk about. In Tim’s book, one powerful experience he shares is the first time he killed someone...
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...Native American Culture Have you ever wonder how the world was created from another culture’s perspective? Native Americans used creation myths to explained to their people how the world was developed overtime. Creation myths are a big part of the Native American culture. they have been passed down from generation to generation. In the creation myths, harmony with nature, rituals, and strong social values are shown in each myths. The purpose of having strong social value in these myths is to teach younger Native Americans valuable lesson if they ever do something bad. These myths reveals how the rituals were created and their intentions for doing it. Creation myths has harmony with nature in it to show a very close kinship between them and nature. Native American explained how the world began with their myths. Various works of literature reveal the Native American tradition and beliefs of rituals, strong social value, and harmony with nature. Rituals plays an important role in Native American Culture. In the short story, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds”, the Laguna ritual was shown when Leon did the funeral rites on Teofilo. For example, “ Leon ties feathers to Teofilo’s hair, paint his face, and sprinkle holy water on his grave” (50). This quote is important because it is part of the Native American’s tradition that was past down from generation to generation, and the purpose of doing this funeral rites is to make him be part of nature. Another example of Native American ritual...
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...women between cultures in specific stories. European-centric stories tend to have inverted roles of women in comparison to Native American stories. For example, Theseus, a tale of greek mythology, has strikingly contrastive roles of women when juxtaposed to a book such as Land of the Spotted Eagle that emphasizes women’s roles in Native American stories and culture. These examples, among others highlight differences and make note of similarities. The...
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...Native American Culture Amanda Thaden-Fidjeland December 21, 2015 ENG 301 Marc Bonanni Storytelling is the writing of the past, living the present and preserving the future. As storytelling is changing due to changes in the tribal communities of the native people, the traditional form is threatened. Storytelling has been passed down from generation to generation and remains their main form of communication even after written word was commonly accepted. The Native Americans were divided in several groups and possessed their own customs and language. These tribes lived in regional groups and shared common culture and history. Storytelling was one of the most significant practices of the Native Americans; though their stories can be classified, still many similar aspects have been observed. The storytelling was an oral practice which had revealed the tales of their past. The Native American culture was diverse and had traditional values and came with the rich and insightful past. Storytelling has been a prominent practice among the Native Americans; this practice has passed from one generation to another and has been a way of communicating wisdom. These indigenous people believed in the art of communication to explore and explain their past and therefore the stories were narrated orally by one to another. They depended upon unwritten art to share their customs, history, legends and rituals and held the feeling of pride in doing so. The powerful tales that were narrated by...
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...At first, I thought reading this text was going to be the most agonizing thing I'd do all summer; however, I was briefly intrigued and compelled to these rich and colorful body of work that these Native Americans have left for us to dissect. The "Iroquios Creation Story" was an alluring story that gave us yet another depiction of how our earth and everything in it came to be. What drew me in to the story was the similarities of the story of Genesis and this tale of the two brothers who formed the good and evils of the world. The fact that they believed that someone basically took a brush (in the Iroquios case their mother's deceased body), and out of nothingness created all we know is quite unique. It makes wonder how many other cultures believe...
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...Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures Ricky Gonzales HUM/105 December 14, 2015 Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures Creation myths are stories told throughout time to describe how the world was formed and began. They also tell how the first people came to inhabit it. There are different myths for different cultures. The Native Americans have several myths. The Seminole Indians believe in the Creator who is also known as the Grandfather of all things. They believed the Creator made the earth. He then made all the animals of the world. The next step in his creation was to place all living things in a shell and placed it beside a tree. The Creator was hoping that the panther would be the first one to leave the shell. However, the shell sat for a long time. Over time the root of the tree formed with the shell and finally a crack appeared. Then the winds helped to make the crack wider. The bird began to peck at the crack until finally the panther emerged from the shell. The rest of the animals followed after that and they all went out to find their proper place on Earth. (nativeamcreation.html, 2015) The creator in this myth is a man. There does not seem to be any significance to this. One can only assume that man was always considered the greater being. The Zulu myth begins with just one seed that fell to the Earth. Once the seed took root in the earth, Uthlanga began to grow. These are long reeds that mean “the source of all things”...
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...Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures Stephanie Smith HUM/105 August 18, 2014 Kwajalein Harmon Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures Creation myths are stories told throughout time to describe how the world was formed and began. They also tell how the first people came to inhabit it. There are different myths for different cultures. The Native Americans have several myths. The Seminole Indians believe in the Creator who is also known as the Grandfather of all things. They believed the Creator made the earth. He then made all the animals of the world. The next step in his creation was to place all living things in a shell and placed it beside a tree. The Creator was hoping that the panther would be the first one to leave the shell. However, the shell sat for a long time. Over time the root of the tree formed with the shell and finally a crack appeared. Then the winds helped to make the crack wider. The bird began to peck at the crack until finally the panther emerged from the shell. The rest of the animals followed after that and they all went out to find their proper place on Earth. (nativeamcreation.html, 2015) The creator in this myth is a man. There does not seem to be any significance to this. One can only assume that man was always considered the greater being. The Zulu myth begins with just one seed that fell to the Earth. Once the seed took root in the earth, Uthlanga began to grow. These are long reeds that mean “the source of all things”. The first one...
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...Children’s Literature on Folklore Folklore originated as stories told around the campfire and passed down by word of mouth. Because these stories originated orally, many times they have no known authors. These stories were almost always fantasy and involved magic or animals that talked. There are six subcategories that fall under Folklore in Children’s Literature. These subcategories are: folktales, tall tales, fables, myths, epics/ballads/legends and religious stories. One subcategory that falls under Folklore is Folk tales. A folk tale is a tale or legend originating among a people or folk, especially one forming part of an oral tradition. Folk tales are often part of the oral tradition of a group and are usually told rather than read. They are passed down from one generation to the next. They may be stories that grew out of the lives and imaginations of people. Folk tales can take on the personality of the storyteller and the story can take on the characteristics of the time and place in which the story is told. The themes are universal and timeless and may contain supernatural elements, imaginative characters, focus on action, have a simple sense of justice, have happy endings and contain fundamental wisdom (Chen, 2009). There are seven types of folk tales, each with their own characteristics to set them apart from one another. Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott is a beast tale. It is a beautifully illustrated folk tale from the...
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...The Cocopah Indian Tribe is one of the numerous Native American tribes of Arizona that is continuously active. Its strong sense of culture and participation in its surrounding civilization has helped it thrive as one of the most well known tribes still in existence. The Cocopah’s extensive history as an early Yuman community and its current cultural influence in Arizona make it acknowledged as both an intriguing tribe and major source of the state’s ethnic identity. The Cocopah Indian Tribe of Arizona, otherwise called “the River People,” originated in lands along the Colorado River and Lower Colorado River as one of the several descendant tribes of the Yuman-speaking people (“About Us”). The name “Cocopah” derives from the tribe’s name for...
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...M Baptiste MWF 2-3p Native American Music: A Root of Contemporary Music Yet Explored What is Native American Music? As our class brainstormed ideas for research, I already knew what topic I wanted to explore. Having been a musician, closely involved with music my entire life, I directed my focus toward Native American music. Before I began to develop any sort of directed, narrowed research questions, I asked myself first, “What is Native American music?” Regarding various definitions of the so-called “genre,” I discovered that Native American music shouldn’t be typified into any genre or defined style of music. It was the perspective toward music that was unique to Native peoples, and this perspective is key in understanding the Native American influence on later creations of music. Definition and Philosophy Native peoples tend to view their music in a distinctly different way from Euro-Americans. To Natives, music is thought; music appeared to be particularly inclusive into Native Americans’ way of life, and is unique in its origin, meaning, and efficacy. To ask “what is Native American music?” would be a question foreign to Native Americans, especially during the time that Native American music was first discovered. One aspect of music specific to indigenous peoples is its place in daily life. In fact, “its place in human affairs are much more significant to Indians than its mode of construction or technical character.” (Native American Music, 1980, p. 12) Unlike...
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