Myth, The Native American people of North America

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Myth

Question 1

With due regard to customary conviction, a Creator (gender is uncertain), which is past mortal comprehension but is expressed through natural phenomena, created the universe within four days. Facets of the Creator may be manifested in the natural universe like wind and thunder, and the corporeal depiction is perceived to be the sun. Moreover, there exist two Culture protagonists, the Twin War Gods, Born for Water and Destroyer of Enemies, not counting heroine, White Painted Woman. Power covers the universe and can be used to commit decent or ill deeds (Chebahta et al, 53).

The Native American people of North America do not share one, amalgamated form of mythology. Different tribes of the Native American people established their own distinct stories about the formation of the universe, and the lives and actions of immortals and heroes. Nevertheless, regardless of the colossal range of Native American mythologies, certain mythic subjects, characters, and stories exist in several of the Native American cultures. The fundamental basis of all the myths is the notion that spiritual forces can be sensed throughout the natural universe including the animals, winds, and clouds, that they form and maintain. A majority of the stories clarify how the deeds of gods, protagonists, and ancestors gave the world/earth its present-day form.

An exemplary illustration of the several myths is the belief of the Western Apache myth of creation. This tribal group believes that there are several paranormal powers linked with natural occurrences. The aforementioned powers are neutral with regard to decent and sinful acts, but they can be employed for numerous individual devotions. An individual can manage these powers by either pursuing or improving those inherently endowed upon him/her (Clements, 155). Belief is buttressed by a mythology that clarifies the creation of the universe and embraces more than a few immortals. Principal are the Life Givers that are occasionally acknowledged with the sun; Shifting Woman, root of perpetual youth and life; and her twins, Killer of Monsters and Child of Water. Possessing equal significance are anthropomorphic mountain spirits termed as ‘gaan.’ Additional vital figures in Apache myths are Old Man Big Owl and the Coyote. Agents of powers are coined as shaman. Those who possess their own knowledge covertly and employ it for their own benefits are witches.

Some time ago, vast number of curing rituals existed, each linked to an explicit power. These rituals were executed as individual treatment appeared reasonable. The sole major ritual that is still implemented to date is girl’s puberty rituals, which are both a rite of passage and a communal ceremony. It possesses the power of Transforming Woman to certify individual health, long life and communal wellbeing. In the past two decades, this ritual has been expounded, with posh gift exchanges persistent between kinsfolks of the girl and that of her godparents for quite a few years after the first ritual.

In the recent years, both Western medicine and customary rituals were employed in numerous arrangements. Currently, contemporary Western medicine is the principal form of medicine treatment, although Transforming Woman’s power is pursued at puberty rites, and certain individual Apaches know songs and prayers to powers, which they employ fundamentally within their direct families. Every individual is given a prearranged life span, which unless ferocity interposes, will end as a result of old age. Perceptions of life after death are ambiguous. Distinct activities are taken to ensure the dead do not resurrect and attempt to entice the living to accompany them.

Question 2

The use of animals in myths implies that non-human entities have a spirit or soul equivalent to According to Native American mythologies, the land turtle (Jebuti) acquired its stippled shell in a drop to earth as it tried to get to the heavens with the aid of a bird so that he can play a flute at a festival. Contrariwise, in Asia, the customary Chinese personality signifying the turtle, It is depicted by a head similar to that of a snake at the topmost, to the mid-left side of the paws, up to the mid-right side of the shell, and the extremity at the tail. According to the scriptures in the book titled, ‘Book of Ceremonies’, a tortoise, phoenix, and dragons are the main fundamental entities that possess spirit/soul. During the era of the ancient Chinese, the shells of tortoise were utilized for prophecy (Ferraro, 241). Some Chinese actually suggest that ancient Chinese scripts were taken from the marks on the back of a tortoise.

The Chinese people have the perception that the tortoise is sanctified and denotes obstinacy, authority, and long life. Chinese myths claim that the tortoise assisted P’an Ku to make the world: the maker goddess Nugua chops off the legs of a sea turtle and utilizes them to buttress the sky subsequent to the deed of Gong Gong thereby putting an end to the mountain that propped up the sky. The level plastron and hemispherical shell of a turtle corresponds the ancient Chinese notion of an even world and an arched sky. According to them, the tortoise signifies the entire universe. Furthermore, the Chinese Army had flags with appearances of tortoises and dragons as signs of unmatched supremacy and solitariness (Chebahtah, and Nancy 78). These were utilized because the animals clashed each other but both managed to stay alive. The tortoise cannot reach the dragon while the latter cannot break the tortoises’ shell.

The Chinese people also referred to the tortoise as the black warrior, depicting supremacy, obstinacy, and long life, other than that of winter and north. The tortoise was regularly placed at the foundation of monuments. According to Chinese legends, the wooden pillars of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing were erected on the shells of living tortoises since people had the perception that tortoises were capable of existing for over 2000 years without either water or food and are embellished with mystic power that averts wood from decomposing. Meanwhile in Africa, many mythologies depict the tortoise as a clever/wise animal. In a museum in Brooklyn, there exists a human replica sitting on its heels on a turtle, in Africa, and the figure dates back to the 19th century (Blake, 8).

Question 3

On a beautiful summer day in 1965, our God, named Charlie, managed to view the light of the world for the very first time in Big Apple/New York. Although his father was also God who was well renowned as Martin, Charlie strived with all his might and will to beat his father in all domains of supernatural powers. Charlie was often depicted as very lazy and sometimes very bored because of the fact that he was born with the silver spoon in his mouth. Therefore, on that special summer day in 1965, Charlie picked a couple of hairs from his head and started counting them. There were precisely five strands of hair, which Charlie had managed to yank from his head. However, the interesting thing in this act of plucking the strands of hair from his head is that Charlie did not throw these strands of hair away. He packed the five strands of hair in one envelope and put it in the box in his big room. A number of years after this act, Charlie made an effort to determine if his five strands of hair still existed and he affirmed their existences. From the moment of affirmation, Charlie decided that he would carry with him the envelope everywhere he went. Since Charlie was a womanizer since he met numerous women during his lifetime.

Due to the aforementioned statement, Charlie requested two different women to move in with him in his penthouse in New York. Both women who moved in with Charlie were brunettes with long healthy hair. One day, Charlie forgot to carry his envelope containing the five strands of hair. On the same fateful day, the women managed to get hold of the envelope and its content. They saw the hairs and argued whose hairs were in the envelope. The two women assumed that the five strands of hair belonged to either of them. They argued so much about the strands of hair; hence, causing commotion in the house. This forced the neighbors to call Charlie to come home and see what was happening there. Charlie managed to come back home in time and settled the dispute. After that, he repossessed his envelope containing his five strands of hair. He cleared the air by asserting that the contents of the envelope were his. He gave the women two strands hair, one for each of them. One hair was given to the peaceful woman while the other high-tempered woman was given the other strand. After short time, Charlie had a fight with the two women and ended up living alone in his penthouse while retaining possession of three strands of hair.

Charlie possessed the virtue of patience, since he waited for a long time before meeting another woman called Brooke, who gave birth to his child. Brooke loved gardening and enjoyed the various fruits mother earth gave her. Once Brooke gave birth to their first child, Charlie instructed her to bury the hair from a hole in the garden. Unfortunately, the hole in which the hair was buried caught fire, burning Brooke’s garden. She was so angry with Charlie that she made the decisions to move out and dump Charlie. Charlie managed to move on and nursed the heartbreak. He managed to find another wife called Denise who also managed to bear Charlie a child. Denise’s hobby was sailing and enjoying the beautiful serene environment that Mother Nature had to offer. Charlie gave her the fourth strand of his hair with the belief that she was the one. Regrettably, the couple had a misunderstanding; hence, Denise and Charlie parted ways. In a pact of ensuring that she had severed all ties that she had with Charlie, Denise dumped the strand of hair in the sea while having one of her numerous voyages in a cruise ship.

Charlie stayed with his final strand of hair. He decided to keep it forever. Previously, Charlie thought that all the strands of hair were meant to be given only to the woman who won his heart and soul. After the four heartbreaks, Charlie vowed never to love another woman again retained the last strand of his hair which brought him eternal luck and joy.

Works Cited

Blake, Andrea. Let’s Learn with Myths. Carlton (Vic.: Curriculum Corporation, 2005.

Chebahtah, William, and Nancy M. G. Minor. Chevato: The Story of the Apache Warrior Who Captured Herman Lehmann. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.

Clements, William M. Imagining Geronimo: An Apache Icon in Popular Culture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013.

Ferraro, Gary P. Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008.

Preece, Rod. Animals and Nature: Cultural Myths, Cultural Realities. Vancouver [B.C.: UBC Press, 1999.