Native American Creation Stories

Native American Creation Stories Primary Source Essay The document I chose to write about was the collection of stories about creation stories from Salinian and Cherokee tribes. This collection of stories was put together to shows how the tribes viewed the creation of humanity. The first story, Salinan Indian Creation Story, was written by John Alden Mason for The Ethnology of the Salinan Indians in 1912. The second story Cherokee creation story by W. Powell for the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1897-1898. This collection was created to show the stories passed down through generations through the two Native American tribes that they believed to be the way humanity was created. This collection was published for the public to read so they can learn about how the Natives thought. Anyone who wants to learn more about the creation stories told by the two tribes can enjoy the collection. When looking at this document can tell us a lot about the historical period It came from. In the first story, Salinan Indian Creation Story, it talks about how a Bald Eagle was the chief of the animals and that there were not any humans. The Bald Eagle then goes on to create the first man. This creation of humans from an animal can show us why they valued animals so much in their culture and practices. In the Second story, Cherokee creation story, there are many more things we can learn. In the beginning of the story, it describes how they viewed what happens when the world ends. They believed that the earth was an island float in a big ocean that was held up by four cords at the four cardinal points. When the world grows old, they thought that all the people would die, and the cords would break sending the earth into the ocean. They thought that there were many animals in the sky that wanted more space and wondered what was under the water. So, they explored the water, they then found mud and split it up, it then spread out becoming the island now called the earth. However, they don’t know who specifically who created the earth. This shows us a reason why they value animals so much because they believed they helped create the earth. Overall, each story is very different in the way they tell things and with the amount of detail they use. In the Cherokee creation story, they use a lot more detail and talk about more thing such as how animals and plants were created, that they thought the earth was flat, that there was a lot of water, and there is a whole world under where they were living.