Native Myths of How the Stars Came to Be

“Creation Myth” is a Lakota Sioux legend that depicts the creation of the Earth, per this tribe’s tradition. The world, as it is known today, was not the Creating Power’s first creation: “There was another world before this one”. The Creating Power had created a world before but was displeased with how the people behaved so he sang songs to the rain that caused it to pour so hard that the earth split apart and water filled the surface, drowning almost every creature; only Kangi the crow survived. Creation began when, after Kangi pleaded for a place to rest, the Creation Power gave four animals, that he selected from his pipe bag, a task: “He sent each in turn to retrieve a lump of mud from beneath the flood waters.” The loon, the otter, and the beaver failed; but the turtle, who spent a long time underwater, succeeded in collecting the mud. The Creating Power modeled the mud while laying it out in the water, and then, with two eagle feathers, he spread it out so it would cover the water’s surface; like this, he created the Earth. Filled with sadness after seeing the dry land, he created lakes, oceans and streams by crying. At last, he created men by using black, white, yellow and red earth. He gave men his pipe and told them to live by it and warned them of the consequences if they strayed from honorable behavior: “But the world would be destroyed again if they made it bad and ugly.”

Coyote teaches the people “how to eat and how to hunt the baffolo and catch eagles. He taught them what roots to eat and how to make a good lodge and what to wear.” Many animals were considered sacred to the Native Americans and they had a huge respect for them. They made sure to use the entire buffalo and not to waste any parts of an animal by turning the bones and skin into tools, clothing, shelter, and jewlery. They also belived in a Great Spirit which is the creator of the earth and men. Coyote creates man by putting “them out in tribes all over the world because Old Man Above wanted the earth to be inhabited all over, not just in one or two places.” Old Man Above symbolizes God or the creator of the

Coyote is a myth from Keresan pueblos of New Mexico. He has condemned to be a perpetual wonderer. Ortiz sees him "just trucking along". According to Native American Indians who were a deeply spiritual people, they communicated their history, thoughts, ideas and dreams from generation to generation through Symbols and Signs such as the Coyote symbol. Their symbols are geometric portrayals of animal designs, celestial bodies, and natural phenomena. Bird and animal symbols and totems are believed to represent the physical form of a spirit helper and guide. The Coyote is depicted as their ancestor, creator god, and a Trickster spirit. According to one Miwok creation myth "Coyote shook his walik" (something similar to a blanket of Tule) to the

Throughout our existence, mankind has looked up to the stars with a fantastical wonderment that excites a feeling of the unknown. In order to understand the heavens above us, ancient cultures created grand mythologies utilizing valiant heroes, gods, and life practices and then imbedded these stories into the stars in the form of constellations. One of these cultures is the Navajo Native American tribe that resided in the southwest region of the United States. By viewing these constellations and the myths behind them, we can learn about what they Navajo held scared and how they viewed the world around them.

He explained how the Apache can look at the constellations and planets and determine what time it is, even though as the seasons change, so do the times. This was difficult for the author to understand or learn even though she spent a great deal of time at the reservation over many years. She says, 'to be a competent star watcher at Mescalero requires years of watching until the sky becomes as familiar as the back of one's own hand' (99).

People have contemplated many different theories about the creation of the world. There are two versions that rival each other and those are the religious and the scientific version.

The crow religion is ingenious.Like most native american tribes the crow had a ceremony called the sun dance.They also had a ceremony about tobacco.The crows believed that they were made by old man coyote.Four ducks flew over old man coyote as he was wandering the wet and cold world.He asked everyone to bring him some

As the universe expanded, matter collected into clouds that began to condense and rotate, forming the forerunners of galaxies. Changes in pressure caused gas and dust to form distinct clouds. If the mass of material in the cloud was sufficiently compressed, nuclear reactions began, and the sun and the stars were born (Sciences, n.d.). The creation story “the sun mother” explains why the universe was created, whereas this differs from the scientific explanation where it focusses more on how the universe was

In the beginning of time, there was nothing: neither sky, nor sea, nor land just the cosmic world. In this world there were immortals known as Star people. There was one rule in the place they lived, do not muddle around with the hole in the ground. The hole had been there for generation no one knows how or why it came to be. Then one crucial day one immortal named Cur went prodding around the hole, he fell down, down; down he went till he hit the bottom. He looked up and saw all the Star People running around looking like blotches. It did not take long for the other Star People to notice that he was absent. They got together and shaped a wheel that held a torch in place to see into the void of the hole. As a result of this light appeared through hole, Cur began to cry

Firstly, I would like to start off with the beginning where Greek creation stories with other creation stories all started with chaos (nothing). Gaia and Uranus which were created as Mother Earth and the Sky. Then Erebus was created in the void. In the Chinese creation story, the passage says ‘all was chaos, and this chaos was shaped like a hen’s egg. Inside the egg were Yin and Yang’, which were the two opposing forces of which the universe was made.

In the past, spiritual people were able to interact with other human species through the stars.

A celestial bird (described as a goose or an ibis) laid an egg on the top of the mound that rose from the chaotic waters. Out of this egg came the sun god, Ra, which brought the sun into existence.

Long ago there was tribe called the Zuni, they believed one of their gods, Shinji, only slept once a month. They received that thought from the night. Once, sometimes twice a month it would get pitch black out after the sun went down. The bright disk in the sky at night was called the moon, and they believed when the moon was full, Shinji was at full power and took the form of a wolf and he roamed the earth until sun up. Afterward his power slowly “waned”, he then didn’t have the power to take his normal form, a wolf.

In native american culture, the stars are full of storys. They hold the past, present and future. My moms Apache so she grew up listening to the storys. Her great fascination in the night sky is to blame for my name Starr, and my brothers Skye. My middle name is Biih Naideeh, which means elk the

Theories suggest that our solar system along with our Universe formed due to the “big bang.” The big bang was an explosion that in response, Geologists believe formed the Universe and occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. In just a matter of time, space and the building blocks of matter were created, and time soon began. From that moment, the Universe started to expand, and continues to expand to this day. Over billions of years, matter formed into large, complex structures that continue to evolve. However, recent speculations support the idea that the sun and planets concentrated from a nebula, which is described as a cloud of gas and dust in outer space. Particles of dust accumulated together and formed small chunks and then expanded into larger ones eventually forming into planets. One of the most important objects that was formed during this process was the sun.