Throughout history, Native Americans have changed their stories of creation for a few distinct reasons. It started out very simple in 1650 with an earth that is completely made up of water and humans came from three animals, and then in 1720 it changed to humans coming from dead animals and a higher power being an animal, and finally in 1935 the Earth was flooded due to sins. In the beginning, Native Americans’ idea of creation was very simple and portrayed animals as the higher beings, but something happened that changed all that. The European colonists who came over to the Americas slowly influenced these stories and changed them to be more like their ideas of how humans came to be.
In the first story, written in 1650, The Indians of the New Netherlands Account for the Creation, it is one of the most simple versions of creation. The world was completely water until a woman came down, landed in the oceans and created land. After the land was formed, she gave birth to three animals, a deer, bear, and a wolf. From those animals, humans eventually came; showing the respect the Native Americans showed to animals (Reader, The Indians of the New Netherlands). We can see that this version had not been tampered by the settlers because there is no sight of European religion. However, in the second story, written in 1720, The Origins of Ottawa Society Recalled by Nicholas Perrot, there was one higher being called the “Great Hare.” Their idea of creation was that humans came from the remains of dead animals in the Earth. With that idea in mind, one can also see the effect the new settlers had on the Indians with the “Great Hare” (Reader, Nicholas Perrot). Yet the Europeans had still not fully finished the job. In the last story of how humans and the earth were made, written in 1935, Remaking the World: A Sioux story, the process was almost complete. The higher power, God, because of sin, flooded the earth as God did with Noah. The European religion can be seen a great deal in this last story. However, even with all the influence of the Catholic and Christian religions, the Native Americans were able to keep a little bit of their culture. That is seen when a beaver, seal, otter, and turtle went to go find land for a crow and found it. The higher power waved eagle feathers over the land, which created animals and humans (Reader, Remaking the World: A Sioux Story). Through the time the settlers came to the Americas, they influenced the Native Americans in many ways, mainly through religion.
“From St. Augustine, Spanish missionaries spread north into Guale Indian villages in present-day Georgia and westward among the Indians of Timucua, Apalachee, and Apalachicola. In New Mexico, missions radiated outward from the Rio Grande, as distant as Hopi Pueblo in the west” (Nation of Nations, pg. 59). The European settlers affected the Native Americans’ religions in many ways and yet they were still able to keep their ancient ways. The colonists spread throughout North America and South America and spread their influence, changing how the Indians viewed the beginning of life on Earth.
Davidson, Geinapp, Heyrman, Lytle, Stoff. Nation of Nations. Ed. McGraw-Hill. New York, NY 2006
Reader
Your post flows very smoothly with the transitioning from point to point, showing that slowly the settlers were influencing their religion. In the second story, when you mention the “Great Hare”, emphasize more on how the “Great Hare” relates to the settlers’ influence on the Native Americans. Your body should also be more spaced out, maybe by stories, because it seems too clumped together, making the post more difficult to read. The quote in the conclusion paragraph does not particularly seem to relate to the topic, as the stories in the reader were from the tribes of New York, Canada, and North/South Dakota.
Posted by: Mark Sythammavong | September 28, 2005 at 05:48 PM
Very nice job getting everything in with such a short post. Very nice.
However it may have been more advantageous to do a longer post to expand on your ideas a bit more. They kind of seem to fall a bit short.
Also, you should expand a bit on what you mean. "...sight of European religion." What was European religion?
My final comment is that your conclusion seems kind of weak. You should make it flow better and also do more than just restate your post. Add in your own assertion or opinion.
Try to use these tips for next time. Good luck.
Posted by: Vernon Eppard | September 28, 2005 at 06:41 PM
gracias a Dios por intiresny
Posted by: ChavaredsCadA | August 08, 2011 at 04:13 AM