Myth, Ritual and Religion, Vol. 1 (of 2)Lang, Andrew
Religion
Myth, Ritual and Religion, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Lang, Andrew
Myth; Mythology; Religion; Rites and ceremonies
Crossing the northern continent of America to the west, we are in the
domains of various animal culture-heroes, ancestors and teachers of the
human race and the makers, to some extent, of the things in the world.
As the eastern tribes have their Great Hare, so the western tribes have
their wolf hero and progenitor, or their coyote, or their raven, or
their dog. It is possible, and even certain in some cases, that the
animal which was the dominant totem of a race became heir to any
cosmogonic legends that were floating about.
The country of the Papagos, on the eastern side of the Gulf of
California, is the southern boundary of the province of the coyote or
prairie wolf. The realm of his influence as a kind of Prometheus, or
even as a demiurge, extends very far northwards. In the myth related by
Con Quien, the chief of the central Papagos,(1) the coyote acts the
part of the fish in the Sanskrit legend of the flood, while Montezuma
undertakes the role of Manu. This Montezuma was formed, like the Adams
of so many races, out of potter's clay in the hands of the Great Spirit.
In all this legend it seems plain enough that the name of Montezuma is
imported from Mexico, and has been arbitrarily given to the hero of the
Papagos. According to Mr. Powers, whose manuscript notes Mr. Bancroft
quotes (iii. 87), all the natives of California believe that their
first ancestors were created directly from the earth of their present
dwelling-places, and in very many cases these ancestors were coyotes.
(1) Davidson, Indian Affairs Report, 1865, p. 131; Bancroft, iii. 75.
The Pimas, a race who live near the Papagos on the eastern coast of
the Gulf of California, say that the earth was made by a being named
Earth-prophet. At first it appeared like a spider's web, reminding one
of the West African legend that a great spider created the world.
Man was made by the Earth-prophet out of clay kneaded with sweat. A
mysterious eagle and a deluge play a great part in the later mythical
adventures of war and the world, as known to the Pimas.(1)
(1) Communicated to Mr. Bancroft by Mr. Stout of the Pima Agency.
In Oregon the coyote appears as a somewhat tentative demiurge, and the
men of his creation, like the beings first formed by Prajapati in
the Sanskrit myth, needed to be reviewed, corrected and considerably
augmented. The Chinooks of Oregon believe in the usual race of magnified
non-natural men, who preceded humanity.
These semi-divine people were called Ulhaipa by the Chinooks, and
Sehuiab by the Lummies. But the coyote was the maker of men. As the
first of Nature's journeymen, he made men rather badly, with closed eyes
and motionless feet. A kind being, named Ikanam, touched up the coyote's
crude essays with a sharp stone, opening the eyes of men, and giving
their hands and feet the powers of movement. He also acted as a
"culture-hero," introducing the first arts. (1)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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