1. American Emergence Myths
Air-Spirit People
Anasazi
bow priests
cultural relativism
ethnography
Hopi people
masks in rituals
Navajo people
Pandora
paratactic storytelling
petroglyphs
powakas
Pueblo Indians
shape-changers
sipapuni
Spider Grandmother
Swallow People
Tawa
tricksters
Water Spider
Zuni people

2. Oral Myths and Enthography
Native American Oral Narrative
A living oral tradition
Emphasis on oral performance and ritual
Cultural relativism
Ethnographers:
Harold Courlander (Hopi, 1971)
Ruth Fulton Benedict (Zuni)
Paul Zolbrod (Navajo)

3. Native American World View
Hozho = Navajo principle of harmony and order.
Union with nature
The world not as a place of punishment
but as a place for fulfillment of destiny
Zuni Harmony with the Cosmos
Native American Myths in Brief

4. Anasazi = Ancient People
= “Enemy Ancestors”
in Navajo
a Pueblo people
Ancestors of Hopi and Zuni
Mesa Verde (Colorado)

5. The Zuni People

6. Zuni Emergence Myths Four Worlds (vertical orientation)
Four Compass Directions (horizontal orientation)
Four Trees
pine
spruce
silver spruce
aspen

7. Trees in Creation Stories
Tree of Life
Tree of Knowledge
World Tree

8. Zuni
Zuni Genesis
Zuni Origin Myth
Zuni Harmony with the Cosmos
Zuni snake priest

9. Zuni Hero Twins
Ko'wituma (Elder Brother) leads the Younger Brother (Wats'usi)
Zuni Twins
Hero Twins

10. Prayerstick
Huichol
Huichol Prayerstick

11. Bow Priests Emblem of Bow Priest society

12. Corn Itsumawe = “to increase by magic”
Zuni corn maiden fetishes made of antler)

13. Twins as Creators Metamorphosis of humans originally insect-like
gradual evolution
loss of animal features
(webbed fingers, tails and horns)

14. Water Spider as helper
MIGRATION
Finding the Middle (Halona)

15. Hopi Emergence Myth http://www.hopi.nsn.us/emergence.asp
The Fourth World of the Hopis (by Harold Courlander, 1971)
Similarities to Zuni:
Spider Grandmother as helper
Insect creatures evolve
Ritual of corn
Migration of the peoples

16. Hopi Sipapuni
This spot is thought by some to be Sipapu, entrance to the Hopi Underworld. It is a sacred place of pilgrimage for the Hopi, at the bottom of the Canyon of the Little Colorado above its junction with the Colorado River. Copyright © The Arizona Board of Regents.

17. Myth and Ritual
A kiva at Mesa Verde with sipapuni.

18. Coyote: Another Hopi Helper
Daniel O Stope. Coyote Howling at the Moon

19. The Navajo Nation
Descendants of the Athapaskan, not the Anasazi

20. Navajo Terms hozho = Overarching principle of harmony and order.
K'e (prefix in spoken Navajo = universal harmony) Diné:
1) diyin kine'i = supernaturals, holy people;
Creators of humans
2) nihokaa dine'e = earth surface people, naturals.
Ana'i = non-Navajo. Various kinds of non-Navajo.
3. Diné bahané = Navajo creation story
Navajo Creation Myth:
Nílch'i dine'é = Air-Spirit People
Swallow People / Yellow Grasshopper People
Kiis'áanii = People Who Live in Upright Houses (Pueblo communities?)
Haashich'ééh dine'é = Holy People
Talking God
Áltsé hastiin = First Man / Áltsé asdz´q´q = First Woman
Bilagáana = White Man

21. FOUR WORLDS OF THE NAVAJO
First/Black World
Second/Blue World
Third/Yellow World
Fourth/ Black and White World

22. THE FOUR DIRECTIONS OF THE NAVAJO
East:
This is the direction of the dawn and it is our thinking direction. We should first think before we do anything. When the sun comes up, we look to the...
South:
This is our planning direction where we plan what we are going to do. The sun sets in the...
West:
This is our life, and is where we do our living. Here is where we act out our plan and our thoughts of the east and south directions of our lives. The sun goes down in the. North:
North:
This is the evaluation portion of our lives. This is where we get our satisfaction and we evaluate the outcome of what we first started in the east. Here is where we determine to change things to make it better, or to see we are on the right path and should continue the cycle.

23. Navajo Sacred Mountains
The Navajos belief is that their Creator placed them on the land between the following 4 mountains representing the 4 cardinal directions:
Mount Blanca (Tsisnaasjini' - Dawn or White Shell Mountain) Sacred Mountain of the East (near Alamosa in San Luis Valley, Colorado)
Mount Taylor (Tsoodzil - Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain) Sacred Mountain of the South (north of Laguna, New Mexico)
San Francisco Peaks (Doko'oosliid - Abalone Shell Mountain) Sacred Mountain of the West (near Flagstaff, Arizona)
Mount Hesperus Dibé Nitsaa (Big Mountain Sheep) - Obsidian Mountain Sacred Mountain of the North (La Plata Mountains, Colorado)

24. Mount Blanca (East)

25. Mount Taylor (South)

26. San Francisco Peak (West)

27. Mount Hesperus (North)

28. Diné bahané Similarities to Zuni and Hopi Four worlds
original humans are insects
Vertical movement
search for sipapuni
Differences
Air-spirit people fly rather than climb
Air-spirit people are expelled for their sins
Need for Hozho
Navajo Creation Story
by Joe Ben Jr

29. Kiis'áanii = People Who Live in Upright Houses

30. Creation of Humans diyin kine'i = supernaturals, holy people
These supernaturals create humans from two ears of corn
Male (white corn)
Woman (yellow corn)
(metamorphosis)
Note birth of TWINS
Aetiology of masks
Two supernatural holy people
flank the sacred maize plant on this 19th Navajo ceremonial blanket.

31. American Emergence Myths
Air-Spirit People
Anasazi
bow priests
cultural relativism
ethnography
Hopi people
masks in rituals
Navajo people
paratactic storytelling
Pueblo Indians
sipapuni
Spider Grandmother
tricksters
Water Spider
Zuni people
Add:
Harold Courlander
Ruth Fulton Benedict
Paul Zolbrod
Mesa Verde
hozho
Twins
Trees
itsumawe