I really liked listening to the Cherokee Creation story and the Lakota Emergence story. The Hopi Origin story was very interesting, too, but I preferred the way that the other stories were recounted. The animation and the more cinematic tone of the narrator who told the Hopi Origin story made me feel more disconnected from the story, while the retellings of the Cherokee and Lakota stories had a more casual, one-on-one feel. I did like that the Hopi Origin Story was partly told in (what I assume is) the Hopi language, because I so rarely hear Indigenous languages in general, so it was nice to get an idea of what this language sounds like.
I think it was important to listen to these stories instead of reading them because they, as Sina Bear-Eagle said, have been passed down orally for generations (The Lakota Emergence Story, 00:34). Listening to them instead of reading them was a way for us to experience the stories as they were meant to be experienced. Of course, given that we listened to the stories over computers, we didn’t really experience the stories in the traditional manner, but listening to a storyteller still feels closer to the oral tradition than reading the stories would feel.
I found the use of Calumets as a method of survival very interesting. As Theda Perdue wrote, they were attached to a ceremony that allowed outsiders to enter villages and interact with the inhabitants peacefully, and could be used to end disputes, strengthen alliances, and talk to strangers (Perdue, 36). It seems like Calumets were a really integral part of social structures and community building. I would consider them a method of survival in this context because building relationships is essential to survival, especially if two communities might actively attack each other without that relationship building.
I also found it very interesting that adoption seemed pretty common from what we read. The use of Calumets in adoption is really fascinating, and something that I wish I knew more about. Calumets kind of seem to function how different types of legal agreements today function (adoptions, alliances, resolving disagreements), which makes me wonder about the legal and governmental systems within these communities and how they functioned.
Hi Sage!
I also really enjoyed listening to these stories, and I just don’t think they would have had the same effect if we simply read about them. As you point out, there is something really personal about the connection being built between the storyteller and the audience. I also loved how detailed the stories were and this made them really easy to imagine! I appreciated how Sina Bear Eagle explained that although the small details of a story may change from narrator to narrator (or generation to generation), the messages and lessons stay the same and that is what’s most important!