As I listened to the creation stories from Monday, what really stuck out to me was the prevalence of animals. In the Cherokee creation story, the wings of the Buzzard became the mountains and valleys, and in the Lakota emergence story, the people who emerged before the Earth was ready became the bison who provide so much food and material for the Lakota people. Humankind is truly only one of so many species on the planet, and I think the feature of so many other species in the creation stories really speaks to that. I love how creation stories serve to explain natural phenomena. In Hernan Diaz’s novel Trust, he writes that “God is the most uninteresting answer to the most interesting questions.” I think that this is a super interesting idea in that, especially in Western European culture and modern American culture, there are things that are explained and beliefs that are justified by expressing that God said so—but I think there’s a significant difference between that and the stories that explain why the water spider has a white mark on its back. I think I feel that way because the things that are explained with these creation stories, and in folklore as a whole, are just innate curiosities, and no harm can be caused by explaining the way that a bear’s roar sounds like a cough. It was also important that we listened to these stories rather than reading them because it helps continue the oral tradition. Something that we touched on in class is how oral stories are more accessible than written down stories, and I think something else in that vein is that oral tradition allows the stories to change and flow as the needs for the stories change and as people want to change things, whereas, when something that was written down is changed from one edition to another, it is less intentional and is, in a way, more damaging.
The structures of Indigenous communities is incredibly essential to their sustainability. Something that stood out to me about that was the semi-sedentary way of living, with seasonal migration or migrating when necessary to find fertile fields. Obviously, in terms of sustaining Indigenous populations, this is incredibly helpful in preventing famine, but also in terms of sustainability for the planet, it is better for the farmland and animal populations if people move around and allow any altered ecosystems to revert back and level out again.
Hi Daphne!
I also really enjoyed listening to the creation stories from this week. They were embedded with interesting lessons, but also the “innate curiosities” as you described. I especially loved the Cherokee creation story which described how the owl got its marks from the ash (and other animals too!). Additionally, there was something so powerful about listening to these stories and it made them easy to imagine. Thank you for your thoughts this week!