Mythology: An Ancient Record of Man's Past (article) by Gary R Varner on AuthorsDen

An excerpt from the new book by Gary R. Varner, Mysteries of Native American Myth & Religion. The mythology of the ancient Americans is extensive and is important in the understanding of the Native American’s arrival and existence on these shores. We have a tendency to label the history of other peoples as mythic whereas we hold our own accounts to be sacred and true. This is a tragic loss to the understanding of our past. Because Native American accounts of the creation and flood are almost identical to other legends around the world there evidently was a common source. Evidence seems to exist to indicate that an event, an event of catastrophic importance, did in fact occur. Whether the legends originated from one point in the world and spread throughout the globe or if the disaster was experienced by all people cannot be absolutely determined. What at times may appear to be a quaint folk-story, such as tales about elves, giants, etc., may in fact have a basis in reality. Regardless, the mythological world of the Native American was an important part of his religion—just as Christianity is composed of many ancient myths and legends. A comparison of certain mythical accounts will enable the reader to understand a little better the closeness among religions. A comparison will also illustrate the possibility that some myths are a part of humankinds true history. It is important to understand the meanings of myths as well. These legends may have a historical basis and should not be dismissed as easily as they have been. Webster’s definition is “myth” states that it is “a traditional story of unknown authorship, ostensibly with a historical basis, but serving usually to explain some phenomenon…” Religious scholar Mircea Eliade wrote that myth is a sacred reality. Myth relates to a sacred history, a telling of the creation and other events that occurred prior to humankind’s existence. Such sacred reality exists outside of the normal, profane reality that we see in the physical world. It is a reality that cannot be fully comprehended but is no less true. We cannot treat the mythological context of our world any less seriously than we treat the world that we can touch and feel. They coexist in time but are entirely separate realities. We must not belittle myth and folklore as they offer us an entirely different perspective of our world, our place in that world, and the unseen powers that have so much influence over us in our existence on this Earth. The fascinating thing about myth and folklore is the universality of it. How this universal application of myth has happened, and why, is a subject for extensive study. A study undertaken in the 1970’s by Dr. Cesare Emiliani (1) brought a new understanding to the dark legends of the deluge. According to Emiliani, approximately 11,600 years ago a massive ice sheet in North America suddenly collapsed, moved southward down the Mississippi Valley and melted in the warmer climate of that region. This melting of the ice sheet produced a great deal of fresh water into the oceans—raising the sea level by at least 135 feet in the world’s lower coastal regions. This rise in sea level was almost instantaneous. Since coastal areas around the world are fairly well populated and have been throughout time, Emiliani believed that the universal deluge myths may have resulted from this sudden rise in the sea level which inundated much of the coastal areas. The inhabitants were forced to move inland to flee the rising water or escaped on rafts or other water craft—or drowned. As the people fled to higher ground their stories of terror and death would certainly have had an impact in their cultural psyches. The date that Emiliani settled on for the massive ice melt, 11,600 to 9,600 BCE also coincides with Plato’s account of the submerging of Atlantis. There is no evidence to support the belief that a continent existed between America and Europe, continental drift rules this theory out, however “Atlantis” could have been part of the actual land mass of North America which was submerged due to this surge of water. This could have been the “great land to the west” the Egyptians spoke of to Solon in Plato’s writings. Supposedly, the Egyptians lost all contact with this land after the cataclysmic event. In studying the legends of the Great Flood, it is interesting to note the variations in the flood stories. One legend that is certainly supportive of Emiliani’s theory is from the Sia Indians of New Mexico: “The whole earth was filled with water. The waters did not fall in rain, but came in as rivers between the mesas. It continued to flow in from all sides until the people and the animals fled to the mesa tops. The water continued to rise until nearly level with the tops of the mesas.” (2) More Myths of Creation and the Flood One of the most universally recognized myth is that of the creation. The Omaha traditional account of Genesis recorded by Francis LaFlesche in the early 1900’s reads: “At the beginning, all things were in the mind of Wakonda. All creatures, including man, were spirits. They moved about in space between the earth and the stars. They were seeking a place where they could come into bodily existence. They ascended to the sun, but the sun was not fitted for their abode. They moved on to the moon and found that it also was not good for their home. Then they descended to the earth. They saw it was covered with water. They floated through the air to the north, the east, the south, and then the west, and found no dry land. They were sorely grieved. Suddenly from the midst of the water’s arose a great rock. It burst into flames and the waters floated into the air in clouds. Dry land appeared; the grasses and the trees grew. The hosts of spirits descended and became flesh and blood. They fed on the seeds of the grasses and the fruits of the trees, and the land vibrated with their expressions of joy and gratitude to Wakonda, the maker of all things.” (3) The Popl Vuh, the sacred book of the Maya, gives this account: “This is the first account…there was neither man nor animal, birds, fishes, crabs, trees, stones, caves, ravines, grasses, nor forests; there was only the sky. “The surface of the earth had not appeared. There was only the calm sea and the great expanse of the sky. “There was nothing brought together, nothing which could make a noise, nor anything which might move, or tremble… “There was nothing standing; only the calm water, the placid sea, alone and tranquil. Nothing existed. “There was only immobility and silence in the darkness…Only the Creator, the Maker, Tepeu, Gucumetz, the Forefathers, were in the water surrounded by light…By nature they were great sages and great thinkers. In this manner the sky existed and also the Heart of Heaven, which is the name of God and thus He is called. “Then came the word. Then they planned the creation, and the growth of the trees and the thickets and the birth of life and the creation of man. “Thus let it be done! Let the emptiness be filled! Let the water recede and make a void, let the earth appear and become solid; let it be done. Thus they spoke. Let there be light, let there be dawn in the sky and on the earth! “Then the earth was created by them. So it was, in truth, that they created the Earth. Earth! they said, and instantly it was made. “Like the midst, like a cloud, and like a cloud of dust was the creation, when the mountains appeared from the water; and instantly the mountains grew. “So it was that they made perfect the work…” (4) The Popul Vuh then goes on to state that the Creators became displeased with the animals that they had created. The animals were unable to worship the creators, so man was made: “Of earth, of muc, they made [man’s] flesh.” But, as in the Biblical account of the Fall of man, mankind fell from the grace of the gods: “They no longer remembered the Heart of Heaven. It was merely a trial, an attempt at man…Therefore, they no longer thought of their Creator nor their Maker…there were the first men who existed in great numbers on the face of the earth. “Immediately the [men] were annihilated…a flood was brought about by the Heart of Heaven, a great flood was formed which fell on the heads of the…creatures.” (5) The Yaqui people, also from Mexico, have their own legend of the flood. This account is interesting due to its attention to several survivors. It also gives dates for the flood’s occurrence. The myth was handed down in a rather factual manner with little elaboration. The Yaqui myth is perhaps the best indication of an actual disaster: “Yaitowi, in his time, walked with Dios when came to pass the days when water rose over the earth to destroy all living creatures, alike beneath the sky, on the earth and living in the water—even the birds…It so happened that on the seventh day of February the flood waters covered the earth. In this time of Yaitowi, in the year 614, the day of the seventeenth of that same month month, February, it rained all over the world, this continued for fourteen days and fourteen nights. Since the blessed end, everything that had been alive, and all life substance was thus finished. “And on the seventeenth of the month of July the waters were receding until the first of October, when the tops of the hills showed. Yaitowi, and thirteen others as well as eleven women were saved on the hill of Parbus, which today is called Maatele. And on the hill of Jonas, eleven souls and one woman called Enrac Dolores were saved.” (6) The legend continues, relating how other sixteen survivors were found safe on various hills along with a number of animals. And then: “And they heard the voice of Dios, ‘And I, Dios…will spread the blood of man because man is made in the image of Dios. Now there will be no more flood to destroy the earth, which is a sign. For centuries I will put my arch (rainbow) in the clouds…today my arch will be [seen]…to remind me of my pact between myself and all living souls.” (7) Through all the myths concerning the creation and the flood there appear several accounts of a number of creations of mankind. Evidently, those created before the flood were very unsatisfactory to the Creator. The Mayan legends tell of men before the Judeo-Christian Adam who were destroyed in a succession of catastrophes. The first race of man, according to Mayan lore, were destroyed—except two who raised a new race of giants. The second destruction was by earthquake and “the overthrow of the highest mountains.” The third stage of man’s development was again destroyed in a terrible hurricane. Those that survived, according to legend, lost their powers of speech and reason and became monkeys. The Mayan’s believed that the age we are presently in will be annihilated by fire. Several other cultures elaborate on their mythical accounts of the flood to include an ark that saved a few humans and animals from the ravages of the rising waters. The Miztecs, Zapotecs, Tlascaltecs and Michoacan people all had depictions of an ark in their painted manuscripts. (8) Historian Hubert Howe Bancroft wrote of the legends concerning the Mexican Noah and the confusion of language: “In Atonatuh, the age of water, a great flood covered all the face of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof were turned into fishes. Only one man and one woman escaped, saving themselves in the hollow trunk of an ahahuerte, or bald cypress…On the waters abating a little, they grounded their ark on the peak of Colhuecan…Here they increased and multiplied…children who were all born dumb. And a dove came and gave them…innumerable languages. Only fifteen of the descendents…who afterward became heads of families, spoke the same language or could at all understand each other; and from these fifteen are descended the Toltecs, the Aztecs, and the Acolhuas.”(9) Another interesting story of the deluge is contained in the Chimalpopoca manuscript: “When the…age of Nahul-atl came, there had passed already four hundred years; then came two hundred years, then seventy and six, and then mankind were lost and drowned and turned into fishes. The waters and the sky drew near each other; in a single day all was lost the day Four Flower consumed all that was of our flesh. And this year was the year Ce-Calli; on the first day…the very mountains were swallowed up in the flood, and the waters remained, lying tranquil, during fifty and two spring times…But before the flood began, Titlacahuan [God] had warned the man Nata and his wife Neva, saying: …hollow out to yourselves a great cypress, into which you shall enter, when, in the month Tozoztli, the waters shall near the sky.” (10) One theory that has been advanced concerning the universal themes of flood legends is that advanced by Native American scholar Vine Deloria, Jr. He believes that the Genesis legend is the same among cultures due to their natural presentation of a disaster. Deloria wrote “the sequence of action [in Genesis] is not incompatible with the phenomenon that would be expected in a catastrophe of major importance.” (11) Deloria compares the catastrophic deluge event in the Genesis myth and the recovery from it: “While light itself is apparently present in the Genesis account prior to plant life, distinguishing the source of light comes after the emergence of plant life. We could find no better description of a planet emerging from a catastrophic event than to find light diffused in its atmosphere…” (12) Citing the various Native American myths that tell of a subterranean origin of man, Deloria wrote “there would appear to be no reason for a number of tribes sharing this story, unless there was some event behind it even though very dimly recalled…Perhaps the disaster…did not affect the people of North America, who had prepared an underground shelter…in anticipation of the event.” (13) If we accept Deloria’s theory then we must also be ready to accept the idea that ancient people had an advanced technology to both anticipate a disaster of this magnitude and to prepare in advance underground shelters. This may well have been the case. However, the very many deluge legends of North American tribes indicate that disaster did indeed strike North America as well. The Owens Valley Paiute have legends of the flood with a few survivors only able to get away from the waters by climbing to the to of the White Mountain. The various rock art depictions found on the top of the mountain depicting fish and other marine animals, according to legend, were left by the survivors of the flood who drew and carved on the rocks what they saw in the waters below them. (14) Do these myths have their origin in the same event? The Pima Indians of Arizona give this account of the flood: “The Creator took clay in his hands, and mixing it with the sweat of his own body, kneaded the whole into a lump. Then he blew upon the lump till it was filled with life and began to move; and it became man and woman. This Creator had a son called Szeukha, who, when the world was beginning to be tolerably peopled, lived in the Gila Valley, where lived also…a great prophet, whose name has been forgotten. Upon a certain night when the prophet slept, he was wakened by a noise at the door…and when he looked, a great Eagle stood before him. And the eagle spake: Arise, thou that healest the sick, thou that shouldest know what is to come, for behold a deluge is at hand. But the prophet laughed the bird to scorn…Afterward the Eagle came again and warned him of the waters at hand; but he gave no ear to the bird at all. …A third time, the Eagle came to warn the prophet, and to say that all the valley of the Gila should be laid waste with water; but the prophet gave no heed. The, in the twinkling of an eye, and even as the flapping of the Eagle’s wings dies away into the night, there came a peal of thunder and an awful crash; and a green mound of water reared itself over the plain. It seemed to stand upright for a second, then, cut incessantly by the lightning, goaded on like a great beast, it flung itself upon the prophet’s hut. When the morning broke, there was nothing to be seen alive but one man—if indeed he were a man; Szeukha, the Son of the Creator, had saved himself by floating on a ball of gum.” (15) Szeukha, seeing bodies of the dead, raised them to life once again to people the earth. The Hopi, another desert people, also have a legend about the flood. The Hopi “were almost overwhelmed by a great flood which kept rising over the plains and over the hills till it reached nearly the tops of the mountains where the ancestors were waiting in fear.” (16) How is it that these desert people have such vivid stories of such massive “mounds of water” and of “great floods” unless there was a factual basis to their legends? Emiliani’s theory is again supported by these desert legends and there is certain physical evidence of a large water flow in desert areas in ancient times. Marine sediments found in such places as Palomar Mountain in Southern California in Luiseño territory, and shells found on the higher platue of the Grand Canyon suggest that a great deal of the American continent was once under water. The flood myth though is one of those fascinating stories that transcend time and geography. Almost every culture has a legend of a universal flood in which only a few people survive to rebuild the world. People as far away as the Australian Aborigines and the North American Indians have very similar stories. Is this, then, such a powerful memory in the human species of an actual event? On the other hand, is it a memory of localized floods, which surely have occurred though time in most every land? At present, there is no way to date stories as we date the fossilized bones of our ancient ancestors or the beasts that lived in the dim past. There has been other, more recent work that seems to indicate that at least in the Middle East a catastrophic flood did occur which left an indelible mark in the human psyche. According to the theory during the 6th millennium BCE the present Black Sea was then a fresh water lake. The surface of the lake was approximately 500 feet below sea level. As the water rose in the Mediterranean Sea due to the melting of the glaciers the narrow land bridges that separated the Mediterranean from the lake failed allowing as much as 10 cubic miles of water a day to pour into the area for two years. The shoreline around the lake disappeared at the rate of a mile a day. This area was occupied at the time by farming and fishing communities who would have witnessed the deluge with absolute horror. To substantiate this theory underwater cameras have recorded possible buildings located in depths of 300 feet in the Black Sea. (17) This is perhaps the origin of the Biblical story and the Epic of Gilgamesh. However, it is probably not the origin for the flood legends found in other areas of the world including North America. More recently, archaeologist from the University of Birmingham discovered a 23,000 square kilometer area under the North Sea that had suddenly sunk beneath the waves some 8,000 years ago. According to the scientist “At times this change would have been insidious and slow—but at times it could have been terrifyingly fast. It would have been very traumatic for these people.” (18) Landscape viewed as sacred to these ancient people would have been swallowed up, affecting not only their livelihoods but their very spirituality. “In 10,000 BC hunter gatherers were living on the land in the middle of the North Sea. By 6,000 BC, Britain was an island. The area we have mapped was wiped out in the space of 4,000 years.” Such a huge loss affecting so many people and cultures may well have impacted the Americas as well with immigrants not only bringing their myths and legends but also their tales of the disastrous flood. Anthropologist James Mooney recorded a flood myth of the Cherokee: “A long time ago a man had a dog, which began to go down to the river every day and look at the water and howl. At last the man was angry and scolded the dog, which then spoke to him and said: ‘Very soon there is going to be a great freshet and the water will come so high that everybody will be drowned; but if you will make a raft to get upon when the rain comes you can be saved…” The man set out to build the raft and, as it started to rain, he gathered provisions and his family together and set off. “It rained for a long time, and the water rose until the mountains were covered and all the people in the world were drowned. Then the rain stopped and the waters went down again, until at last it was safe to come off the raft. Now there was no one alive but the man and his family…” (19) We could assume that this legend was the result of Christian influences among the Cherokee except for one thing. Mooney noted that the Cherokee informant who related this story “accounted for the phenomenon by an upheaval and tilting of the earth, so that the waters for a time overflowed the inhabited parts.” (20) This is very indicative of an eye-witness account handed down through the ages and taking the form of myth. The Luiseño myth of the flood is short and concise and appears to be more a simply statement of fact than any mythic elaboration. Moriarty wrote that the Luiseño “believed that at one time, very long ago in the past, the sea began to fill up so that it came over the valleys and mountains. As a result all the people and animals dies except some who went to live on a very high mountain. The water did not go up that high. This is all there is to the legend.” (21) Other California Indians tell similar stories, all of which include certain mountains on which the survivors have fled. The Mattoles in Northern California believed that their ancestors had fled to Taylor Peak, others believed that Mount Diablo or Reed Peak were the only areas above the flood waters. All of these legends indicate that the great deluge did occur during man’s existence and that only scattered pockets of humanity survived. Flood myths are also found in Canada and Alaska where the Tlingit Indians believed their ancestors survived the flood in a “great floating building.” The Tlingits also account for the diversity of language by saying that the “ark” broke into sections which drifted away. Where each section finally made land fall a different culture sprung up—with a different language. Many Native American cultures had a belief that mankind had been subjected to a series of catastrophes that were given by the gods to rid the world of evil. The Hopi, the Mesoamericans and others believed in at least three or four ages that had been swept away by God. The Trinity River Indians of Northern California believed in three destructions. The first being destruction by conflagration, the second destruction by terrible winds, and the third by flood. (22) The Witchita have legends of a prophet who saved grain, animals and, last but not least, his wife in an ark-like vessel: “The prophet was told by a voice from above that he had a work that was soon to begin, for everything was going wrong…the prophet was told to get a tall cane, and place it between the joints all kinds of seeds, grass, corn, etc….then he was told to get (select) in pairs those animals he thought best should be saved. He was to save all the good ones and leave out all the bad ones. The voice said it would attend to the bad ones. “…after the prophet had put everything in the cane he went to the man in the North and told him…and he asked him (the man in the North) to go ahead with the work and finish it. The Man at the North replied…that when the time should come there would be a sign indicating that dire things were going to happen…On a certain day the fouls of the air appeared in the North…the prophet crawled into the cane. The people wondered what was the reason for this, finally the animals came, and the people began to cry and to run for the mountains and for other places, but it did them no good. After the birds and animals passed there came a flood, and the water was all over, and it got deeper and deeper. The bad people were drowned and everything else that was not in the cane. “…the water began to go down. It wholly disappeared, so that the land could be seen, especially one high point, to this point the prophet and his wife were sent…” (23) The creation myth of the Witchita is just as vivid. It again shows the closeness of Native American myth with those of other times and cultures: “In the time of the beginning there was no sun, no stars, nor anything else as it is now. Time passed on. Man-never-known-on-earth, Kinnekasus, was the only man that existed, and he it was who created all things. When the earth was created it was composed of land and water, but they were not yet separated. After the earth was formed, (Kinnekasus) made a man…He also made a woman for the man…” (24) “Pre-creation” was described by the Iroquois as: “An unlimited expanse of water once filled the space now occupied by the world we inhabit. Here was the abode of total darkness, which no ray of light ever penetrated.” (25) An interesting thing to note in all of these legends is that the world is already in existence, albeit covered with water, before the creation. This would tend to support Deloria’s theory concerning the flood. Also in support of Deloria is a legend of a Brazilian Indian tribe which begins the creation of the world with the destruction of it in fire and water. In this legend a single man survives and is given a woman by God to repopulate the earth. Yet another supportive myth comes from the Yokut tribe of Central California. In their legend people are present on a lone mountain top as the rest of the world in submerged. The myth suggests that the few people on the peak are the sole survivors of a disaster and that starvation is imminent: “Far in the south was a mountain. It was the only land. Everything else was water. The eagle was the chief. The people had nothing to eat. They were eating the earth and it was nearly gone.” (26) The myth continues to describe the survivor’s effort to salvage more ground until they eventually built up the Sierra Nevada range. In doing so the recreated the world. The myth does not elaborate as to how these people found themselves in their plight in the first place, but a disastrous flood is the most likely possibility. Other creation myths of the Native Americans indicate that a common source for these tales exists. The Chimalpopca manuscript establishes the seven day period of creation as does the Biblical account. However, the Chimalpopca record refers to each of the seven days as “epochs” which would make Darwinists happy. According to the manuscript, in the sign Acatl, the firmament was formed; and in the sign Tecpal, the animals were formed. Mankind was created out of ashes or dust on the seven day, or epoch, the sign Ehecatl. Mankind reportedly was created and destroyed four times in this pre-Columbian work. Several other deluge legends existed in Mesoamerican cultures. The Mayans believed that the first race of beings on the earth were dwarfs called Zayamuincobs which the Mayans credited the ancient road works and other ruins. Supposedly, these dwarfs had magical powers that enabled them to move massive weights or start fires just by whistling a certain tune. The Zayamuincobs became wicked in time and a great flood was “announced to them”—by whom was not reported in the ancient legend. In defense of an pending flood the dwarfs built “stone tanks” which they hoped would save them. Naturally, the stone boats sank and the dwarf race perished. Variations of this myth are found throughout Mesoamerican folklore as well as in some legends of North American Indians. Mesoamerican terms for the small-folk included Yichobe bei Yichob Coleloab, meaning “those with eyes like those of bees,” and “the twisted men.” There is also a reference to them as being “on high.” The Tzotil believed there were three creations of which the first ended in a great flood supposedly caused by God because the people would not die. The only survivors of this disaster were priests who transformed into monkeys. The second creation also ended with a watery destruction, but water that was boiling hot. All life was destroyed but after three days, people were resurrected to repopulate the earth. The Trinity River Indians of California have the following creation myth: “When Olaibes (the “One who is up above”) created this earth He put the animals first on the earth and had them act like people. Now Olaibes looked down on animals, saw that they were not getting along good. Olaibes says to himself, I will put human beings on earth. So Olaibes put human beings on earth, man and woman. Their color were dark reddish color.” (27) The Papago creation myth contains flood lore as well: “The Great Spirit made the earth and all living things before he made man…those first days of the world were happy and peaceful days. The sun was nearer the earth than is now; his grateful rays made all the seasons equal, and rendered garments unnecessary. Men and beasts talked together, a common language made all brethren. But an awful destruction ended this happy age. A great flood destroyed all flesh wherein was the breath of life; Montezuma (28) and his friend, the Coyote prophesied its coming, and Montezuma took the warning and hollowed out a boat to himself, keeping it ready on the topmost summit of Santa Rosa. …So when the waters rose these two saved themselves, and met again at last on dry land after the flood had passed away.” (29) After the waters had receded Montezuma aided the Great Spirit in repopulating the world. The Pawnee creation-flood myth states that the original inhabitants of the earth were giants. Giants figure prominently in folklore and myth around the world, including that of Native Americans. Over the centuries several skeletal remains of giants have been found and there is historical documentation of giants living among “normal sized” men. Tales of giants are almost as numerous as those about the little people in Native American lore. These tales most likely are metaphorical in nature; that is they are the explanations for the huge landforms that Native people existed with on a day by day basis but for which they could not explain. At least that is the primary theory of contemporary anthropologists and folklorists. To a certain extent, the myths concerning giants would tend to indicate that this theory is correct. However, there are also those tales, combined with physical evidence, that indicate that another race of giant people did, in fact, exist not only in North America but around the world. Rupert Gould wrote of one gigantic skeleton found in England during the 18th century: “The said giant was buried four yards deep in the ground…He was four yards and a hair long, and was in complete armour…the head of his battle-axe a yard long, and the shaft of it all of iron, as thick as a man’s thigh…” (30) Biblical accounts of a giant race and culture are interesting in that they appear as reports of actual events rather than as mythic stories. The Old Testament may have some historical validity for ancient events and people. The first mention of giants occurs in Genesis 6:4: “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old…” This particular passage would seem to indicate that the giants were the “sons of God” which is similar to other tales of giants from the Old World that equate them to a deity-like status. The next passage pertaining to giants is Numbers 13:33. In this one, Hebrew spies sent to Canaan reported “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Joshua reports that one of the ancient kings who ruled over the vast fertile plains east of the Sea of Galilee, by the name of Og, “was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth…” Og’s bed was reportedly nine-cubits” in length, (one cubit is 18-22 inches in length so the bed was from 13.5 to 16.5 feet long). Og’s capital city was Ashtaroth which was named for the goddess of the same name. Joshua refers to the lands of Og as the “valley of the giants”. (31) Throughout the Old Testament the giants are pursued and engaged in battle by the Hebrews and usually slain, although the New Compact Bible Dictionary claims “Giants terrorized the Israelites from their entry into Canaan until the time of David.” (32) The Pawnee legends concerning giants are linked to a flood theme: “…many years ago, before we lived upon this earth, Tirawa (God) placed wonderful human beings upon the earth. We knew of them as the wonderful beings or large people. These people lived where the Swimming Mound is in Kansas. The bones of these large people were found upon the sides of the hill of the Swimming Mound. The old people told us that at this place rain poured down from the heavens, and the water came from the northwest upon the earth so that it became deep and killed these wonderful beings. “(Tirawa) promised that he would never send the flood upon the land any more.” (33) The Pima, close neighbors of the Papago, also have legends of a flood that annihilated everyone except a few who fled to the top of Superstition Mountain. The flood lasted four days and nights and then Se-eh-ha, Elder Brother, recreated the destroyed world, forming new plant, animal and human life. The Mewan Indians of California believed that the flood resulted from a disagreement between two gods, O-ye, the Coyote Man who was the supreme god, and Wek-wek, the Falcon Man who was a lesser deity. In this myth, however, humans were protected from any harm: “O-ye, the Coyote Man, and Wek-wek, the Falcon Man quarreled. Then O-ye gathered up the people and took them away with him across the ocean, leaving Wek-wek alone. Then he made the rain come and cover the world with water. The water grew deeper and deeper and covered the trees and all the mountains until nothing was left but water…then O-ye…let the water down and brought back the people.” (34) The Lake Tahoe tribes in the Sierra Nevada’s of California tell of a time “when their tribe possessed the whole earth, and were strong, numerous, and rich; but the day came in which a people rose up stronger than they, and defeated and enslaved them. Afterward the Great Spirit sent and immense wave across the continent from the sea, and this wave engulfed both the oppressors and the oppressed, all but a very small remnant.” (35) Native American Myths of the “Tower of Babel” Many Native American myths contain reference to massive structures built in ancient times. These towers usually incurred the wrath of the deities—as the Tower of Babel did in the Biblical account. These towers also figure in many of the flood legends of Native Americans. Lake Tahoe legends speak of one such tower built immediately after the flood previously mentioned: “Then the taskmasters made the remaining people raise up a great temple, so that they, of the ruling caste, should have a refuge in case of another flood, and on top of this temple the masters worshipped a column of perpetual fire.” (36) The legend says that in “half a moon” the Great Spirit caused massive convulsions of the earth to sink the tower into Lake Tahoe. The few survivors among the taskmasters were thrown into underground caverns “till the last great volcanic burning, which is to overturn the whole earth, shall set them free.” (37) The Papago also speak of a tower built soon after the deluge. According to Bancroft, after the Pagago Noah, Montezuma, aided the Great Spirit in recreating humankind, he became so impressed with himself that he challenged the Great Spirit’s powers. The Great Spirit tried to reason with Montezuma but Montezuma “only scorned his laws and advice, and ended at last by breaking into open rebellion. (Montezuma) collected all the tribes to him, set about building a house that should reach up to heaven itself. Already it had attained a great height, and contained many apartments lined with gold, silver and precious stones, the whole threatening soon to make good the boast of its architect, when the Great Spirit launched his thunder, and laid its glory in ruins.” (38) Mesoamericans have several tales also of people climbing gigantic trees, which resulted in their destruction, or the climbers being turned into monkeys. This is another variation of the “tower” myth. As the Biblical myth indicated, many of these legends account for the differences in language by these tower legends. The Hardening of the World The Zuni Indians of New Mexico have a legend of the “hardening of the world” which speaks of the “first people” and the frightening world they inhabited on this, a new continent. Could this myth be a racial memory dating back to the first wave of prehistoric immigrants to the New World and the strange a fearsome things they found? “As it was with the first men and creatures, so it was with the world. It was young and unripe. Earthquakes shook the world and rent it. Demons and monsters of the under-world fled forth. …Wretchedness and hunger abounded and black magic. Fear was everywhere among them, so the people…became wanderers, living on the seeds and grass, eaters of the dead and slain things. “When the tremblings grew still for a time, the people paused at the First of Sitting Places. Yet they were still poor and defenseless and unskilled, and the world still moist and unstable. Demons and monsters fled from the earth in times of shaking, and threatened Wanderers.” (39) The legend goes on to describe how the creators, called “The Two,” discussed ways to make the earth more stable for the people. However, the cure was almost as bad as the illness: “So the Beloved Twain let fly the thunderbolts. “The mountains shook and trembled, the plains cracked and crackled under the floods and fires, and the hallow places, the only refuge of men and creatures, grew black and awful. At last thick rain fell, putting out the fires. The water flooded the world, cutting deep trails through the mountains, and burying or uncovering the bodies of things and beings…There were vast plains of dust, ashes, and cinders, reddened like the mud of the hearth place. Yet many places behind and between the mountain terraces were unharmed by the fires…even then green grew the trees and grasses and even flowers bloomed.” Even though the earth became calmer, according to the Zuni, the people still wandered until they settled in an area they called “Where-tree-poles-stand-in-the-midst-of-waters.” “They built homes there. At times they met people who had gone before, and thus they learned war. And many strange things happened there, as told in speeches of the ancient talk. “Great were the fields and possessions of this people, for they knew how to command and carry waters, bringing new soil…So our ancient, hungry with long wandering for new food, were the more greedy and often gave battle.” Coincidently, the Hohokam people that occupied the Gila River valley region had extensive irrigation systems, some up to 150 miles long. The ditches, 25 feet wide and 15 feet deep, were dug almost two thousand years ago. These same people were the first in the world to develop the process of etching. Were these people, whose name meant “those who have gone,” the people in the Zuni myth that “knew how to command and carry the waters?” Notes 1.Emiliani, Dr. Cesare. “Paleoclimatological Analysis of Late Quarternary Cores from the Northern Gulf of Mexico” in Science, September 26, 1975, 1083-1089. 2. Judson, Katherine Berry. Myths and Legends of California and the Old South West. A.C. McClurg and Company 1912, 64. 3. LaFlesche, Francis. The Omaha Tribe. Washington: Twenty-Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology 1911, 570. 4. Recinos, Adrian. Popl Vuh: Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiche Maya. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1970, 81-88. 5. Ibid. 6. Giddings, Ruth Warner. Yaqui Myths and Legends. Anthropological Papers #2, University of Arizona 1959, 45-46. 7. Ibid. 8. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The Native Races: Myths and Language: Vol. 3. San Francisco: The History Company 1886, 66, 68-69fn. 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid., 69-70. 11. Deloria, Jr., Vine. God is Red. New York: Grosset & Dunlap 1973, 159-161. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 14. Varner, Gary R. Water of Life Water of Death: The Folklore & Mythology of Sacred Waters. Baltimore: Publish America 2004, 125. 15. Bancroft, op cit. 78-79. 16. Hough, Walter. The Hopi. The Torch Press 1915, 203 17. Fagan, Brian. Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2001, 29. 18. Coughlan, Sean. “Lost world warning from the North Sea” BBC News, April 23, 2007. 19. Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. New York: Dover Publications 1995, 261. 20. Ibid., 445. 21. Moriarty, James Robert. Chinigchinix: An Indigenous California Indian Religion. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum 1969, 46-47. 22. Masson, Marcella. A Bag of Bones: Wintu Myths of a Trinity River Indian. Healdsburg: Naturegraph Publications 1966. 23. Dorsey, George A. Mythology of the Witchita. New York: Carnegie Institute 1904, 290-294. 24. Ibid., 25-26. 25. Schoolcraft, op cit., 666. 26. Long, Charles H. Alpha: The Myths of Creation. Collier Books 1963, 212-214. 27. Masson, Marcelle. A Bag of Bones: Wintu Myths of a Trinity River Indian. Healdsburg: Naturegraph Publishers 1966, 25. 28. Montezuma as referred to by the Papago is not the Montezuma of Aztec fame. While Spanish influence is not doubted in this legend, “Montezuma” in the story is simply a great “somebody,” a nameless personage. 29. Bancroft, op cit., 76. 30. Gould, Rupert T. Enigmas: Another Book of Unexplained Facts. Hyde Park: University Books 1965, 16. 31. Joshua 15:8, KJV. 32. Bryant, T. Alton. Ed. The New Compact Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House 1967, 198 33. Dorsey, George A. The Pawnee Mythology, Part 1. Carnegie Institute 1906, 134. 34. Merriam, C. Hart. Dawn of the World: Myths and Weird Tales Told by the Mewan Indians of California. Arthur H. Clark Co., 1910, 157. 35. Bancroft, op cit., 89. 36. Ibid. 37. Ibid. 38. Ibid., 77. 39. Judson, op cit., 39-46.
Web Site	Mysteries of Native American Myth & Religion
f