Literary History

Native American Mythology

Overview
Long before European settlers arrived on American shores, Native Americans had established hundreds of nations. Each nation had its own traditions and culture, which were captured in oral literature. In essence, Native American oral literature does not have a single author; it was created by an entire storytelling culture.

Myths are legends that attempt to explain naturally-occurring events, such as the origin of constellations and oceans, or why a society has certain customs. Creation myths, for example, tell tales of how the world and human beings came into existence. Origin myths attempt to explain the origins of nature or societal traditions. Sometimes stories contain characteristics of both types of myths.

While there are many different kinds of myths throughout the world, they have common traits. One is that they contain archetypes, or recurring story patterns or types of characters found in literature across cultures and genres. One example of a story archetype is the story of the Sky Woman. In this Iroquois myth, Sky Woman gives birth to twins. One child is good and one is evil, representing the universal theme of good versus bad. An example of a character archetype is the trickster. A trickster’s role in mythology usually is to stir up trouble in a devious way. Changes in nature or history are often attributed to the trickster’s actions. The coyote commonly is used to represent a trickster in Native American mythology.

Another common aspect of Native American myths is that they express the belief that a spirit exists in all living things, and that all humans are connected to nature and to the creator. Some tribes also believe that their people are descended from particular animals or other natural objects, which have symbolic meanings to each individual. These symbols are called totems and can be represented in family, or clan, totem poles.

The myths created by early Native Americans continue to flourish today. Just like the family and traditional stories descended from ancestors in other cultures, these myths help Native Americans achieve a sense of cultural identity and unity, and they give an opportunity for elders to impart lessons to young people.

Bibliography
Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz. American Indian Myths and Legends. New York: Pantheon, 1985. This popular resource contains 160 tales from 80 Indian tribes.

Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz. American Indian Trickster Tales. New York: Penguin, 1999. This illustrated book was created as a sequel to American Indian Myths and Legends and contains 106 tales from various tribes.

Zitkala-Sa, Cathy N. Davidson, and Ada Norris. American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings. New York: Penguin, 2003. Read the tales of a contemporary Native American, Zitkala-Sa (1876–1938), a Sioux writer and activist.

Web Links
Indigenous People’s Literature
http://www.indians.org/Resource/natlit/natlit.html
Read creation myths, trickster tales, poetry, literature, and more organized by tribe.

Joseph Bruchac: Storyteller & Writer
http://www.josephbruchac.com/
Find out more about one of the most famous contemporary Native American authors, Joseph Bruchac. He is of Abenaki ancestry and has written more than seventy books for adults and children and published poems in more than five hundred publications. Here you will find a list of his published books, including Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two, and poetry, audio, and story collections. The Web site also contains links to additional resources.

Encyclopedia Mythica: Native American Mythology
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/americas/native_american/articles.html
Access hundreds of selections of Native American mythology, indexed alphabetically. Read about the various tribes, mythical beasts, heroic humans, and mystical spirits that make up the wide spectrum of Native American mythology.