Navajo Creation Myth
Lake Isabelle, Colorado
People didn't always live here, where they live now.
First they walked through four different worlds. These other worlds were
inside the earth. It was dark there. First people would get along, then
they would fight and so the people would leave and go to another world,
and then the whole thing would start over. Four times this happened. Then
they walked up a reed from the bottom of a lake and that's how they got
into this world. First Man and First Woman led the people to this world,
and they brought along their two children, the Changing Twins.
When First Man and First Woman and the twins got to this
world, it was all covered with water. But winds came and blew the water
off of some of the land, so people could live on it. Then First Man got
help from the diyin dine (spirit people) to make all the things on earth.
He had a sacred medicine bundle and he
took out the things in the bundle one by one and sang to it, and so he turned
it into a mountain, or a tree, or an animal, or a time of day, or something
else. (Compare this to the Jewish
story of Adam), or the Hindu
story of Shiva).
Once the earth was made, the twin brothers made all the
things that people need. First one of the twins scooped up some clay
from the stream in his hand and shaped it into a food bowl. Then his brother
found some reeds growing and wove
them into a basket. The twins picked up stones and made them into knives
and spear points and hammers, and they made digging sticks out of wood,
and hoes from deer shoulder blades. So people got all the tools that they
needed. (Compare this to the Greek story of Prometheus).
(This is only one version of this story, and there are
many others.)
To find out more about the Navajo creation myth, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Inuit creation myth
Cherokee creation myth
Navajo creation myth
Pueblo creation myth
Chinook creation myth
Main North American creation myth page
North American religion before 1500 AD
Main North America page
Main South America page
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