First Name
Dr. Martin
English 2327
24 January 2008
Contrasting Native American Creation Stories
	It is always very intriguing to read new things and learn about events of the past, doubly so when you are reading about the past of your own country. Because I have some Native American ancestry, I find reading tales from their cultures more interesting than some others may, since they may represent an insight into my personal past. In Native American creation tales, the characters may seem foreign to modern readers, but close attention can bring to light beliefs and traditions of those who told the tales.
	Since Native American cultures had a tradition of oral storytelling, their tales were not recorded until long after Europeans began to colonize America and Christian missionaries had lived among and influenced the tribes. In examining the creation stories of two peoples—the Pima and the Iroquois—we will see not only some of their beliefs displayed, but also a clear difference between the two. While the Pima creation account holds few familiar elements to a Judeo-Christian reader, the Iroquois story seems full of similarities. The latter, therefore, provides a unique view of the melding of two traditions. 
	The Pima stories, recounting creation and the flood, describe very unique characters and events. They have two primary creator characters, the first of which is Juhwertamahkai, or The Doctor of the Earth (hereafter referred to simply as the Doctor). The start of the creation legend opens saying, “In the beginning there was no earth, no water—nothing. There was only a Person, Juh-wert-a-Mak-hai” (22). This may strike a chord for a reader raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition, but here similarities end. 
	For example, after the work of creating the earth and celestial bodies, the Doctor sets out to create humans with two dolls, male and female. He creates and then, finding some fault with his creation, destroys mankind several times. Finally, the fourth time he is satisfied with his creation. This destroying and remaking is significant; it tells us about the character of the Doctor. Unlike other cultures’ creator figures, the Pima creator is not all-powerful and perfect, but more human. He makes mistakes. Later, in his interactions with the other Pima creator, he is portrayed as simultaneously kind and generous while somewhat lazy. One can see through that the Pima did not view their creators as higher, separate, and cut-off from human nature, but rather as honored and still somewhat accessible figures of the far-off past. 
This tale has a second figure doing the work of creation: Ee-ee-toy, also called See-ur-huh (older brother), who appears mysteriously out of the North. His origin is unknown, but meeting the Doctor, he insists he is the elder of the two. This is impossible as the Doctor existed when there was nothing else in the world. Even so, the Doctor allows himself to be called “younger brother.” In studying these Native American stories, social order and establishing seniority is an important theme. It is significant here in that it establishes Ee-ee-toy as, if not a liar, at the least a fool. He is in the wrong repeatedly on this issue of seniority; the Doctor lets him have his way out of both his generous nature and a desire to have peace between them. One can view Ee-ee-toy’s character, therefore, as something of a foil or a rival to the Doctor’s. Though his character traits are quite different than the Doctor’s, he is never the equivalent of the opposing figure of a more familiar creator. In other words, he is not evil, bearing ill-will towards the created; he merely perceives himself to be in a competition with the Doctor. Therefore, he has the tendency to be boastful, taking actions with unforeseen consequences.
It is Ee-ee-toy who, indirectly, causes the flood. He creates a very beautiful man, “the most beautiful man yet made” (24), who proceeds to “marry” many women, who bear him children, one after the other. These events are portrayed as “unnatural” and lead to “‘convulsions’ in nature and a flood” (25). Neither Ee-ee-toy nor the Doctor have the power to stop the flood, but must ride it out. It was the created—the birds—who have the “power to make the water go down by singing” (28). Later, both creators sit and shape new creations; Ee-ee-toy’s are the best; they are humans, including ancestors of the Pima. However, his disdain for the Doctor’s creations leads him to destroy them, angering the Doctor and, through him, bringing death and illness into the world. 
Contrary to what one may expect, though the two creators are portrayed as rivals of a sort (even if the rivalry is rather one-sided), one is not clearly “favored” over the other in the creation and flood stories. The Doctor may be depicted with more desirable traits and temperament, but it is also he who, in anger, leaves behind Ee-ee-toy and brings sickness and death. Ee-ee-toy, who is the cause of trouble such as the flood and possesses a boastful attitude, is also the creator of the Pima (Aw-aw-tam). Both figures have the ability to create and destroy; neither is completely good or evil, but possess both positive and negative qualities. Like other cultures, Pima tales portray conflict and opposing forces. But, in what this reader perceives as an unconventional way, the Pima story does not make one out as “right” while the other is “wrong.”
The most important views into Pima culture gleaned from the creation and flood stories pertain to the importance of seniority and the respect for it. Also, they perceive and depict a more simple rivalry where the Judeo-Christian tradition shows good versus evil. A final quality that many other cultures also seem to include in their legends is placing particular importance on their own place in the world. For the Pima, they call their traditional home the “navel” or center of the world. They are also favored by Ee-ee-toy, who says after, out of the tribes he created, the Apache speak first, “…I would rather have had the Aw-aw-tam, the Good People, speak first” (30). While learning these things, one must also note these stories and their elements are quite unique to the Pima and bear little to no noticeable influence from exposure to Christianity.
Not so with the Iroquois creation story. It describes two worlds; the upper is home to “mankind”—who are actually predecessors to normal humans. The lower world is told to be in “great darkness; —the possession of the great monster” (18). There seems to be influence from Christianity here, as one can draw parallel between heaven and the upper world; likewise the lower world, which becomes the world of man, is like unto the earth, for Christianity speaks of earthly things being of the devil (“the great monster”). 
A woman pregnant with twins descends from the upper world to the lower one. There she gives birth, but not in the usual way; one twin, called the bad mind (Enigonhahetgea or Tawiscaron), seeks to murder his parent by being birthed through her side. The good mind (Enigorio or Tharonhiawagon) cannot prevent this, so their mother is killed. Thus, another rivalry of two creator figures begins. Instead of the ambiguous rivalry of the Pima creators, as their names imply, the good mind possesses traditionally good traits and the bad mind possesses evil intentions. The first is clearly “favored,” while his brother seeks to cause trouble for his twin and the created. Further, the good mind is plainly portrayed as the more powerful of the twins; when the bad mind creates dangerous terrain and harmful reptiles, the good mind reverses his actions.
Particularly stunning when comparing this creation tale to the Genesis account is the passage about the good mind creating humans. He is said to have created them out of “the dust of the ground in his own likeness, male and female, and by breathing into their nostrils he gave them the living souls” (20). Many Westerns will find this imagery familiar, as the Christian God created Adam from the dust and breathed life into his nostrils. Similarly, in both accounts, the creator gives over the land and its creatures to the humans “for their maintenance” (20). Finally, in the only influence from Christianity specifically noted by the text, the twins have a contest; the bad mind is defeated by his brother. As he dies, he claims “equal power over the souls of mankind after death; and he sinks down to eternal doom, and became the Evil Spirit” (21).
So while the Iroquois creation story retains certain traditional elements it likely had prior to contact with Christianity, it has incorporated quite a few Christian themes. Exactly how much Western influence is displayed in it and how much is original to Iroquois culture is impossible to tell. But it remains a good example of what Iroquois culture became, growing, but not completely changing, to incorporate new beliefs into old ones. Conversely, the Pima tales seem unaltered and original despite the adoption of Christianity by many of the Pima people. They give us a glimpse into the beliefs and traditions of the tribe before Western influences reached them.