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Native american storytelling9/21/2023 ![]() The Quechan are a Yuman people who have traditionally lived along the lower part of the Colorado River in California and Arizona. Winner of the 2004 Chicago Folklore Prize, The Anguish of Snails is an essential work for the collection of any serious reader in folklore or Native American studies. In the process he considers popular distortions of Indian beliefs, demystifies many traditions by showing how they can be comprehended within their cultural contexts, considers why some aspects of Native American life are not meant to be understood by or shared with outsiders, and emphasizes how much can be learned through sensitivity to and awareness of cultural values. Within a framework of performance theory, cultural worldview, and collaborative research, he examines Native American visual arts, dance, oral tradition (story and song), humor, and patterns of thinking and discovery to demonstrate what can be gleaned from Indian traditions by Natives and non-Natives alike. Many such tales involved tricksters.Īfter a career working and living with American Indians and studying their traditions, Barre Toelken has written this sweeping study of Native American folklore in the West. They could be told for fun or to teach a lesson about proper behavior, and those who told them were free to change or add elements to the basic story. A dire fate-such as an attack by snakes-awaited those who told the stories at the wrong time. Many Native Americans believed that some myths could be told only at certain times, often during winter nights. They formed the basis of sacred rituals, including ceremonies in which participants acted out traditional sacred stories. The most serious of these were myths about how the gods created and ordered the universe, and about the origins of important things, such as humans, landforms, food, and death.Ĭertain myths could not be told lightly. They were strands woven together in the various tales and stories that defined people's identity and gave order and meaning to their lives. Mythology, religion, history, and ritual were not separate things for Native American peoples. As a result, many myths and legends were passed from generation to generation in oral form, usually by special storytellers who sometimes used objects such as stone carvings, shells, rugs, or pottery to illustrate the tales. Over thousands of years, the population of North America grew and diversified into the peoples and cultures that Europeans encountered when they began to colonize the continent in the 1500s ce.īefore the arrival of Europeans and the spread of European influence, most Native Americans did not use written languages. ![]() Some groups may also have reached Alaska from Siberia by boat or by walking on ice. During that Ice Age, which ended around 8000 bce, the level of the oceans was much lower, and a bridge of land linked Siberia and Alaska. Some tales speak of ancient migrations. Native Americans are descended from hunting and gathering peoples of northeastern Asia who migrated across the Bering Sea into North America during the most recent Ice Age. ![]() Many stories explain how the actions of gods, heroes, and ancestors gave the earth its present form.Īccording to the mythologies of most Native American cultures, people originated in the places where their ancestors traditionally lived. Underlying all the myths is the idea that spiritual forces can be sensed throughout the natural world-including clouds, wind, plants, and animals-which they shape and sustain. Yet, despite the immense variety of Native American mythologies, certain mythic themes, characters, and stories can be found in many of the cultures. The many different tribal groups each developed their own stories about the creation of the world, the appearance of the first people, the place of humans in the universe, and the lives and deeds of gods and heroes. The Native American peoples of North America do not share a single, unified body of mythology or literature. At the heart of the American Indian oral tradition is a deep and unconditional belief in the efficacy of language. They matter, and they must not be taken for granted they must be taken seriously, and they must be remembered…. Scott Momaday explains: “Words are spoken with great care, and they are heard. In the retelling, information must be remembered accurately. Passed on through myths, songs, legends, and tales, oral literature places great importance on language. Native American oral literature preserves cultural legacy and traditions through storytelling, oratory, and performance.
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