An Overview of Native American Oral Literature::

Myths

Myths of Creation

Generally, creation stories throughout Native America can be divided into four forms:

1. The universe or the world is created by a set of world parents known as Sky Father and Earth Mother. This is particularly the case in the Southwest;
2. The world is created by through the interactions and creative powers of a single, a few or several spiritual entities;
3. The world is transformed through the activities of a culture-hero trickster figure such as Raven, Coyote or Spider;
4. The tribe itself emerges from some kind of underworld.

Frequently, a single tribal mythology will include variations of at least two of these forms, such as the Lakota Sioux who have stories that conform to forms 2, 3 and 4. If you are interested in this topic, I would suggest you look at creation stories from two or more culture areas to get an idea of similarities and variations.

If you look at the Southwest, for example, you will numerous examples of the world being created by world parents as well as an emergence story. Emergence stories in this region generally have a tribe emerging through several underworlds before emerging onto the surface of the present world. After emergence onto this world, the tribe generally goes through of period of migration across the earth before settling.

Emergence through several levels and migration are features generally lacking from the emergence stories of other culture areas. On the Plains, for example, the Lakota Sioux have an emergence story by there are not several levels of ascension, and the world was created not by world parents but by the interactions of several spirits such as Sky, Sun, Earth, Wind, Thunder and so on.