Paper 2 pnwh mythology of native americans in washington state PDF

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research paper on mythologies from the Makah tribe, the Yakama tribe, and Nez Perce tribe about their mythologies and how they explain the world/ their history....

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Merriweather Lewis 11/19/2018

Mythology of Washington state Native Americans Mythology and folklore in the Pacific Northwest is a topic I personally find very interesting. From creation stories, to trickster tales, to the deities in the different regional areas. In our course we spoke about mythology for probably a day or two and when we did, we focused on the Makah tribe as a peak of religion/ myth. That being said, Washington state is a pretty big state with lots of different tribes with their own taste of where they came from and different explanations for everything. For this essay I want to focus on the creation stories and folklore for explaining their surroundings. The tribes I’ve chosen to focus on is the Makah, the Yakama, and the Nez Perce. Three tribes in three different regions. Coastal, midland, and eastern in the state. The Makah are the coastal tribe that we mentioned in our course. The creation story I found for the Makah people is called “ When the Animals and Birds Were Created” or also labeled as “The Two Men who Changed Things” . The tale basically tells that two brothers, the sun and the moon, named H  o-ho-e-ap-bess ( which even translates to The Two Men Who Changed Things, ironic) coming together to prep the world for man. 1 They supposedly came down from the sky calling upon supernatural entities they called creatures. They would ask the creatures to turn into parts of the world like animals and 2trees that the Native Americans will need. The worse of a creature you were though, 1 2

G.

Welker, “When the Animals and Birds Were Created”, Indigenouspeople.net

the worse of an thing you turned into. For instance, “Among them was a bad thief. He was always stealing food from creatures who were fishermen and hunters. The Two-Men-Who- Changed-Things transformed him into Seal. They shortened his arms and tied his legs so that only his feet could move. Then they threw Seal into the Ocean and said to him, "Now you will have to catch your own fish if you are to have anything to eat.” Even within the creation stories the tribe wants to instil morals upon their people or whoever is to believe their creation stories. During my research on the Makah tribe and reservation, I found an interesting folklore that ended up being true. The Makah tribe has an oral history tale about a tidal wave taking out the village probably explains why the people left their original lands and so forth. Not just a wise tale though, in 1960-70’s range, a major mudslide in the Ozette village. Within the ruble, old Makah artifacts were found giving credit to the oral tale being true. “Makah oral history told of a "great slide" which buried a portion of Ozette long ago; archaeologists collaborating with the Tribe proved this oral history correct. Radiocarbon dates demonstrated that a slide some 500 + 50 years BP (before present) buried six longhouses and their respective contents, locking the pre-contact wooden and wood-based artifacts in a shroud of mud. The 11-year excavation produced over 55,000 artifacts, which the Tribe kept on the reservation.” The Yakama have similar yet slightly different aspects of how things are put together. When reading the Yakama creation story called “ The Way It Was” , it feels like

"Archaeology." ::: Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Collection:::.Accessed November 26, 2018. https://content.lib.washington.edu/cmpweb/exhibits/makah/arch.html.

you’re almost reading words from the bible almost to a tee. “ In the beginning, our Creator spoke the word and this earth was created. 3 He spoke the word again and all living things were put on earth.” It goes on like telephone with the first part of genesis ( but with more compassion in my opinion). But this slight phrasing makes it interesting/ different than the other creation stories I’ve been reading, “ It is as if our bodies are the very end of this earth, still growing while our ancestors are all buried in the ground.” . This phrase gives ties for the people to the land and to their ancestors, which makes it more personal than the bible. Like many tribes, the Yakama have folklore for their surroundings and why things do what they do. This folklore is called “The Chinook Wind”, it explains why winter is only slightly cold and possible natural wind disasters. The basic overview of the story is there are five brothers who lived on the “ great river” ( probably the Columbia River)called the Chinook brothers who caused the warm winds and another set of five brothers who lived in Walla Walla who caused the cold winds. The brothers together always fought causes natural wind disasters. They make a bet that whoever falls to the ground during a wrestling match will die. The walla walla brothers cheat and kill off the chinook brothers. A son of the fallen brothers seeks revenge, goes through the same challenge (cheats like the Walla Walla brothers), and wins. During the challenges there is a judge and he is a coyote. The last phrase of the article about this story says “‘ The fifth one yielded without wrestling. So Coyote let him live. But Coyote said "you must blow

Way It Was” ( Anaku Iwacha)- (Yakima Legends)The Consortium of Johnson O'Malley Committees of Region IV, State of Washington. University of Colorado, 1974. "Chinook Wind." Achomawi Creation Myth - An Achomawi Legend. Accessed November 25 2018.

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“The

only lightly. You must never freeze people again." To young chinook, Coyote said. " you shall blow hardest only at night. You shall blow first on the mountain ridges to warn the people." Thus now winter is only a little cold.”” 4 The last tribe of the essay is the famous Nez Perce tribe. Their creation story is also quite interesting being called “ Coyote and the monster of Kamiah”. The story goes 5 that animals lived in what was considered Nez Perce land then, a monster named Iltswewitsix came down from the sky and started eating and destroying everything. The hero, the coyote is the only animal not eaten. So, Coyote climbs to the top of Wallowa mountain and ties himself to the top. He calls upon the monster and challenges him to eat him. The monster tried and couldn’t succeed cause of coyotes rope so, the monster invited coyote to stay with him for a while. During Coyotes stay he asked the monster to see his friends and the monster say yes. So coyote goes into the monster’s stomach to find that his friends are all fine which sparks the plan of escape. Coyote cuts out the heart of the monster and kills him while freeing his friends. With this, Coyote cuts up the remains of the monster and throws pieces North, South, East, and West creating clans wherever flesh fell. Another animal commented said “ No tribe was created on the land where they stood”. So Coyote washed his bloody hands and let them drip onto the land. “”Coyote said “Here on this ground is where I make the Nez Perce. They will be few in number, but they will be strong and pure.” And this is how humans came to be.””

"Chinook Wind." Achomawi Creation Myth - An Achomawi Legend. Accessed November 25 2018. 4

Herbert Spinden, Myths of the Nez Percé Indians, (The Journal of American Folklore, Jan. Mar., 190, 13-23

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This isn’t the only instance Coyote is mentioned, he’s actually a very popular spirit animal/ deity ( due to his ability to change into other things).He stars in an important folk tale called “HOW THE SALMON GOT OVER THE FALLS”, it’s about why salmon go upstream. The story goes that Coyote is retrieving a deer kill that his son had made, but was pranked in. The son replaced his rope with a intestine or gut, so when he was scaling a waterfall his rope broke several times. Soon he gave up and decided to go for a swim. 6 He ended up swimming down the river to the point where he got to the main dam where five sisters owned. When Coyote got close he wished to be a baby and it was granted. The girls saw a baby and decided to save him, but within a few days saw through his charade so they kicked him out. In revenge he destroyed the dam freeing the salmon. “” Then Coyote thought he might just as well open that dam, so he tore the dam open. The girls saw the salmon jumping in the water above the dam and Coyote called out to them, "Our dam has gone out." These girls had a spoon made of mountain-sheep horn. Coyote took this and put it over his head. Each one as she came would hit him over the head with a stick and he would laugh. Then he came up the river. And that is the way the salmon got up river.”” The stories of these tribes may vary in little ways whether they’re a coastal people, a midland dweller, or a eastern nomad. Native American or not, all cultures have a form of creation story and explanations for the world around them. It’s a way of tying yourself to the land, the sea, and the memories of before yourself.

Herbert Spinden, Myths of the Nez Percé Indians, (The Journal of American Folklore, Jan. Mar., 190, 13-23 6

Citations

"Archaeology." ::: Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Collection :::. Accessed November 26, 2018. https://content.lib.washington.edu/cmpweb/exhibits/makah/arch.html. "Chinook Wind." Achomawi Creation Myth - An Achomawi Legend. Accessed November 25, 2018. https://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/Chinook-Wind-Yakima.html. Myths of the Nez Percé Indians. I Author(s): Herbert J. Spinden Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 21, No. 80 (Jan. - Mar., 1908), pp. 13-23 Published by: American Folklore Society Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/534523 Accessed: 27-11-2018 04:30 UTC The Way It Was ( Anaku Iwacha)- (Yakima Legends)The Consortium of Johnson O'Malley Committees of Region IV, State of Washington. University of Colorado, 1974. Welker, G. (2016). When the Animals and Birds Were Created. [online] Indigenouspeople.net. Available at: http://www.indigenouspeople.net/created.htm [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018]....