Hello everyone this is the recap on the myths of north america and we're going to begin as we often do with a map this one i think i may have posted on the module for you and it's not a complete list but it's pretty good about at least showing the various nations and tribes at least in this part of the continent and you can see how many of our states and various cities and towns are named after native american tribes Missouri of course our state is named after one of these-- missouri actually means either 'town of the large canoes" "wooden canoe people" or "people of the big canoe" something along those lines-- other familiar local names that come from native americans are are illinois, wichita, kansas, and and many many more so there's a very deep history here of course and you know considering our current geography i think it's important for us to have some knowledge of the native people of this area and once again these are groups of people that have been sadly marginalized as with many of the regions we've explored we're only touching on a tiny fraction of the multiple complex cultures and nations of the area i hope the documentary videos that i posted were were useful to you as well i know they were a little long but again i believe it's extra important to have some background on the indigenous people of the place where we live okay so just a few little facts -- native americans are i believe is more current north american indians i i think is what they prefer to be called -- actually if if you're really going to be to be specific the best thing would be to refer to someone from their actual nation or tribe but collectively i believe american indians is what they have been said to prefer --they are the most extensively studied of all tribal people so that's good in that we have a lot of access to their history but again as you hopefully learn from the videos sadly some of their languages are dying out because people aren't using them anymore so some of the stories could be lost hopefully that won't happen but we need to preserve as much as we can ---i've already mentioned there are a wide variety of of tribes and environments here and just think about you know the size of the continent and all the different regions we have north is vastly different from south and east to west in many cases we have deserts, plains, mountains, forests, and everything in between we have coastal areas, massive rivers, great lakes, and swamps --this means great differences in lifestyle and belief systems and yet they didn't live in isolation as i briefly mentioned in the last video there's overlap there's contact and trading among many of these people so some of their ideas and traditions could have been shared ----they practice something called fetishism a fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers or in particular a human-made object that has power over others essentially fetishism is the attribution of powers to an object ---some of these cultures were matrilineal or or matrilocal matrilineal --means clan heritage comes from the mother's side if a society is matrilineal it was probably also matrilocal-- which means that after getting married the husband moves into the wife's home and becomes part of her family ---there are no forms of writing so that makes it again very challenging to get the stories we have to rely on people learning the languages translating them recording them so there's a lot of room for things to be lost in translation ---one of the most interesting things we have for communication from this group is rock art petroglyphs and pictographs ---petroglyphs are cut into stone they are carvings and pictographs are painted or drawn onto a surface typically stone and these are found all over the world but we do see quite a few of them here in north america ---color was very important of course you can't tell that here but when some of these pictures i'm sorry pictographs were fresh they may have had color color is mentioned often in their stories and specific meanings are ascribed to particular colors did you know that you can see petroglyphs right here in missouri at washington state park? there is a really cool interpretive site and trail and i can post a link for that in the announcements area one of my undergrad professors from Wash U co-wrote a book called the petroglyphs and pictographs of missouri and it was really cool to take that class with her when i was an undergrad and learning all about native american art and iconography and it was really a memorable class anyway her book explores rock art all over the state if you're interested it's from university of alabama press you can probably find it on amazon okay so in this chapter we see classic examples that define the earth diver and emergence creation stories ---this one i'm showing you on the screen is a depiction in art of the most famous emergence myth which comes to us from the navajo--- it's the story of the five worlds again note the importance of colors and also numbers ---animals too are very important there's even a flood motif in this story and repeated attempts to find the right place to live to find balance ---we see trial and error happening in a lot of these myths where creators have trial and error in creating people or there's trial and error and finding the right place to live so it's really interesting ---okay first response question ---we have a story from the iroquois seneca page 512 number two in simplest terms the payment for the stories illustrates how valuable they are so i was asking you about why the stone asks for stories the fact that something so precious as food is given in exchange lets us know how important it is that people remember and pass on their stories okay it's a story about stories yes but it's significant because this is how history is shared this is how traditions are passed on this is the stuff that needs to be kept alive kept going and so again trading something as vital as food shows how important it is so that's very a very simple answer but it was a fairly simple question so hopefully that didn't cause anyone too much confusion ---and here's a just a map that shows where the nations were in in this area that we now look at as new york and here's where we have some of the seneca people okay so you were asked to compare the stories about the hero twins and i have a couple of different slides here this is a depiction i showed you before from the Popol Vuh, I believe, and this one is native american but i think it might be from a navajo story that we didn't read but anyway you are asked to compare all the stories about the hero twins ---well three --these two plus the one from the popol vuh--- so here twins are or sometimes it's just brothers but usually they're twins but they contain many of the following similarities ---the motif of twins in the americas can be found in other cultures too so before i answer the question let me shed some more light on the motif ---twins are typically heroic figures but they also have some trickster qualities in some cases they can be said to represent balance ---their stories often fit the monomyth and we have to wonder could the north american legends have somehow passed from the mesoamerican culture? it's possible --so i showed you the slides in reverse order apologies for that ---according to scholar richard townsend this welk shell right here is engraved with a representation of the hero twins who appear in different guys almost universally throughout north america as well as mesoamerica ---this engraved shell shows two intertwined snake men --okay that's these guys right here ---found in oklahoma by the way at craig mound dated from 1200 to 1400 ce ---the figures are springing from a coiled serpent slash raccoon figure you can see that right here and this is believed to symbolize the earth and this illustrates an origin story --this this piece is actually housed in the smithsonian that's in the national museum of the american indian but it was featured in an exhibit i saw at the st louis art museum several years ago called "hero, hawk, and open hand: american indian art of the ancient midwest and south" ---it's probably been more than a decade now since since that that display or that exhibition-- anyway look at the detail here look at the color version it's not quite as clear but here's what they say is like a raccoon face it's like a a serpent-like thing though it has like a rattlesnake's tail it's very interesting according to the text from from the exhibition booklet and this is a quotation from that quote ---a primary myth whose central message is reincarnation is the twin hero myth cycle in this myth one twin who is civilized adheres to the basic tenets of society while the other uncivilized twin opposes society-- we see that somewhat in lodge boy and thrown away but not really in the others ---but in some of the motifs this is important the civilized boy is associated with thunder and can bring his wild brother back to life ---in some stories he has an arrow in a sacred bundle which have great power and can be used for healing or resurrecting the dead ---the ritual death and reviving of the twins is an important mythic theme ---we see that certainly in the popol vuh and it's based on the power of the sacred medicine bundle and this ability to heal and resurrect is a pervasive idea tied to the reincarnation of elite individuals and powerful heroic mythic characters --the sacred twins portray a duality of opposing forces that must be balanced and maintained in order to remain in harmony with the cosmos ----so again that's that's from "hero, hawk, and open hand" ----so let's compare the stories ----first of all both the maya hero twins and the other two are adventurous and clever outsmarting monsters and other villains here are many of the features that they share ---all of them seem to be associated with celestial objects or the sky, sun, the moon, things like thunder and lightning--- as heroes they all have a special birth, they all face tests and trials, there are etiological functions or creation motifs in all the stories --it's subtle sometimes --in the pueblo story notice that they return the lightning to the storm king ---in lodgeboy and thrown away we have an explanation for why snakes have flat heads and the maya story explains the appearance of several creatures including the owl and the toad ----all the twins have magical powers of some kind ----note the motifs of transformation and resurrection in all three stories and in both stories from north america the twins' mother is brought back to life ----all the twins break the rules but are still rewarded and or succeed in their goals ----notice that in the two north american tales the boys misbehave but it doesn't seem to matter ----in both stories from north america the twins outwit a cannibalistic female monster character ----one big difference is that the maya hero twins experience the underworld journey which is significant and they end up as the sun and moon --they experience a more complete hero's journey cycle as well and they have helpers ----all three seem to have a coming of age theme but lodge boy and thrown away probably has the most differences from the other two ---this one shows the boys giving gifts to their family members as a result of their various exploits ---they also give assistance to the thunderbird, perform some good deeds--- these boys are obviously special ---red woman tries to kill them (typical of a hero story you know when the children are suppressed at birth) and later thunderbird asks them for help ----they are able to survive red woman's attack and eventually revive their mother although in this story it's not permanent -----did you notice that the things that the father told them to do were things that ended up being heroic deeds? it almost seems intentional ---maybe he knew they could help him by telling them not to do something he knew they'd do rather than saying here's a deed to accomplish that'll make you a hero he simply tells them what not to do so they misbehave and they do it by rebelling and defying orders and in reality we know kids often do that they break the rules especially when warned not to do something this makes them want to do it even more so the story can be seen as realistic in some ways --the story also illustrates the trickster quality of rule breaking here are some images of pueblo cliff dwellers in the southwest some of their lodging --this is where the hero twins story is from and here you can see different nations in in the region where the the crow people would have been in this vicinity right here and that's where we get the story of lodge boy and thrown away okay animals -----obviously animals play a significant role in all the stories ---people respected them even when they hunted them and because they observed animals closely the animals and the stories have characteristics of those creatures ---for example foxes and coyotes are clever, bears are strong, etc ----remember that tricksters live on the boundaries, they break rules, they bring both good and bad things to their people, they also bring us humor and help us see our faults ----so there will be a question or two about tricksters on the final okay so so be aware of that -----a lot of these animals tend to be solitary or live in pairs again special attributes would be the traits of that particular animal ---a lot of tricksters are animals and shape changers ---in north america, raven and coyote are probably the two most popular but you can also see sometimes the mink, the blue jay, the hare, the spider--- i'm sure there are some that i missed ----again they have both positive and negative powers -----sometimes the good things they do are on purpose, sometimes they're by accident ----the bad things are usually just sort of you know backfiring of their plans like Wile E. Coyote---they are clever but sometimes they cheat and they often scheme sometimes they're the object of just plain old humor -----a lot of times that humor involves bodily functions -----there are all kinds of stories about animals that are you know vomiting, farting, defecating in various places and it's it's just amazing some of the stories you can find when you research it -----remember they also break taboos, again challenge the boundaries, look for opportunities, and sometimes again they are just straight up funny okay so again two of the most famous tricksters are coyote and raven ---they seem to dominate in the stories ---"how raven brought light to the world" in some versions this is the reason the raven is black, his escaped through the smoke hole changes his color although that's not explicit in the story in our book but it is implied, it is more explicit in other versions of the tale ----we see raven in places where agriculture is not as important because these are the places in the pacific northwest usually where there's a lot of fishing and hunting and that kind of thing ----raven teaches people to make fish nets, he puts the fish in the rivers, brings the fruit to the land, even teaches the spiders to weave ---yet as we see in one of the stories he makes it necessary for humans to work so that's kind of a bummer as far as coyote goes he's often part human part animal, shape-shifter ---sometimes he teams up with other animals as we see in the stories like "coyote and eagle visit the land of the dead" and other things like that ---there are lots of stories about coyote either working with another animal or tricking another animal ----there are literally more stories about coyote than all other trickster tales combined ---that's not an exaggeration it's true ----he is the most popular trickster ----one explanation is because coyote is found in so many environments on the continent ---they live in they live in a lot of different places so they're seen by a lot of different people characters like raven or coyote are the best example of tricksters from this area so keep that in mind for the final ---again depending on the region ---so we have raven would be up in the pacific northwest but coyote again he's so prevalent because coyotes live in the plains they live in the southwest they live in the woodlands so they're everywhere so again as i mentioned since i'm going to be asking you about tricksters on the final keep in mind that these two are the most well known and and the ones that we see most in the stories okay here are some images of totem poles ---they were mentioned in one of the videos but i just want to reiterate because of the very distinct art style and because a lot of people misunderstand them--- they're tribal representations ----they're used to signify people, ancestors, and events--- they're not worshipped as images of deities or anything like that and these are again characteristic of the pacific northwest that's where we see them and before we go here are some rock art images of coyote and an image of raven again in the pacific northwest very distinct style all right finally we need to talk about sedna ---i'm going to show you a couple of different artistic representations of her this one you can see is called "sea goddess" it's a lovely carving ---so the story of sedna is important because of its illustration of shamanism ----to make sea life plentiful for the hunt and to calm sedna, the shaman descends to her in a trance and combs or untangles her hair because she has no fingers ------this is a very powerful and brutal story and and i don't want you to think that it's condoning violence because it's not ----it's a story about the perils of finding food ----life in a challenging environment -----and also if we look at sedna from a feminist perspective about wanting to remain unmarried or not to be forced into marriage (because in some of the stories she's actually called "she who would not be married") that's important as well ---it's also etiological ----we have an explanation of why seagulls cry so that's another aspect of the story here's another modern piece of art depicting of what someone imagined sedna might might look like with the sea animals in her hair which is lovely -----so regarding the question about sedna -----some underworld rulers you could have compared and contrasted her with are Osiris, Ereshkigal, Hel, Hades, Persephone------ she's different because she starts out as a mortal woman, sedna does, and and that's somewhat rare --most other rulers begin as divine beings to start with ----also consider how she got the job ---is this similar to others? let's think about it ---osiris doesn't seem to have asked for the position nor does hel or persephone ---in many cases this job seems to be a punishment ----sedna suffered some dismemberment ---this is similar to osiris but not as extreme and they were both betrayed by a family member ----also similar to osiris and persephone, sedna is connected to the vegetation cycle in a way ---she is beseeched on behalf of the people in order to have a bountiful catch of seafood and to calm storms as well ----so there are a variety of ways to respond to this question but the specifics are key as always ----she's a scorned woman though that's for sure! okay we have reached the end ----it's time to prepare for the final so remember to just like you did for midterm, review the video recaps, review the quiz study guides and take the quizzes and as always let me know if you have any questions ---may the force be with you!