CHEROKEE-L Archives

Archiver > CHEROKEE > 2005-07 > 1120335852


From: "Joyce G. Reece" <>
Subject: Re: [Cherokee Circle] Creation a Apache Tale - Apache
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2005 16:27:15 -0400
References: <000901c57f2d$039a31e0$6401a8c0@homevx2stufs20>


I've been on this list for awhile and have watched your postings week after week. You are constantly giving of your time and knowledge...unselfishly. Thank you.

I recently joined a list that was designed to teach of our Native American ways. It turns out it was a list of people who did not want to share knowledge beyond those who were selected to be on that list so your continued posts are very refreshing. I've always been under the impression that understanding comes with knowledge and knowledge comes to us from people who have the knowledge to share.

I think I am speaking for many on this list when I say thank you.


IF THERE IS ANYONE else on this list who has knowledge to share concerning traditions, lifestyles, etc would you please consider posting information such as this?

THANKS

Joyce Gaston Reece
----- Original Message -----
From: Blue Panther
To:
Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 1:39 PM
Subject: [Cherokee Circle] Creation a Apache Tale - Apache


Creation a Apache Tale - Apache

Apache, meaning "enemy," was the Zuni name for Navaho, who were also called
Apachis de Nabaju by the earliest Spaniards exploring New Mexico. Apaches
had come down from the north during prehistoric times, along the eastern
flanks of the Rocky Mountains. When they confronted Coronado in 1540, they
lived in eastern NewMexico, and reached Arizona in the 1600s. Continuous
wars among other tribes and invaders from Mexico followed the Apaches'
growing reputation of warlike character.

Apaches have always been inherently aware of earth and sky spirits. From
their early morning prayers to the Sun-God, through their hours, days, and
their entire lives-for them every act has sacred significance.

Animals, elements, the solar system, and natural phenomena are revered by
the Apaches. That which is beyond their understanding is always ascribed to
the supernatural.

In the beginning nothing existed-no earth, no sky, no sun, no moon, only
darkness was everywhere.

Suddenly from the darkness emerged a thin disc, one side yellow and the
other side white, appearing suspended in midair. Within the disc sat a small
bearded man. Creator, the One Who Lives Above. As if waking from a long nap,
he rubbed his eyes and face with both hands.

When he looked into the endless darkness, light appeared above. He looked
down and it became a sea of light. To the east, he created yellow streaks of
dawn. To the west, tints of many colors appeared everywhere. There were also
clouds of different colors.

Creator wiped his sweating face and rubbed his hands together, thrusting
them downward. Behold! A shining cloud upon which sat a little girl.

"Stand up and tell me where are you going," said Creator. But she did not
reply. He rubbed his eyes again and offered his right hand to the
Girl-Without-Parents.

"Where did you come from?" she asked, grasping his hand. "From the east
where it is now light," he replied, stepping upon her cloud.

"Where is the earth?" she asked.

"Where is the sky?" he asked, and sang, "I am thinking, thinking, thinking
what I shall create next." He sang four times, which was the magic number.

Creator brushed his face with his hands, rubbed them together, then flung
them wide open! Before them stood Sun-God. Again Creator rubbed his sweaty
brow and from his hands dropped Small-Boy.

All four gods sat in deep thought upon the small cloud.

"What shall we make next?" asked Creator. 'This cloud is much too small for
us to live upon."

Then he created Tarantula, Big Dipper, Wind, Lightning-Maker, and some
western clouds in which to house Lightning-Rumbler, which he just finished.

Creator sang, "Let us make earth. I am thinking of the earth, earth, earth;
I am thinking of the earth," he sang four times.

All four gods shook hands. In doing so, their sweat mixed together and
Creator rubbed his palms, from which fell a small round, brown ball, not
much larger than a bean.

Creator kicked it, and it expanded. Girl-Without-Parents kicked the ball,
and it enlarged more. Sun-God and Small-Boy took turns giving it hard kicks,
and each time the ball expanded. Creator told Wind to go inside the ball and
to blow it up.

Tarantula spun a black cord and, attaching it to the ball, crawled away fast
to the east, pulling on the cord with all his strength. Tarantula repeated
with a blue cord to the south, a yellow cord to the west, and a white cord
to the north. With mighty pulls in each direction, the brown ball stretched
to immeasurable size-it became the earth! No hills, mountains, or rivers
were visible; only smooth, treeless, brown plains appeared.

Creator scratched his chest and rubbed his fingers together and there
appeared Hummingbird.

"Fly north, south, east, and west and tell us what you see," said Creator.

"All is well," reported Hummingbird upon his return. "The earth is most
beautiful, with water on the west side."

But the earth kept rolling and dancing up and down. So Creator made four
giant posts-black, blue, yellow, and white-to support the earth. Wind
carried the four posts, placing them beneath the four cardinal points of the
earth. The earth sat still.

Creator sang, "World is now made and now sits still," which he repeated four
times.

Then he began a song about the sky. None existed, but he thought there
should be one. After singing about it four times, twenty-eight people
appeared to help make a sky above the earth. Creator chanted about making
chiefs for the earth and sky.

He sent Lightning-Maker to encircle the world, and he returned with three
uncouth creatures, two girls and a boy found in a turquoise shell. They had
no eyes, ears, hair, mouths, noses, or teeth. They had arms and legs, but no
fingers or toes.

Sun-God sent for Fly to come and build a sweathouse. Girl-Without- Parents
covered it with four heavy clouds. In front of the east doorway, she placed
a soft, red cloud for a foot-blanket to be used after the sweat. Four stones
were heated by the fire inside the sweathouse. The three uncouth creatures
were placed inside. The others sang songs of healing on the outside, until
it was time for the sweat to be finished. Out came the three strangers who
stood upon the magic red cloud-blanket. Creator then shook his hands toward
them, giving each one fingers, toes, mouths, eyes, ears, noses and hair.

Creator named the boy, Sky-Boy, to be chief of the Sky-People. One girl he
named Earth-Daughter, to take charge of the earth and its crops. The other
girl he named Pollen-Girl, and gave her charge of health care for all
Earth-People.

Since the earth was flat and barren. Creator thought it fun to create
animals, birds, trees, and a hill. He sent Pigeon to see how the world
looked. Four days later, he returned and reported, "All is beautiful around
the world. But four days from now, the water on the other side of the earth
will rise and cause a mighty flood."

Creator made a very tall pinon tree. Girl-Without-Parents covered the tree
framework with pinon gum, creating a large, tight ball.

In four days, the flood occurred. Creator went up on a cloud, taking his
twenty-eight helpers with him. Girl-Without-Parents put the others into the
large, hollow ball, closing it tight at the top.

In twelve days, the water receded, leaving the float-ball high on a hilltop.
The rushing floodwater changed the plains into mountains hills, valleys, and
rivers. Girl-Without-Parents led the gods out from the float-ball onto the
new earth. She took them upon her cloud, drifting upward until they met
Creator with his helpers, who had completed their work making the sky during
the flood time on earth.

Together the two clouds descended to a valley below. There,
Girl-Without-Parents gathered everyone together to listen to Creator.'

"I am planning to leave you," he said. "I wish each of you to do your best
toward making a perfect, happy world.

"You, Lightning-Rumbler, shall have charge of clouds and water

"You, Sky-Boy, look after all Sky-People.

"You, Earth-Daughter, take charge of all crops and Earth-People.

"You, Pollen-Girl, care for their health and guide them.

"You, Girl-Without-Parents, I leave you in charge over all."

Creator then turned toward Girl-Without-Parents and together they rubbed
their legs with their hands and quickly cast them forcefully downward.
Immediately between them arose a great pile of wood, over which Creator
waved a hand, creating fire.

Great billowy clouds of smoke at once drifted skyward. Into this cloud.
Creator disappeared. The other gods followed him in other clouds of smoke,
leaving the twenty-eight workers to people the earth.

Sun-God went east to live and travel with the Sun. Girl-Without- Parents
departed westward to live on the far horizon. Small-Boy and Pollen-Girl made
cloud homes in the south. Big Dipper can still be seen in the northern sky
at night, a reliable guide to all.

Taken from Curtis, Edward S. The North American Indian. 20 vols, pgs 23-35
of vol 1. Orig. pub. 1907-1930. Reprint. New York:Johnson Reprint Corp.

>From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.



==== CHEROKEE Mailing List ====
<<>OPEN forum to all Cherokee topics - except Genealogy<>>
<>Culture-History-Language-Folk lore and Truths<>
Good Manners & Language is required to be on the list
ALL the links you will need to sub and unsub or contact listowner below
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Ethnic-Native/CHEROKEE.html

==============================
New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429

This thread: