Week 10 Essay: Native Americans Were Hippies

First of all, I want to make this clear, I am Native American - and I'm not Cherokee! I'm Choctaw, and I love my heritage. I think classes like this that set aside study for such a topic as Native American mythology is fantastic. This week, I read the Apache Stories section and last week, I read the Alaska mythology section. Both were absolutely fantastic! I loved it! What was really cool to see - and I'm pretty sure I mentioned this in my Reading Diary for this week, and possibly in something I blogged about last week - was the absolute love for Nature as a part of the myth. One thing that really struck me was the animals, in particular, are essential and rather sacred to what is going on. This was incredibly cool to see.

Dat Totem

Both weeks, the mythology started with the creation of the earth and different creatures and what was an interesting comparison was the fact that the head god for both stories happened to be a raven. This was really intriguing, especially when in most stories in Western Civilization, ravens symbolize death in some form or fashion. So, seeing them being used to explain life and creation was different, but really cool to see - even more so since both myths followed the same line of thinking. Now, both stories used humans to progress the myth, but I felt they were more thoroughly prevelant in Alaskan myth as opposed to the Apache myths. I wonder if this might be because in Alaska, there is a bigger ratio of humans to animals than when and where the Apache Stories would have been made. This is pure speculation, obviously, but it's something to think about.

Now, I love Nature. Let me emphasize this: I love Nature. So, when myths not only have a desire to explain its creation or how it came to be but also holds it up on a pedestal, it is wonderful! I realize there is some of this occuring through other mythologies, but not to this level, I would argue. For the Apache and some Pagan individuals in the United Kingdom area, the forest - the plants, the animals, trees, wind, everything - is something of a wonder, and is meant to be treated as such. I just think it is really cool to see myths that portray Nature as something more than what is commonly accepted in today's society. I absolutely love that.

Author's Note
This, of course, is an essay over the Apache Stories unit. I really, really enjoyed this unit, and I hope the essay reflects that. Give it a read, if you have the time. Trickster stories are always cool, and the Coyote is definitely that.