Questions tagged [native-american]
For questions about the mythology of the original occupants of North and South America, excluding Europeans and other peoples coming afterwards.
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Washoe people: Legends and myths of the underground
I am building a 6500:1 cardboard model of the Mount Rose ski resort. The whole model has a thickness of 4.5 inches at its highest point, located on one of the sides of the model. While the rest of the ...
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What are some actually evil gods around the world?
I mean gods that are truly evil, not ones who are reflecting the social norms of the era they were worshiped in. (Zeus for example, he wasn't evil, his actions were seen as acceptable and normal at ...
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Any detailed information about the Carbuncle?
I've been searching information about the mythical creature the Carbuncle from the South American folklore, but it seems that there isn't much about it. I'm interested on faithful sources which ...
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The Boy and the Rattlesnake: What's the origin of this Cherokee fable?
There's a commonly told "Cherokee" fable about a boy and a rattlesnake. What's the origin of this fable? Where do we see it first see it in print and does it indeed go back to Cherokee ...
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Myths on God committing suicide
I am looking for information on myths where God commit suicide, specifically myths based from Central America, South America, and Africa; especially on the idea that earth was created through a God's ...
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Are there any references in mythology/folklore to a concept similar to teleportation?
The earliest mention of teleportation that I can find is a mention of "matter transfer" in 1877, but I'm wondering if there's a concept similar to it in folklore. I found something about ...
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What do the Staff God's staffs and pose represent?
The pre-Incan Andean deity known as the Staff God, assimilated as Viracocha in Incan mythology, is the earliest depiction of a deity in the Americas, and representations have been found from Lake ...
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Perception of echoes and myths concerning its nature in Northern America
I was recently listening to a song from the movie "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs", this song to be more precise. Anyway, at some point as you can see in the video, the voice of the singer ...
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Were there any gods Floridian Tribes recognized?
I am researching the pre-Columbian-colonization Americas for a poem and am currently focused on Florida. Thus I am intriguing myself to the cultures of the major "Indian" tribes, especially ...
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Are these images of identifiable pre-Columbian mythic entities?
This is the front and back of a t-shirt that was bought in Colombia. Stylistically to my naive layman eyes, they both look consistent with a modern riff on Muisca or Tairona art. Are they identifiable ...
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Who are the deities of natural order, justice or wisdom?
I'm seeking names of deities who embody the values of natural order, justice, or wisdom/knowledge.
I've already gone through the ancient Greek ones, listed below, but I would like different sounding ...
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Is there an older name for Cecaelia?
Cecaelia is a modern term for a mermaid with an octopus lower body, instead of a fish. I have read that such legends come from ancient Native American and Japanese culture. Does anyone know their ...
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Native American (possibly) apocalyptic prophecy about inanimate objects coming to life
I am in search of a difficult-to-Google fact. I once saw a Discovery Channel-esque documentary about an apocalyptic prophecy that all of the tools and other man-made objects would at some point take ...
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What is the Native American term for Happy Hunting Ground?
The web has only the English term, or other European languages
(most of those translate to "eternal hunting land", rather than "happy"). Frustratingly, even native storytellers use the English ...
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What caused the Mojave flood?
I stumbled upon this summary of the Mojave flood myth:
Many years ago, people lived under the ground. There came a time when there was no food, when the people sent a humming-bird up to see what he ...
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What indecency caused the death of Matevilye?
Matevilye, a creator deity of the Mojave, offended his daughter so greatly that she killed him (in a rather bizarre fashion):
According to the Mohave, the first were the sky, a man, and the earth, a ...
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What are some sentient creatures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican mythology?
I have read a bit about the five suns world creation myth, and I am curious if the original peoples of Mesoamerica believed in other sentient beings similar to the fairies, centaurs and such of ...
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How does one become a skin-walker?
Are there any Navajo tales that explain how one becomes a skin-walker? Is it an innate or an acquired ability? Can anyone become a skin-walker, or is there a hereditary element or other constraints?
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What is the significance of the kinds of wood used in sweat lodges?
In The Mountain Chant: A Navajo Ceremony, Washington Matthews describes the construction of a Navajo sweat lodge:
At dawn the old man woke them and said: "Go out, my children, and build a sweat-...
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Why do Native Americans think photographs steals their souls?
Native Americans, including some from here, Brazil, are afraid of photos. They don't like it when you take pictures of them because they think that you are stealing their souls.
Why do they think ...
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How are bears associated with the world of dreams?
I was looking for information on bear cults when I stumbled upon this little gem:
In Native American folklore there are many tales about bears. It is highly respected as the 'keeper of dreams', and '...
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How are wendigos/similar defeated?
Or shall I say, what are some beliefs on how wendigos/ witigos/ chenoos (any cannibal ice giant type being from Native American folklore) are defeated?
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What are the earliest known origins of Sasquatches in Native American culture in the Americas?
What are the earliest known origins of Sasquatches in Native American culture of North or South America?
Almost everybody has heard about these mysterious creatures known as Sasquatches or Bigfoot, ...
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Prevalence of Underwater Panther
I was researching my tribe's clan history and came across something interesting. Osages, like most American Indian tribes, name their clans after either mythological creatures, or common animals (...
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How did horses become integrated into Navajo mythology?
I've been reading a lot of Native American mythology, and I've noticed that horses play a prominent role in several stories. For example:
Looking around, she saw a great white horse with black eyes....
user62
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What is sásq'ets, from Halkomelem myths?
The modern term Sasquatch is a loan word (first used by Indian Agent J.W. Burns) based on the Halkomelem First Nations people's word sásq'ets.
In the myths of the Halkomelem people, what was sásq'ets?...
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In what Native American myth does the Sun stand still?
In this answer, I saw this in a quote-in-a-quote:
during the Third Age [equivalent to the Age in which the Popol Vuh places the invention of shooting out such magical darts], the sun stood still ...
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Does Iroquois legend tell where the Sky People came from?
The Iroquois creation myth tells of Sky people that lived in the Sky World.
From firstpeople.us:
In the beginning, the world was not as we know it now. It was a water
world inhabited only by ...
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Are there any points of mythology/religion that all Native Americans have in common?
I have been exposed to some different Native American mythologies and there seem to be many differences. Are there any beliefs or stories that they all share?
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In Ho-Chunk mythos, how was the world created?
I'm interested in creation stories from various cultures. I find it interesting to see similarities and differences between various "origin of man" and "origin of the world" accounts.
The Ho-Chunk ...
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According to the myth of the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest, how did people get fire?
Many systems of myth have a mythological explanation for how mankind came to possess fire (the most famous, at least in Western Civilization, is probably that of how Prometheus stole fire).
How does ...
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