Monday, September 30, 2013

There is a Beginning to Everything

 
Every culture has a story that tells of how they were put on this earth. This creation story originates from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois).  In this legend, our planet, in the beginning, was nothing but water. No land existed and the only inhabitants were creatures who could survive without land.

In the Sky World, however, the beings there thrived. There was a Tree of Life that was sacred to the human-like beings there and they were instructed not to touch it. One day, a woman who was very close to giving birth fell through the Sky World onto Earth. There are many versions where Sky Woman jumped through the hole, she fell through by accident or she was pushed. Nonetheless, the Tree of Life was uprooted and Sky Woman fell through the hole it created.

When Sky Woman fell she frantically grabbed two plants, in her left she grabbed the tobacco plant and in her right, the strawberry. The birds flying over the water noticed Sky Woman falling, and they caught her. With the help of the sea animals, they led the birds to the back of a giant turtle. Once the woman was safely on the turtle’s back, the animals decided that she needed something more than the turtle’s back to live on, and the turtle offered his back as the base of the land she could create. So, one by one the creatures dove into the water, each one failing except for the muskrat that floated up dead, but in his paw was a little bit of earth. Sky Woman took the bit of earth and placed it on the turtle’s back. The woman walked counter clock-wise and the earth began to spread until it created Turtle Island. Life began to form on Turtle Island and Sky Woman thrived. To this day, the Haudenosaunee dance counter clock-wise in order to honour Sky Woman and her contribution to the development of the earth.

Some time passed and Sky Woman gave birth to a girl. This girl grew older and she was instructed by Sky Woman to never walk towards the West. One day, this girl walked towards the West and she was overwhelmed by a powerful force. Sky Woman later found her daughter with two arrows crossed on her stomach. Later on, it became more apparent that the girl was pregnant with twins. The two boys growing inside her did not always agree with things, and as the date of their birth grew nearer, they disagreed on how they should start their earthwalk. The Good twin, Thaluhyawaku (Sky-Holder), entered this world the right way. The Evil twin, Tawiskalu (Flint), entered this world through his mother’s side, killing her in the process.

                Sky Woman believed that Thaluhyawaku was the one that entered this world from his mother’s side, and so out of the two, she favoured Tawiskalu. As they grew older, it became more apparent that Thaluhyawaku and Tawiskalu had two different mind sets. When Thaluhyawaku would create something, Tawiskalu would change it to the opposite way. Sky Woman passed on, and the twins disagreed with each other how she would be placed to rest. The conflict resulted in Tawiskalu throwing his grandmother’s head in the sky and forming the moon.


                This cycle continued. Eventually, the twins disagreed on who would be in most influential on the living things of Creation. They fought day and night until Thaluhyawaku won. To this day, Thaluhyawaku is considered to be influential during the day and Tawiskalu was cast to have influence during the night. Since Sky Woman favoured Tawiskalu, she is seen mostly at night, although occasionally she visits Thaluhyawaku during the day.
 
Image:
Creation Story