Tales of the Earth by David Leeming

Author:David Leeming [Leeming, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Folklore & Mythology, Ethnic Studies, American, Native American Studies
ISBN: 9781789145007
Google: Ub46EAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: 2021-09-16T02:52:58+00:00

Unknown Hopi artist, ‘Palahiko Mana Kachina (Water Drinking Maiden)’, a form of the Corn Maiden figure, illustration from Jesse Walter Fewkes, Hopi Katcinas, Drawn by Native Artists (1903).

Spider Woman is the central figure in the Hopi emergence. Hopi myths, like those of all Native Americans, were originally passed on orally, and in the Hopi Reservation there are several villages with their own distinct mythological and religious traditions. The story that follows here, then, is one of many versions a visitor to Hopi might hear.

In the beginning there was only empty space and Tawa the sun spirit. Tawa began to create what would be a First World under the ground. This world was inhabited by insect-like creatures who lived in caves and spent most of the time fighting with each other. So Tawa sent a another spirit, Spider Grandmother – really a part of himself – down to the First World to help the people make what would be a long journey to a Second World. During the trip the people took on new forms as animals, such as wolves, dogs and bears. But in the Second World the people still failed to live properly, so Tawa sent Spider Grandmother to lead them to a Third World, where the people now became like real people. Spider Grandmother urged them to live there in harmony. She taught them to build villages, to grow corn, to weave and to make pots. But the world was cold, and nothing worked very well. Discord was everywhere. There was no harmony. Once again Spider Grandmother arrived and suggested to the people who still had good hearts that they should move to a Fourth World, a world up on the surface of Earth. The chief of these people and some other elders prayed and practised various ceremonies and then made a swallow and asked it to find a way to the upper world. The swallow flew up and did find an opening, but winds forced it back down. So the chief and the wise men made a dove and sent it to explore. The dove made it to the upper world and came back to report to the chief that the upper world had no life. The chief sent a hawk up and the hawk came back with the same impression. Now the chief sent a catbird. The catbird met Masauwu, a katsina or spirit, the strange keeper of fire and the master of the Fourth World. He said the people could come to his world, but the people had no way of climbing up to the hole at the top of the Third World. Again, Spider Grandmother came to the rescue. She suggested that Chipmunk, who regularly ate pine nuts, might be able to help them plant a pine tree that would reach the hole. The chipmunk agreed to help and planted some pine nuts. Soon a spruce tree grew, but it was too short to be of any help. A fir tree grew, too, but it was again not tall enough.

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