For this week, we are going to do a deep dive into the world of cosmology, local mythology, and the differing perspectives that arise with them, as based on the discussion my group and I had over the last few days.
My group members and I had some unique takes on a few very interesting myths, that I am sure you will enjoy reading about. At the same time, it will be interesting to hear about the discussion we had regarding the difference of perspective that arises when discussing mythology.
Cosmogony and the Hopi Origin Story
As a topic of discussion for this week, cosmology, the study of the origin of the cosmos, plays a central theme in the mythical Hopi Origin Story. We had some interesting insights into how the Hopi Origin story exemplifies cosmological themes, and acts as the quintessential creation story for the Hopi people. We’ll go into this in detail.
Akin to Christianity, and the beginning of humanity through Adam and Eve, the Hopi people pinpoint the birth of mankind to when, long ago, people emerged from beneath the Earth ( I should bring up an interesting point one of my group members brought up. The myth actually further details Earth as the fourth attempt at creating a world, with the previous worlds being destroyed because of the inhabitants that turned evil. My group member was kind enough to share the link, here, where you can further read about this ). Upon their emergence, the caretaker of the world, Maasaw, allows them to stay, in return that they honor Mother Earth.
It is here in the story that my group members and I interpreted things differently. Maasaw allows them to stay, and tells them that they must find their so called “Center Place”, which they will call home. They are told a great sign in the sky will signify that they have it. This “Center Place” is rather vague in the story, but I will mention a couple ways we interpreted it to mean.
One way to interpret the meaning would be as the literal Center Place of the Earth, which one group member noted might simply be a reference to the place called Chalko, where the Hopi people eventually settled. As well, it was noted that the Hopi people’s insignia was spiral like, implying that maybe as part of their worldview, the center of the Earth was near where Chalko was, and they were always bound to “spiral” towards this place, their “Center Place”.
Another way, the way I interpreted it, was that the “Center Place” was simply a metaphor, and the great sign in the sky is the Sun. I took the story to mean that the caretaker, Maasaw, was creating the world, and was not completely finished yet. He told the Hopi people to wander it in different directions, thus allowing humanity to spread throughout the globe. Once he was complete, with the Sun being his final creation, the people would know that they reached their “Center Place” is, and would settle, thus forming the different cultures and societies we see around the world today.
The final way my group members and I interpreted the myth was as follows. As the people were aware that this was the fourth world created, the others being destroyed, they headed Maasaw’s word to care for the Earth. They traveled the Earth, learning, and becoming one with it. They attempted to find their “center place” in the world. As to the great sign in the sky, this was interpreted to be Maasaw’s signal to the Hopi people that they were worthy of living on in this world.
Mythology and the Influence of Local Landscape
It is very common for myths and legends to act as explanations for how things came to be. The landscape around where a particular culture lived proved as a tapestry for the creative minds and thinkers of their time to paint artistic and often abstract stories that were shared for generations. I’ll touch into a few of these stories, as discussed by my group members and I.
The Release of Wild Animals
Buffalo, taken from: fineartamerica.com
This myth describes the archetypal trickster, Coyote, and his schemes to free the buffalo from where they are held. The Release of Wild Animals is the origin story of the buffalo, and simply describes how they came to roam the plains where the Comanche Native Americans lived. As the central source of food for their people, it is easy to see how the Comanche people must have made many a story in their time, regarding how the buffalo came to be, and this is one of them.
Coyote, the central character, symbolizes what the Comanche people view themselves as: the coyote being a cunning animal, known for its wit, see here Clever Coyote. He tricks the little cousin of the old woman, who holds the buffalo, by giving him a small, cute animal. The animal is instructed to scare the buffalo out of where they are kept. Coyotes scheme succeeds, and thus the buffalo roam the land.
The story implies the close relationship the Comanche people had with the animals who lived in their land, through the way Coyote was able to have a small animal follow instructions. It is a simple, fun story, but ultimately it implies the wit and cunning inherent in the Comanche people, who were able to use the landscape, and the small animals that lived there, to achieve their goal, and allow their people to prosper from the buffalo.
The Corn Mother
The myth of the Corn Mother details how the Seminole Native American people described the origin of maize, a close relative of corn that we know today. It is an interesting story, abstract from an etic perspective, that I am sure you will enjoy hearing about. There are two versions of this story. For the sake of time, we’ll only discuss the parts of the myth that overlap.
The Corn Mother herself is a strange being. She is described as being able to produce corn by using her body ( in what we might interpret as ) obscene ways. This is common to both stories, but the endings diverge slightly from one another, I would encourage you to follow the link above to read more about it. In essence, the Corn Mother myth seeks to provide an explanation, similar to The Release of Wild Animals and the Comanche people, for the origin of the Seminole peoples primary source of food.
Taking both of these myths together, you can clearly see how the local landscape in which a culture evolves affects the mythology and legends that are created and passed down from generation to generation.
Differing Perspectives: Etic vs Emic
It is interesting to take into account the different perspectives that come along with a myth or legend. You have to understand the perspective of the people who created the myth, and why it might have the impact or meaning that it does to them. These perspectives are considered emic perspectives. Etic perspectives are what you and I might have when we discuss a myth or legend from a surface level. In the case of the Corn Mother myth we just discussed, you might have been weird-ed out hearing about the way The Corn Mother made corn for the people, but to the Seminole people, this could have been a completely reasonable explanation. We simply might lack the context. I will discuss a few stories my group and I discussed, where these perspectives can be seen.
The Metis-ization of Canada
In the article, Metis-ization of Canada, arises a couple points that display etic and emic perspectives. The article describes how the Metis people saw themselves as something completely separate from the nation of Canada. The Canadian government on the other hand, saw them as a unique identity within the greater nation of Canada. The etic perspective is that which we might know in the modern day, that the Metis people were an identity that displayed early adoption to a multicultural way of life. But from the Metis people, and an emic perspective, it might be seen that the nation of Canada has stifled their culture, and put it under the greater Canadian umbrella.
How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials
At the time of this story, not much was known about diseases. This lead to a deadly misconceptions, where people were accused of witchcraft. From an etic perspective, looking back at this myth, it may seem silly that people would have thought that witchcraft would have been the cause of the strange illnesses discussed in the story. But thinking about the way the emic perspective may have been, from the point of view of the people living back then, I suppose they really just had no better explanation to reason why the disease was occurring. This story really shows how different emic and etic perspectives can be.
Aztec Sacrifice
In Aztec society, human sacrifice was a a common thing, and often revered as the highest form of sacrifice for their people. Today, looking back, with an etic perspective, it really is insane to think about how they could have been so okay with human sacrifice. Stepping into the shoes of an Aztec person, the emic perspective explains how they had honored their gods so much, that they would not think twice about sacrificing themselves to please them.
Closing…
I hope you have gained a good perspective on mythology from this blog post. We discussed both origin stories, stories of the landscape, and were able to start to rationalize how the cultures who made the myths actually viewed them, with the discussion of etic and emic perspectives. Please see the references below for the myths and stories specifically discussed in this post. The images as part of this post are captioned with a link to their source page.
References
Austin, Alfredo L. “Myth, Belief, Narration, Image: Reflections on Mesoamerican Mythology”, Journal of the Southwest
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Corn Mother”, www.britannica.com
Gaudry, Adam. “The Metis-ization of Canada: The Process of Claiming Louis Riel, Metissage, and the Metis People as Canada’s Mythical Origin”, University of Alberta
Lohnes, Kate. “How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials”, University of Calgary
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