Mythology Book

THE AMERICAS 237

See also: Creation 18–23 ■ Creation of the world by Pangu 214–15 ■ San creation myth 284 ■ The dreaming 302–07

3. Touching the
   clay, Buzzard
   creates valleys
   and mountains.
   
   
   1. Four cords
      connect the spirit
      realm, Gälûñ’lätï,
      to the earthly realm.
   
   
   
   


4. Water Beetle
   forms the earth
   from clay.

over the island. Wherever his tired

wings brushed the ground, they

carved out deep valleys; wherever

he flew up again, mountains

sprung up. This explains why the

Cherokee’s traditional homelands

contain so many mountains.

Night and day

When the soil was completely dry,

the animals descended to Earth

and found it was very dark. So they

took the sun and made it move

across the sky from east to west

each day. At first, the sun was too

close to the earth, and so hot that

it burned the crawfish Tsiska’gïlï’,

turning it red. The Cherokee

believe that this spoiled the

crawfish’s meat, and will not eat it.

The animals moved the sun up

until it was seven handbreadths

high, sitting just under the sky

arch. After this, the animals and

plants tried to stay awake for seven

The Creation Story

Water

Island

Spirit realm

North

South

West

East

Anetso

In Cherokee mythology, during

the time before the brother

and sister came to live on

Earth, there was a competition

between birds and the other

animals. The birds turned

some small creatures into bats

and flying squirrels so they

could join the birds in playing

against the other animals.

This myth is reflected in

the ball game of anetso, which

is at the heart of Cherokee

tribal identity. The Cherokee

have played the game, a

precursor of lacrosse, for

hundreds of years. Even today,

elders retell the story of the

mythical first competition to

players before a game.

Anetso is a fiercely physical

game, where rough tackles are

encouraged, but it is also

deeply spiritual. A tribal

member known as a “conjurer”

helps to prepare the athletes

with cleansing rituals before

and after matches, while other

tribal members perform

dances and ceremonies.

days and seven nights to keep

watch. They had been told to do

this by their creator, long before

the Earth was even made. Those

that managed to stay awake were

rewarded. This explains why

animals such as owls and panthers

can see and hunt at night. The

cedar, the pine, and other plants

also stayed awake, and they were

rewarded with the ability to remain

green in every season.

Human beings

Man eventually came to live upon

the island. The first people were a

brother and sister. The brother

struck the sister with a fish and

told her to bear children. Every

seven days after this, the woman

gave birth to a child. However, the

population grew so rapidly that

the world started to become too

crowded. From then on, women

could only give birth once a year. ■

Because you [deciduous

trees] have not endured to

the end, you shall lose your

hair every winter.

Myths of the Cherokee

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