The Iroquois Creation Story

A Literary Analysis of The Iroquois Creation Story

Emily Anne Cater

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A Literary Analysis of the Iroquois Creation Story We, as Americans, are all familiar with the story of creation in the book of Genesis. This is due to the fact of most Americans being of European descent. However, Europeans are not the only race on the planet. After Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492, there has been a clash of differences between Europeans and Native Americans. This clash includes warfare, customs, traditions, literature, linguistics, and all around lifestyle. However, the biggest clash would have to be of culture. When there is a clash in culture, there is a clash in religion.

Both sides are as confused as the other when it comes to religion and the way of worship. Due to the fact that the Native Americans had no literature, it is difficult to see the Native American perspective of what life was like for them when the Europeans came over with their selfcentered, self-righteous culture. Something we as a people can relate to today is the difference in the Native American-specifically the Iroquois tribe-creation story and the story of Genesis along with how it influenced their livelihood.

As earlier stated, European and other Christian cultures believe the creation account in the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible. Before the world is created, there is nothing. There is only one, true God. God sees that there is darkness and declares there to be light. After the creation of light, God begins to create the world as we know today. God creates the waters or oceans, the dry land, the plants, the sun, moon and stars, and all living creatures. God then creates man, Adam, out of the dust and breathes life into him. All of God’s creatures are good in His sight. On the seventh day, which is the last, God rests. This designates the seventh day of the week as a day if rest in most Christian cultures today. The Iroquois account of creation, however, is quite different.

Cater 2 Because of their oral tradition, the Iroquois creation story was passed down verbally until Native American, David Cusick, wrote it down in the late 1800s. The story starts with the existence of two separate worlds. The dark lower world is inhabited by monsters and the upper world is inhabited by the “spirit� mankind. There is a pregnant woman carrying twins that is greatly distressed by her pregnancy. She lies down to rest and falls descending into the lower world. The monsters, seeing that she is falling, go into a great search for earth to break her fall. A great turtle volunteers himself to catch her. The monsters then compile earth or dirt onto the turtle creating an island, earth. The woman lands safely on the island that is increasingly growing. One of the twins in her womb is taken by an evil mind and the other by a good mind.

The twins are born, the good mind and the bad mind, and the mother dies in childbirth. The twins grow rapidly and always in tandem. The good mind no longer wanted to live in darkness.

Therefore, he takes his mother’s head to create an orb of light now known as the sun, her body to create the moon, and her limbs to create the stars. The light of day drives the monsters into the deepest part of the earth so not to be seen by humans. The good mind continues his creation by forming slow waters, such as creeks and rivers, plants and vegetation, rains, animals to live in the forest, and fishes to live in the water. He then creates human beings in his image and breathes life into them. The bad mind is displeased by these creations. He forms mountains, water falls, and reptiles in retaliation. When the bad mind attempts to create humans, they become apes. One day, while inspecting the games of the woods, the bad mind challenges the good mind to fight to the death. The victor would then rule the earth. The brothers tell their weaknesses to each other.

However, the good mind deceives his brother by telling him he can be defeated by the whipping of cornstalks. The day of the battle the good mind won by beating the bad mind with horns, and the bad mind sinks down into the lower earth. There he is known as the Evil Spirit. The good

Cater 3 mind then retires from the earth. Obviously, one can see the differences in these stories of how the world came to be the place we live in now.

First, one of the most obvious differences seen is what was there in the beginning. In the story of Genesis, there is nothing, only God. However, in the Iroquois creation story, the world is already divided into the upper world and the dark, lower world. Also, the two worlds are inhabited. There are people, of an unknown origin, living in the upper world. One the other hand, monsters live in the dark, lower world. Secondly, a difference is the fact of who and how many created earth. The Iroquois creation story says that there are two creators of earth. Two brothers worked in tandem to create earth. In the story of Genesis, however there is only one creator, the creator Judeo-Christians acknowledge as God. Thirdly, in these stories the male and female roles are evident. The Bible says that God created one man first, Adam, and then later He created Eve from Adam’s rib. Therefore, there is not much of a female presence in the creation of the earth.

On the other hand, the Iroquois account presents a presence of female importance. The story begins with a pregnant woman carrying the future creators of the earth. Finally, there is a difference in the way the creations are seen. Are the creations seen as good or bad? Are there creatures that were not supposed to be created? This is true in the story of creation known to the Iroquois tribe. The bad mind creates mountains, waterfalls, cliffs, reptiles, and other creatures to harm the human beings created by the good mind. However, in the story of Genesis, God saw all of his creations on earth as good. The Christian God is known as perfect; therefore, His creation will be perfect as well. Although there are differences in these two stories, there is one similarity.

The way human beings are created. In both the Genesis and Iroquois creation story, humans are created out of the ground (dirt or earth) in the creator’s likeness or the creator’s image. Then life was breathed into the beings.

Cater 4 In conclusion, we are able to connect the differences of gender roles in the creation stories to culture today. As a result of the important role of the woman in the Iroquois story, the Iroquois have more respect for women. According to the authors of the Iroquois Confederacy website, women have a more important role in their culture and even participate in what is considered to be a man’s activity. The authors state that women had a great influence in the tribe’s political and economic affairs, and still have influence today (“Iroquois Woman”).

However, in the Genesis account the woman is created after the man and from the man’s rib.

Therefore, European Christians do not view the female role in their culture as important and the male is always the dominant figure. Even today, there is still a battle for women’s rights and roles. There are many differences in how the world was created in the Iroquois story and the European Christian Genesis story; these differences have affected and will affect both culture and later generations in the two groups.

Worked Cited “Iroquois Woman.” Iroquois Confederacy and the U.S. Constitution. Portland State University, 1 Oct. 2001. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.