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The creation stories of the Native Americans of Northern America aren't only significant in the literary sense, but also provide incredible insight to the historical contexts from which they come. The three tales, "The Indians of the New Netherlands" (ca. 1650), "The Origins of Ottawa Society Recalled by Nicholas Perrot" (ca. 1720), and "Remaking the World: A Sioux Story" (ca. 1935) show a remarkable shift from a female to male central role in creation, a closer alignment to the Biblical account of creation, and an increasing presence of God, as Western influences, namely Christianity, became more prominent.
"The Indians of New Netherlands Account for the Creation" feature a world in which creation comes through a glorified woman. Even in this detail it becomes evident that there is little similarity between this tale and the account given in Genesis in which woman is only created through man. It does, however, report of a time when the world
...was all water, or the water covered all; and they add that if there had been any eyes in being, there was nothing but water to be seen, and nothing else visible in every direction.2
Although there is a supreme being, and although this god is male, he is, in effect, absent throughout the creation process. In fact, the only reference to him is in his sending of his female consort and in her longing to return to him. This suggests that women played an important and well-respected role in this society. Furthermore, the European influence by 1650 - only forty-three years after their arrival - had grown only slightly.
Roughly seventy years later, Perrot records the Ottawa creation story. Women no longer play the central role in creation. Instead, she is, like Eve, created as a companion for man. The god of the Ottowans is portrayed as the Great Hare, a large, male hare. He gives the man the tasks suited to hunting, warfare, and "all things that a man must do," while the woman is commanded to "do the cooking for thy husband, make his shoes," and other tasks which supplement her husband's labors.3 The Great Hare in this account, in contrast with the 1650 telling of the New Netherlands' Native Americans, is far more accessible. Not only does he give his people inspiration to facilitate their survival, he can also be found and interacted with on earth. Here, there is the added element of Perrot's distinctly contemptuous tone. He introduces the story by noting that the beliefs of these "savages" were changed "only by dint of laughing at them for so ridiculous a belief."3 Even more significant is the mention of the natives having "intercourse with the Europeans" 3 and that act becoming a tool to persuade them of the truth of the Genesis account. Although this may have been indicative of an increased social and physical intermingling between the colonists and Native Americans, it is more likely that the approval of these exchanges was decidedly one-sided. Less than fifty years later, Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, led other tribes against the colonists in an attempt to halt the spread of white settlements.4
Perhaps the greatest evidence of European influence on the Native American culture lies in the Sioux creation account which surfaced in 1935, "Remaking the World: A Sioux Story." There is no mention of an individual man or woman, but rather, the "Creating Power" dominates almost all of the creation story. Although the tale is rampant with the usual animals, it is strikingly similar to the Genesis account of Noah's Flood. The Sioux version states,
The Creating Power said to himself: 'I will sing three songs, which will bring a heavy rain. Then I'll sing a fourth song and stamp four times on the earth, and the earth will crack wide open.'5
In comparison, the Genesis accounts inform that "all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights."6 Even more telling is the promise made by the Creating Power: "
'Look: I have created a rainbow for you as a sign that there will be no more Great Flood. Whenever you see a rainbow, you will know that it has stopped raining.'5
Again, compared to the Biblical promise,
'This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you....I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud...'7
it becomes clear that the Christian influence is resonant in this Native American story.
The increase in the influence the Europeans had on the Native Americans is evident through the evolution of their creation stories. This causes a moment's speculation of why the Native Americans did not influence the Biblical account. Perhaps it is the author's comment in his record of "The Indians of New Netherlands Account for the Creation" in which he notes that the Native Americans "...cannot believe, or will not understand relative to their people and the negroes, on account of their great difference and the inequality of colour."2 It is likely that this overwhelming attitude of superiority, coupled with a long history of written tradition of Christian doctrine (as opposed to the oral traditions of Native American beliefs), which prevented changes to the account in Genesis.
1Picture taken from http://www.biblia.com
2“The Indians of the New Netherlands” (ca. 1650)
3“The Origins of Ottawa Society Recalled by Nicholas Perrot
(ca. 1720)
4Davidson, J. W. (2006). "The Imperial Crisis." Nation of
Nations. E. Barrosse.
5"Remaking the World: A Sioux Story" (ca. 1935)
6Gen 7:11-12 (New King James Version)
7Gen 9:12-14 (NKJV
