Week 11 Extra Reading: Myths of the Cherokee

Like most of the stories about the Native American tribes they have very beautiful descriptions as to why the world is the way it is. One of the stories talked about how the sun and moon were brother and sister. The sister was the sun and would stay on the east and the moon was the brother and would stay on the west. The sun would have a secret visitor once a month that would come to her and stay until she had to leave. She never saw his face but wanted to know who it was. She devised a plan to grab some ashes and put them on his face. She made up an excuse that she couldn't see his face and put the ash on him. When she went up the next day she saw the moon as well and saw the ash was on his face as well. The brother became embarrassed and decided to stay away from his sister except some days he would have to come near but would only be a sliver of himself. I think it's a beautiful story because I would have never imagined this myself. The Native Americans explain things in a very logical and simple way. I think the craters they see on the moon is referring to the ash that the sun put on him.

Also there was another story that stood out to me that was about a man that loved his wife but his wife had left him because they had fought. The woman left and the man followed after her put couldn't catch up because she never stopped. Eventually he received help from sun. The sun would put berries in front of her to maybe catch her eye so she would stop but never did. Eventually she saw strawberries which were the first ever and decided to stop and try them. As soon as she did she started to miss her husband and went back towards him until they met. I really like how much nature plays a huge part into the history of Native Americans. It is such a beautiful part of their history and every time I read a story they treat nature with such respect.

The Sun, Source


Myths of the Cherokee

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