Reading Notes: California and the Old Southwest Part A
Reading all of these stories was really interesting. It shows how the California tribes came up with their own idea of how the world was started and how little things came to be. The first stories were mostly about how the Sun and the Moon started along with the creation of man. Most of them had different stories but it was mostly the same. It wasn't surprising to me that for the Native American stories they started out with animals in most of them. I have a little bit of prior knowledge and know that animals mean a great deal to the Native Americans. They treat animals with much respect and only kill when they need to.
I realized while reading the stories that in the California Native American tribes they talk a lot about coyotes. They hold them in such high esteem and even in some stories they talk about how life started because of the coyotes. It doesn't surprise me because it is the West Coast and there is a lot of coyotes to this very day so I imagine that back then they were even more and they were spotted everywhere. They talk about how they were really cunning and smart and basically were helping humans in some of the stories. In one story it talked about how all the animals came together and wanted humans to be like them but the coyote disagreed and wanted man to be better then all animals since they had the chance to create him themselves. He waited till everyone was a asleep and made the man we know today. They also talk a lot about the sun and moon and how they were created. One story stood out to me because they said that they were just thrown up there and the sun and moon were created
They also talk a little bit about a flood that was happening. I think one of the stories was talking about how the ocean was being created and all the animals were stuck in and had no where to go since the water was rising. They then grabbed everything they could and climbed up and created the world. The stars were created because an animal was tired of carrying the bag they were in and that intrigued me a lot.
California and the Old Southwest Part A
I realized while reading the stories that in the California Native American tribes they talk a lot about coyotes. They hold them in such high esteem and even in some stories they talk about how life started because of the coyotes. It doesn't surprise me because it is the West Coast and there is a lot of coyotes to this very day so I imagine that back then they were even more and they were spotted everywhere. They talk about how they were really cunning and smart and basically were helping humans in some of the stories. In one story it talked about how all the animals came together and wanted humans to be like them but the coyote disagreed and wanted man to be better then all animals since they had the chance to create him themselves. He waited till everyone was a asleep and made the man we know today. They also talk a lot about the sun and moon and how they were created. One story stood out to me because they said that they were just thrown up there and the sun and moon were created
They also talk a little bit about a flood that was happening. I think one of the stories was talking about how the ocean was being created and all the animals were stuck in and had no where to go since the water was rising. They then grabbed everything they could and climbed up and created the world. The stars were created because an animal was tired of carrying the bag they were in and that intrigued me a lot.
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| Stars over a forest, Source |
California and the Old Southwest Part A
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