Indigenous Plant and Animal Origin Myths

Introduction:

The topic of our project is Indigenous Plant and Animal Origin Myths. Storytelling is a really important part of many Indigenous cultures, so our group wanted to see the types of origin myths that were present. We made our topic plant and animal creation myths because the creation stories of the individual group of people are oftentimes not allowed to be told during certain times of the year, therefore we wanted to keep our collection project respectful of the various cultural traditions. Origin myths basically tell how something or someone came to be, and in this case, we are focusing on how animals and plants came to be in Indigenous cultures. We interviewed a wide variety of Indigenous people and it was amazing to see that even though each group is different, the existence of creation myths stays constant throughout these cultures.

Items:

How The Possum Got Its Tail

How The Ojibwe People Got Maple Syrup

The Story of the Lady Slipper Flowers

The Acorn Story

The Horse Story

Skipjack Tuna Origin Myth

Chicken Origin Myth

Pig Origin Myth

Sina and the Eel #1

Sina and the Eel #2

How the Bear lost his tail

Las brujas que le chupan la sangre a los niños o los recién nacidos

La leyenda de las víboras y la lumbre

Collectors:

Emily Lipsett (’22)
Caitlin Wanic (’21)
Rosa Mendoza (’20)
Jack Tuiolosega (’21)