This week, I am reading the lore of the Cherokee tribe. I chose this because I have always been fascinated with Native American culture, and the Cherokees are one of the largest and most well-known tribes, and I was interested in seeing how their traditions were portrayed in their folklore.
Once again, this unit starts off with the tribe's take on how the world was created. As I mentioned in last week's essay, the different points of view of the early Earth and how living creatures came to be would be a vast area of study in itself. It is intriguing to compare and contrast the perspectives on the development of the world. The Cherokee point of view is not so different from that of the Chitimachas: the pre-formed world, according to both of them, was submerged in water. In the Chitimacha culture, they believed that a crawfish (a symbol of Louisiana, where they originated) dug up mud from the bottom of the ocean and it spread out to form dry land; the Cherokees believed that a water beetle did the same.
First Fire describes the origin of physical characteristics of certain birds that were there from the beginning of the Earth. I always love reading explanatory lore; it is interesting to see the creativity that early storytellers had when justifying how certain things came to be. In this story, the reasons for the raven's black feathers, the screech owl's red eyes, and the hooting and horned owls' white-ringed eyes are explained.
A similarly explanatory tale in this unit is Why the Possum's Tail is Bare. I felt so bad for the poor possum in this story! In it, the trickster Rabbit had had his tail pulled off by Bear (after he cheated Otter out of his coat) and is jealous of Possum's beautiful, bushy tail, so he hires Cricket, the local barber, to cut off every single hair from the tail. To this day, possums' tails are completely bare and in stark contrast to the rest of their bodies. Undoubtedly, someone took note of this and decided to write a story explaining why. This tale is a portrayal of the lengths some go to because of envy or jealousy.
A lot of the other myths of the Cherokee involve the trickster Rabbit as well. He is not so successful in his tricks as others in lore, however. When he goes duck hunting, he tries to convince Otter that he can do exactly what Otter does--dive, catch, and eat ducks. The plan that he devises does not seem fruitful: he almost drowns, and then when he does catch a duck, he is carried through the air and lands in a hollow sycamore stump from which he cannot escape and almost dies of starvation.
The story of the Terrapin and the Wolves also explains the texture of turtles' shells. It is also interesting to see the relationship between these Native American stories and those that originated in Africa. The part where the wolves were threatening the terrapin reminded me of the story of Brer Rabbit in which he was stuck to the tar baby and Brer Fox threatens to throw him into the briar patch. Mr. Rabbit begs fervently (and strategically) for him not to do so, when in fact he feels most at home in the briars. When Mr. Fox throws him in, Rabbit easily scampers away. Similarly, the terrapin is most comfortable in the river but tricks the wolves into thinking that this is his greatest weakness, and this is also how he escapes.
When the Huhu and the Owl get married, it is interesting to see the culture of the Cherokees really shine through. Honestly, I was very taken aback to find out that the first man turned into an owl and I didn't really understand if there was a moral to this story. The tale of the huhu (I also still don't know what this is) was very similar. Even through the slight confusion, however, I enjoyed reading these stories and getting a glimpse into the traditions. I have a friend who is learning the Cherokee language, and I will have to verify with her in the future.
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