Native American Creation Stories: Creator Animals, Gods and Goddesses
It was Columbus who gave the North American Indigenous their first western name—Indians—when he mistook the Americas for the extremes of the Indian sub-continent. Columbus seriously underestimated the circumference of the Earth as he set out to find a westward sea passage to the rich spice markets of India, rather than the long overland trek to the east.
The Native Americans, as they are now known, are believed by many scholars to have arrived from Asia via the Bering Strait, moving down through Alaska into mainland America, where they thrived for thousands of years until the advent of the European and the decimation through disease, among other reasons, that came with it.
An illustration from 1904 depicting various Native American cultures and bands. (Public Domain)
The One Who Lives Above
For the Apache, in the beginning nothing existed: there was no Earth, no Sky, no Sun and no Moon, Only the never-ending darkness. From out of the darkness, suspended in mid-air, emerged a thin disc, one side yellow and the other side white. Within the disc sat a small bearded man. He was the Creator, The One Who Lives Above.
Essa-queta, Plains Apache chief. (Public Domain)
As he looked out into the endless dark, a light appeared above him, and as he looked down, so all was flooded with light. He looked to the East and there appeared the yellow light of the first dawn. As the dawn light grew, so the Creator brought color to the Sky and to the clouds. The One Who Lives Above wiped his brow then rubbed his hands together and suddenly there was a shining cloud bearing a little girl. She was Girl-Without-Parents.
Apache girl with basket, 1902. (Public Domain)
