CORN AND MEDICINE - THE CHEROKEE CREATION STORY

Within the Cherokee people there are many stories which revolve around a central theme and in the late 1800's James Mooney of the Bureau of American Ethnology gathered the stories from northern Georgia and Alabama, western North Carolina, central and eastern Tennessee, and Kentucky Cherokee to compile this story.

The earth began as nothing but water and darkness, and all the animals were in Galúnlati, above the stone vault that makes up the sky. Eventually Galúnlati became so crowded that the animals needed more room, and they wanted to move down to earth. Not knowing what was below the water, they sent down the Water-beetle to explore. Water-beetle dove below the water and eventually came back with some mud from below. That mud grew and grew, and finally it became the island that we call earth. This island of earth is suspended at its four corners from ropes that hang down from the sky, and legend has it that some day the ropes will break and the earth will sink back into the water.

The title "corn and medicine" made me double take on this wondering if it was actually a creation story or a "just so" story about health and farming but it turns out that this one of the most original creation stories of all time.  Are the animals god?  I'm so taken by the whole water and darkness thing and I'm trying to imagine what it would be like for those animals especially as they have been separated by a stone vault.  As myths go this is fare superior to Genesis in my humble opinion.  Lets see what happens next...

Because it grew from mud, the new earth was very soft. Many of the birds flew down to explore the new land, but it was too wet for them to stay. Finally Buzzard flew down, hoping it was dry, but the earth was still wet. Buzzard searched and searched, especially in the Cherokee country, and finally he became so tired that his wings flapped against the ground. His wings dug valleys where they hit the ground and turned up mountains where they pulled away, leaving the rugged country of the Cherokee.

Were the birds perching on the stone vault before they flew down and how did they get through the vault?  Who knows really, it was dark and not important information.  All I can say that must have been a mofo massive buzzard.  Still no mention of a god of any kind, how refreshing.

Eventually the earth was dry and the animals moved down. There still was no light, however, and so the animals set the sun passing from east to west just over their heads. With the sun so close, many of the animals were burned, giving the red crawfish its crimson color. The animals raised the sun again and again, until it was high enough that all could survive.

A touch of localised causality such as the crawfish reminds us that this story was told with only the knowledge of the local land.

When the plants and animals first came to earth, they were told to stay awake for seven nights, as in the Cherokee medicine ceremony. The animals all stayed awake the first night, and many stayed awake the next few nights, but only the owl and the panther and a couple of others stayed awake all seven nights. They were given the ability to see at night and so to hunt at night when the others are asleep. The same thing happened among the trees, and only the cedar, pine, spruce, holly and laurel stayed awake all seven nights, which is why they can stay green all year when the others lose their leaves.

More "just so" stories mixed in with a couple of familiar time scales.  Up until this point we have heard nothing about any kind of deity and all of a sudden someone or something has told them to stay awake.  My spidey sensors are tingling.

Humans came after the animals. At first they multiplied rapidly, and the first woman give birth every seven days. Eventually there were so many of them that it seemed they might not all survive, and since then to this day each woman has been able to have just one child each year. Among these early people were a man and a woman name Kanáti and Selu, whose names meant "The Lucky Hunter" and "Corn", respectively. Kanáti would go hunting and invariably return with game, which Selu would prepare by the stream near their home. She also would always return home with baskets of corn, which she would pound to make meal for bread.

This is a great story.  It does follow the bible with respect to the order of living creations but after that it's a nice little tale about hunters and gatherers and so far no mass destruction.

Kanáti and Selu had a little boy, and he would play by the stream. Eventually they realized that he was playing with another little boy who had arisen from the blood of the game washed by the stream. With their son's help they caught the other boy, and eventually he lived with them like he was their own son, although he was called "the Wild Boy".

Yeah, not sure what that is about but I guess we'll find out soon...

Kanáti brought home game whenever he went hunting, and one day the two boys decided to follow him. They followed him into the mountains until he came to a large rock, which he pulled aside to reveal a cave from which a buck emerged. Kanáti shot the buck and, after covering the cave, he headed home. The boys got home before him and didn't reveal what they had learned, but a few days later they returned to the rock. With a struggle they pulled it aside and had great fun watching the deer come out of the cave. They lost track of what they were doing, however, and soon all sorts of game animals - rabbit and turkeys and partridges and buffalo and all - escaped from the cave. Kanáti saw all these animals coming down the mountain and knew what the boys must have done, and he went up the mountain after them. He opened four jars in the cave, and from them came fleas and lice and gnats and bedbugs that attacked the boys. He sent them home, hoping he could find some of the dispersed game for the supper. Thus it is that people must now hunt for game.

But what happened to the flea and lice ridden kids?  Before Kanáti discovered the cave he was hunting for game anyway, right?  He just stumbled upon an easy way to bring home the venison which was shot to shit when the kids did just what kids do.  It does kind of seem like the trouble the kids got into affected all of humanity after that so was that the Cherokee original sin?  Makes you think, right?  Do I smell a conspiracy?

The boys went home, and Selu told them there would be no meat for dinner. However, she went to the storehouse for food, and told the boys to wait while she did so. They followed her instead to the storehouse and watched her go inside. She put down her basket and then rubbed her stomach, and the basket was partly full with corn. Then she rubbed her sides, and it was full to the top with beans. Watching through a crack in the storehouse wall, the boys saw all this. Selu knew that they had seen her, but she went ahead and fixed them a last meal. Then she and Kanáti explained that, because their secrets were revealed, they would die, and with them would end the easy life they had known. However, Selu told them to drag her body seven times around a circle in front of their house, and then to drag her seven times over the soil inside the circle, and if they stayed up all night to watch, in the morning they would have a crop of corn. The boys, however, only cleared a few spots and they only dragged her body over it twice, which is why corn only grows in certain places on the earth. They did sit up all night, though, and in the morning the corn was grown, and still it is grown today, although now it takes half a year.

I'm not sure what to say about this paragraph, seems a little bit brutish and crazy all at the same time.  The number seven comes up again followed by yet another "just so" story though it's a bit of an anticlimax.

In these early days, the plants, the animals, and the people all lived together as friends. As the people multiplied, however, the animals had less room to roam, and they were either slaughtered for food or trampled under the humans' feet. Finally the animals held a council to discuss what to do. The bears experimented with using bows and arrows to fight back, but they concluded that they would have to cut off their claws to use the bows. The deer held a council and decided to send rheumatism to any hunter who killed a deer without asking its pardon for having done so. When a deer is shot by a hunter, the fleet and silent Little Deer, leader of the deer, runs to the blood-stained spot to ask the spirit of the killed deer if the hunter prayed for pardon for his affront. If the answer is no, Little Deer follows the trail of blood and inflicts the hunter with rheumatism so that he is crippled.

Fair enough.  I've never shot a deer but one day I will and I shall pardon my spoils that's for darn sure!

The fish and reptiles likewise met, and resolved that the people would suffer from dreams in which snakes twined about them. The birds and smaller animals and insects all met too, and talked long into the night about how they had suffered from the humans. Eventually they created all sorts of new diseases to afflict humans, which have since become a scourge to the animals' oppressors.

I bet the insect council was lead by the mosquitoes.  I think I can see where this is going... after all, the story is called corn and medicine.

After this the plants met, and they resolved that something must be done to counteract what the animals had done. That is why so many trees and shrubs and herbs, and even the mosses, provide remedies for diseases. It was thus that medicine first came into the world, to counteract the revenge of the animals.

I knew it!  Sounds like the start of a war between big Pharma and big Animal and years later man will also have there revenge by testing cosmetics.

How likely do you think this story is?  I'm not sure it's a factual account of how it all happened but a story entertain.  I could imagine a couple hundred years ago the people of the tribe didn't know how things worked and how we got here and just needed some kind of answer for the kids so they made up a fantastic story to explain everything.  Little did they know that story would be handed down from generation to generation and finally published with many devout followers.
  That is the way all creation stories a breathed into life including that of Genesis... try reading it now and not think of the many other creation stories out there that are just as silly.

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way even I learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write this blog.  If you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all
Justin