5 Seneca Creation Myths
Timothy Robbins
Introduction
According to Wikipedia, The Seneca [are a group of indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League (Haudenosaunee) in New York, along the shores of Lake Ontario to the west of the Finger Lake region, before the American Revolution.]” They were the most numerous and adventurous of the Iroquois confederacy and spread to large swaths of lower New York and into Ohio. “[The Seneca Tribe before the American Revolution had a prosperous society. The Iroquois Confederacy had ended the fighting amongst the war-based Iroquois tribes and allowed them to live in peace with each other. Yet, despite this peace amongst themselves, the Iroquois tribes were all revered as fierce warriors and were reputed to control together a large empire that stretched hundreds of miles along the Appalachian Mountains. The Seneca were a part of this confederacy with the Cayuga, Onondagas, Oneidas, Mohawks, and, later on, the Tuscaroras. However, although the Seneca and Iroquois tribes had ceased fighting each other, they still continued to conduct raids on outsiders, or rather their European visitors.]” “[In the 21st century, more than 10,000 Seneca live in the United States, which has three federally recognized Seneca tribes. Two are in New York: the Seneca Nation of New York, with two reservations in western New York near Buffalo; and the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Native Americans. The Seneca-Cayuga Nation is located in Oklahoma, where their ancestors were relocated from Ohio during Indian Removal. Approximately 1,000 Seneca live in Canada, near Brantford, Ontario, at the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation. They are descendants of Seneca who resettled there after the American Revolution, as they had been allies of the British and forced to cede much of their lands.]
According to John Bruno Hare: “ This huge (500 page) book of Seneca myths was collected by Jeremiah Curtin at the turn of the 20th century. Curtin also wrote Creation Myths of Primitive America, Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland, and Tales of the Fairies and of the Ghost World.
The tales in this book are consistent in themes and style with Native American storytelling from diverse regions. Themes such as shape-shifting culture heroes, gambling for keeps, and journeys beyond the sky are reminiscent of many other tales from diverse parts of the continent. The tales are mostly set in a pre-human dreamtime, and the players are the conventional zoomorphic first people. There are a few legends set in more recent times, particularly regarding conflict of the Iroquois with the neighboring Cherokee.
There are many distinctive Iroquois touches, for instance, the importance of the uncle as opposed to the father, and the strong and self-motivated women characters; this is an outgrowth of matrilineal descent. Also of note are the hideous man-eaters, used as figures of