The Navajo Origin
1. What items do the gods place on the ground?
Corn husks
2. What does the use of buckskin suggest about the role of deer in Navajo life?
Deer played an important role in the Navajo life
3. People were told to stand at a distance and allow WIND to enter.
4. The EIGHT OF THE MIRAGE PEOPLE walked around the objects on the ground four times.
5. The white ear of corn became a MAN and the yellow ear became a WOMAN.
6. What happens when the wind ceases to blow?
The Navajo people no longer breathe--- they die
7. The wind represents LIFE to the Navajo people and is considered SACRED
The World on the Turtle’s Back
1. What caused the hole in the sky?
#1 Answer:
Digging up the root of the Great Tree caused the hole in the sky.
2. How do the animals help the woman who fell from the sky?
#2 Answer: The birds catch her and place her on the turtle's back and then the animals help her get soil to plant the roots she fell with allowing her to create the world.
3. Why are the twins in conflict even before they are born?
#3 Answer: The right-handed twin wants to be born the normal way while the left-handed twin wants to be born through their mother’s mouth. The right-handed twin does not agree with this because he knows the left-handed twin will kill their mother if he does that.
4. Compare and contrast the right-handed twin and the left-handed twin. (You may draw a Venn diagram)
#4 Answer:
Right-handed twin: Said what he meant and meant what he said; did everything just as he should; always told the truth and tried to accomplish all that was right and reasonable; straight minded
Left-handed twin: Always lied and did things backward; always does the opposite of what he seems is right; he was favored by his grandmother; crooked mind
Both twins created things such as plants, animals, etc. The left-handed twin created the predator while the right-handed twin created the prey.
Together the twins created harmony and balance in the world.
5. According to this myth, how was the moon created?
#5 Answer: The right-handed twin, furious with his grandmother for always taking his twin brother’s side cut her head off and threw it into the sky. The grandmother now watches over her favorite grandson in the realm of night.
6. What does the right-handed twin represent? What does the left-handed twin represent?
#6 Answer: Right-handed twin= Good
Left-handed twin= Evil
7. What may have happened if the left-handed twin had defeated the right-handed twin? Explain.
THOUGHTS????
#7 Answer: MORE EVIL!
8. The myth says that “The right-handed twin made man. The people do not know just how much the left-handed twin had to do with making man.” Based on this quotation and the behavior of the twins, what would you say is the Iroquois view of human nature? Support your answers.
THOUGHTS????
#8 Answer: THE IROQUOIS BELIEVE PEOPLE WERE MADE UP OF BOTH GOOD AND BAD