The Indigenous People of the Americas’ Mythology

The Americas have within its landscape time capsules of mythology, held with remnants of the cultures that used to roam this world. From Alaska, across the Rockies, the great plains, deserts, Mesoamerica, and South America, there are some fascinating stories, myths, and ritual going back not just hundreds, but sometimes many thousands of years. Consider this an introduction to the subject as there is so much more I want to talk about, and so will make more videos about the Americas in the future.

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Mythology Database: https://www.mythologydatabase.com/

References
The Orpheus Myth in North America. Gayton, A.H. 1935. The Journal of American Folklore , Jul. – Sep., 1935, Vol. 48, No. 189 (Jul. – Sep., 1935), pp. 263-293

d’Huy, Julien. 2013. A Cosmic Hunt in the Berber Sky – a phylogenetic reconstruction of a Palaeolithic mythology

The Siberian Paleolithic site of Mal’ta: a unique source for the study of childhood archaeology
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/siberian-paleolithic-site-of-malta-a-unique-source-for-the-study-of-childhood-archaeology/F28C70119125FDB885150D66BFC11146

Reassessing the chronology of the archaeological site of Anzick
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1803624115

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
2:54 Populating the Americas
4:32 The First Cultures in America
9:15 The Oldest Myths in America
13:27 The Cosmic Hunt
19:24 The Orpheus Myth
21:44 A Telumni version (Southern California) of the Orpheus Myth
31:39 Mesoamerica
32:09 The Olmecs
34:28 The Aztecs
38:22 The Mayans
41:26 South America and the Incas
43:20 The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
45:40 The Skywoman myth
50:28 The Sioux
54:19 The story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman
56:53 The Apache
58:39 My thoughts on Mythology in the Americas

To some, the Americas is often considered a place with little history. But it holds many secrets, like a plethora of buried time capsules, as behind the razzle-dazzle of the promises of riches with the American Dream, there is a huge diverse landscape of ancient myths, culture, and

Religion, shaped from stories of snow and ice, and thousands of miles of mountains, the plains, deserts, forests, and jungles, and across warm seas and cold oceans. It’s a landscape where people have roamed for many thousands of years, and today I’m going to give an overview of the history of

The indigenous people of America, touching on key cultures, their beliefs, rituals, and I’ll tell you some of their oldest myths and most interesting stories that helped shape the earliest cultures that first arrived there. But all is not what it seems, for hidden within some of these cultures,

Behind some of these myths, lies a secret. And so if you want to learn about this and more, then grab yourself a cup of tea, and welcome to Crecganford. Academic consensus has humans first migrating to the Americas during the last glacial maximum,

This was between 16 and 26,000 years ago, where the sea froze between Siberia and Alaska, a location we know as the Bering Strait land crossing, or Beringia. And this allowed humans to cross from Siberia into America by foot, or as some hypotheses suggest, allowed coastal sailing,

Or possibly a combination of both. But people didn’t make this journey just once, we have evidence that at least three separate cultures, ethnically diverse, made this journey in the time frame. Now, whilst it is unlikely that there were any permanent human cultures in America before

26,000 years ago, much consensus suggests this date could be moved forward a few thousand years to nearly 20,000 years ago. We do see the occasional piece of archaeological news suggesting discoveries of evidence for a date older than this, but I want to add that there is nothing

Conclusive in this evidence as of yet. And then to add to this, and unfortunately so, most archaeological evidence of human activity in America is from around 12,000 years ago, although occasionally older material is found. And it is from this evidence, such as flints and fire pits found

In those archaeological digs, alongside the occasional burial, that we find clues of where these people’s ancestors came from, their similarities in how flints are made, fires are made, and how burials were performed. And one such example of this is the connection we see

Between the Siberian Paleolithic site of Mal’ta, and the child burials at Anzik, which not only show a genetic relationship, but also cultural similarities, suggesting a direct cultural connection between these people. Evidence suggests that these first people who came to the Americas

Were hunter-gatherers, and they had turned up before farming had been established in the Near East, and their hunting skills were good enough that it allowed them to hunt what we call megafauna, the mammoths and mastodons and giant sloths that were alive during this time. But just as

Climate allowed the populating of the Americas, its significant change after this migration also allows for theories that it was a contributing factor in the disappearance of the megafauna, which then may have helped accelerate the migration of people across the Americas, which in

Turn hunted what was left of these beasts, and these influences in turn changed the environment of the Americas forever. And so the first question you may want to answer is, who were these people who migrated into the Americas? And if, as we have a basic understanding of where they came from,

We will be able to spot any cultural heritage from Siberia and Asia in the First Nation American culture? And if so, can we identify any of their oldest myths or stories? Now as I mentioned earlier, much archaeological evidence is from around 12,000 years ago or forwards, and the main

Culture of this period in the Americas is known as the Clovis culture, and it is recognised in archaeological finds because of how flints were shaped. And the first time these flints were formally identified was in the Clovis area of New Mexico, and now over time we have gathered

Evidence of similarly worked flints from Monte Verde in South America, dated to 14,800 years ago, to Meadowcroft, Pennsylvania 16,000 years ago, plus many in between, and around these dates. And there is one particular site that stands out amongst these, and that is Bluefish Caves in the

Yukon region of Canada, where some flint artefacts have been discovered in deposits thought to be 24,000 years old. And if we get more confirmation of this evidence, we could probably say that these would have come from some of the first humans to inherit North America. But this information

For now should really be treated with some caution until there is more academic confirmation. However, I have to admit that I’m also not an archaeologist, and so if someone wants to ask a fellow YouTuber like Stefan Milo about this specific find, then I’m sure he’ll give you his

Views. But back to us, and as we imagine time passing in these migration events, and cultures diversify and disperse, there are many examples of maps showing these dispersals, such as this one I’ll put on the screen now, which rely on archaeological evidence for their dating. But

I would reason that our current understanding, showing that it took 8,000 years to travel from Alaska to the east coast of North America, and yet only 2,000 years to get from Alaska to the tip of South America, suggests that our picture is probably not as complete as we would like it to

Be. But one of the challenges that have been faced is that there is a huge amount of ice and glaciers on the western side of North America, and so any evidence of settlements before it thawed out

Have probably all been washed away. And then on the east there is a lake which was formed around 14,500 years ago, Lake Agassiz, and this was probably one of the largest lakes ever to form in North America, around 700 miles long and 250 miles wide. And when this eventually emptied,

It probably erased any archaeological evidence that was in its way. And so what can we use to understand if the myths and stories being told by the cultures today, or in the more recent past, have traces back to these first settlers? Well within mythology we use a process called

Phylogenetics, which looks at a number of pieces of evidence to understand the probability of links in mythology. And we use DNA, language evolution, archaeology, as well as the contents of myths, and how we categorise them, and comparing these myth themes and motifs within them.

And by combining all this within a probabilistic model, which is the phylogenetics part of this, we can see the likelihood of myths following particular paths of migration within their evolution. And we have done this with data on what it is like to be one of the oldest stories

We know, and this allows us to understand the probable outcome of how this story developed. And from this we can say with significant confidence that there were at least four migrations from Eurasia into North America before Europe discovered America. We can also detect,

Using data from the same study, that there was one migration from Eurasia back into Africa. Now I will tell you more about the story we found that meets this in a minute, but first I want to explain a little more about myths, which is especially relevant if you think a myth is just

A story, because myths are so much more than that. Myths have an academic definition, although there is no complete consensus on that definition, but they are all quite similar. But most academics would agree that myths are stories that have a deity or divine being within them, and which

Takes place on a different earth to our own, albeit one that is geographically similar, but it also contains figures, animals, and other beings that aren’t found in our world. And because these myths have deities or divine beings in them, they hold sacred truths,

They are religious stories explaining how the world is, why things happen, and so they are very important to those who believe in the religion, or who are telling the myth. For example, to those that do not believe in the god of the Bible or the Quran, well they could consider the

Biblical stories or the Quran myth. But saying this to those who believe the biblical stories may upset them, because they believe it, they treat these stories as sacred. Well, the same can be said of any myth told by anyone who believes that myth, by those who have the

Religious ideology that is portrayed in that myth. And this means that myths, when told by their believers, are taken very seriously, they aren’t subject to idle changes, despite often being oral in their source, and so they generally maintain their plot and key motifs throughout their life,

Even if that life is thousands and thousands of years old. And this is one of the foundations that allow us academics and researchers to study mythology. And also knowing this, it allows us to have confidence that the Native American oral tradition, and with this the many

Of the literary sources that were then recorded directly from it, and some cultures such as the Maya also recorded their myths, so we see them have some form of literary record. And so we do see preservation of this cultural legacy and tradition from long before our present time.

And if you are still doubtful that myths can last the test of time, then also consider that myths weren’t just spoken. Someone just telling prose verbatim is prone to error, and so myths were often performed with music. And think to yourself how many songs you can sing along to,

And you’re not religious about them, but you remember them, and then apply that to the process of myth telling where you are religious about them. Then you should be able to understand that the performance of myths is a critical aspect of why some have been maintained longer than

Others. In effect, the myths we still have today are the greatest hits of myth. And so considering this, and observing Native Americans, and this is true of many other cultures as well when they tell their myth, their words are spoken with great care, they mean something to those listening,

And they are remembered by everyone listening. The words of the storyteller have great power, and doubly so when performed, rather than just spoken. But despite this, one of the challenges we have with the indigenous population of the Americas is that they have not

Produced a complete record of their myths, there is no single body of myth, and so we are still piecing together all the myths and stories to get a landscape of what is told, and the culture. And this makes sense, because there were multiple migrations into the Americas, but still,

Despite this, certain themes, certain plots, certain motifs are consistent. And it is where we see changes in these features of myths, alongside the use of phylogenetics, which allows us to see how and where myths developed. The cosmic hunt is probably the oldest complete

Story we know that was told in America. We have older myths and motifs, but these are more piecemeal. But the cosmic hunt is a consistent story about a hunt for an animal, which often steals the sun. What is most interesting about this story though is that it is told based on a

Constellation in the night sky, with the majority of the stories using the exact same stars of the same constellation to tell the story. And so this suggests evidence that the story is being passed from culture to culture across time. And not only that, not only is the same constellation being

Used, but the stars within that constellation all often have the same role in the story, again suggesting the story is being told again and again through culture, rather than just being made up. And this story is told from Europe, through Asia, and into the Americas, with even

Some examples being found in South America and North Africa. But such is the specific nature of the stars used in the telling of the story, to say that it is independently being created by different cultures is next to impossible, and instead we see evidence using the tracing of

Dispersal routes, archaeology, linguistic evolution, and DNA analysis, this process of phylogenetics, to show that this story comes from inside Eurasia and travelled to the Americas. But then you may ask, how old is this story? Well let me tell you a brief version of this story, as it will allow me

To explain its age to you. One morning, a man is walking through the forest, and carries with him a spear and a pot, for he is hunting and hungry, and he hasn’t eaten a substantial meal for many

Days. And as he walks along a trail by the foot of the mountains, he sees by a stream, a deer drinking from it. It’s a mother deer. The man thinks he can hunt the deer, and so he gets close

And throws his spear, but the deer has heard him, and is startled, and she jumps up and runs up into the mountains, high high up into the mountains, and as she does this, she catches the sun in her

Antlers. And then she is so scared, she continues to run across the mountaintops, running away as fast as she can, taking the sun with her. The man picks up his pot and spear, and chases after the

Deer, up the mountains, and all the time the deer is moving the sun, making the days shorter. The man knows he must stop the deer, for the sun can’t be lost, for there would be no more day time.

Eventually the hunter gets close enough to the deer to throw his spear, and his aim is good. The mother deer becomes aware of the hunter, and jumps high into the sky to avoid that spear throw, and the sun falls from the antlers, and falls behind the mountains, and day turns to night,

As the sun disappears. But the mother deer did not jump fast enough, and was hit by the spear, and it releases the magic of the sun, which still lingers around the deer, and as she

Lays on the ground dying, she turns into the stars in the night sky. And the magic of the stars consumes the man, and turns him also into a star, chasing her, pot to his side, and spear in mid

Throw. And if you look today, you will see throughout the year, the man chasing the deer in the night sky, until the winter, that is, when the deer lays on the ground, having been killed.

But the mother deer is a special creature, and she has given birth to a calf during the days of the hunt. The calf will no doubt be seen wandering by the mountains when the days get longer again,

And the sun gets back into the sky. And so with this, it allows the hunt to carry on. We see this story, this plot, repeated across many cultures and many places, and although some details change, many remain the same. But for those trying to understand its age,

What is most interesting is how the animal dies, or sometimes sleeps over winter on the ground. Because the constellation most associated with this story is Ursa Major, or the Big Dipper, and if we look in the night sky, we see this constellation high up, even in winter. But

If we turn the clock back 30,000 years, and take into account the wobble of the earth, its precession, then if we look for this constellation in the wintertime, we find it on the horizon, a representation of a dying or sleeping animal. And so this on its own would suggest the story

Is well over 30,000 years old. But not only that, we see the type of animal being hunted changing alongside the culture, telling it. For example, there are traces of the story being told with a mammoth, which had caught the sun, between its tusks. And in North America, the most popular

Version has a bear, which is hunted and when caught by the spear, bleeds over the trees, making them red, signaling the onset of fall, or what we would call autumn. And if you want to know more about this, then I do have a video on the cosmic hunt you can watch.

But there are other old myths, so let me tell you another. Alongside the cosmic hunt story, we do see another myth told amongst indigenous American tribes about going to the Otherworld, in what we classify as versions of the Orpheus myth. The Greek version of the myth has Orpheus’

Wife dying to a snake bite, and he follows her into the Otherworld, and gets the rule of the Otherworld to agree to let her come back to the land of the living. But only if he completes one

Task, and he fails at this task, and doesn’t get his beloved wife back. And we see very similar stories to this in North America, stories that aren’t just connected by a plot outline, but often have many of the details shared between them. And again, using phylogenetics, we can have

Significant confidence that these myths come from the same sourcer source in Eurasia before people crossed the Bering Strait. Now these myths followed a format of a much loved person dying, and their lover, who remains alive, is discouraged from making a journey to the West to follow the

Deceased into the Otherworld. And this journey has obstacles, and most often there is a river which needs to be crossed, and this is often crossed by a bridge, or sometimes a boat. And when the person arrives in the Otherworld, it is a world without needs, there is no hunger, or

Sleep, or sadness. However, the living person encounters the chief or guardian of this realm, and fails at the task required to bring the deceased person back to the world of the living. And on their return, after failing, they perform a ritual, and the Otherworld is explained in

More detail, with commentary on why the dead cannot come back to the world of the living. Now knowing this, let me tell you a version of this myth, told by a tribe in the Americas, and the similarities should be clear to you, and at the end I’ll explain some interesting aspects

About it that link it to other myths which are many thousands of years old, and after this I can then explain more about the history of some of the key American cultures. The land of the dead is to the west, or northwest, and its name is Tipiknits. To get there a large

River must be crossed, and over this river lies a bridge, but this bridge moves up and down whilst you cross, but stops when you get off. There was once a man who had a lovely wife, skilled in all her household tasks. She died unexpectedly, and was buried. Her husband, deep with grief,

Decided to follow her to the Otherworld to see if he could get her back. He knew that she would stay in her grave two nights and two days before she would get up and start her journey to Tipiknits.

And so he went to her grave, and waited, and watched, watching for when she would start her journey. He hollowed out a place in the ground with a view of her grave, and lay down in it. And just before sunrise after the second night, his wife arose, and arranged her clothing,

Spending time on her hair, arranging the beads on her headband. And as her husband watched, this made him miss her so much that he cried, and then she started to walk off to the west, staggering as if she were drunk. And her husband followed. She looked back and saw him,

But she ignored him, until after one day and one night of walking, she spoke. What are you doing here? You are alive, you cannot cross the bridge, you’ll fall in and become a great fish. They carried on the journey, and soon came to the bridge, and in the river was

A bird named Killdeer. And it is this bird who tries to scare those who cross the bridge by swooping down and crying “Kat kat kat”. If a person loses their balance and falls into the water, then they become a fish forever. The woman went on the bridge and crossed safely,

And the man cried, but remembered that he was wearing a talisman of great power called the Eagle Down Rope, and this he threw across the river and used it to get across safely. On the other side of the river were many people, and amongst them his wife. They were dancing the

Round dance, a ghost dance, and all in this dance noticed the man because the living smell unpleasant to the dead. This made the chief aware of the living man’s presence, and so laid out a dual

Mat for the man to sit on within his home. Then the chief called for food, and all types of food were served, duck, geese, seeds, anything you could imagine. The man was hungry after waiting

So long and travelling so much, and so he ate a lot, but he couldn’t finish the food, it never seemed to get less. But after the man was full of food, the chief asked him what he was doing there,

And the man said he was from Telumni, and that he wanted to be with his wife or wanted to take her back home again. The chief said there was a way to take his wife back home, but the man would

Have to stay awake all night, and he thought this was impossible in the other world. The man said he would try, but the chief warned him that if the man fell asleep, even for a second, he would fail

The task. And so the chief asked for a tule mat to be laid in the site of the dancing, and the man sat there watching his wife dance. He was very tired, and the chief said the man should swim to clean

Himself up after morning in the shallow pit for two days. And after this the chief brought the wife to the husband, and they were allowed to lay down together, and they talked all night, well until almost dawn, because just before dawn the man fell asleep. He awoke, holding a rotten

Wooden log in his arms. He went swimming again, and then spoke to the chief who decided to give him one more chance, and even recommended that the man sleep all day, warning him that failure

Meant the man would have to die in order to see his wife again. The evening came and the wife danced the ghost dance, and afterwards the chief brought the wife to the husband, saying they were allowed to lay down together. But the wife wasn’t keen, they played games and

Talked all night, well almost all night, because just before dawn the man fell asleep. The man awoke, holding a rotten wooden log in his arms, and realised that he would have to return.

He felt so sad and upset that he had failed, but before he left the chief gave him a ball of seed steed on his journey home, and told him that he must not let his tribe know where he had been until six days had passed, otherwise he would die.

He returned in the same manner as he arrived, using his talisman to cross the river, and after a day and a night he found himself standing outside his parents home. He pulled back the door and awakened his parents, asking them to make him a bed,

Hidden from the view of others, for he must not let people know where he had been until six days had passed, because if people found out before the sixth day, he would die. But people had heard him talking to his parents in the home during the night, and they came around

And wanted to know what had happened, who had arrived during the night. At first the man’s father and mother denied everything, but they eventually told people what had happened. Their son overheard them, and knowing that he would now die, he decided that he would come

Out of their home and tell all what had happened so he could join his wife. He told his mother to fix up all the food in the house, for in three days he would assemble all the people and tell

Them what had happened to him. He sent a messenger around to tell everyone to come to eat on the day, people came and stayed all day, and after supper the man got up and told them all what he had seen

And heard in the other world. He awoke the next morning and left his tent, and as he left his tent, outside there was a rattlesnake waiting for him. It bit him, and he called to his mother and

Said, I have been bitten by a snake, and now I will die. His mother cut off her hair and mourned. And that is the story. This is quite an emotional tale, with love lost, and death, and hidden within

It is a motif that isn’t obvious at first hearing, but which we see in many other myths as well, as variations of this myth. And it is hinted at with a bird called Kildir, who is the guardian

Of the bridge over the river. This guardian is often seen as a representation of the figure who is also known as the Ferryman of the Dead, and I have made a video about this if you want

To know more about this figure and where it comes from. But we also see this figure being represented by dogs, thought to be part of the same family of myths within the Indo-European Black and White

Dogs of the other world, which I have also talked about more in this video if you want to understand this. And dogs are interesting as they are animals who are believed to be able to travel between the other world and this world, the world of the living, not only in Indo-European myth,

But now also in American myth. And so this motif of dogs guarding the other world seems as old a story as the Ferryman of the Dead, and again is probably at least 30,000 years old. And for those wanting academic sources about all this, then there is much more information

In the description of all my videos. And so we see that myths have come from Eurasia, and into the Americas. But once in the Americas, cultures developed and evolved in different ways to their Eurasian cousins. And perhaps the earliest tangible demonstration of this starts

Around 8,000 years ago when much of America is now populated, and in certain parts of the land we start seeing significant earthworks start appearing. The most well known of these are those which are close to 5,500 years old in Louisiana, and follow the Mississippi River.

And through archaeological evidence we see that some of these mounds were used for ritual and ceremony. And the presence of ceremony and ceremonial sites implies that there is a form of religious practice going on. And with religious practice, this means there are almost certainly

Myths being told alongside. So let’s now look at some of the key cultures across the Americas. Now before I do this, there are literally hundreds of cultures I could have talked about,

And I will do my best to cover as many of them as I can in the future. But for now I’m going to touch on a few I consider important for different reasons, and these can act as an introduction to

How religion and ritual evolved in the Americas. I’ll start with Mesoamerica, a region that runs from the south of central Mexico to northern Costa Rica. And before about 3,500 years ago, many of the cultures here were hunter gatherers, and this includes evidence of the Clovis culture.

But at around 3,500 years ago we start seeing evidence of settlements, which then grew into cities over time. And the first city we see in this region belongs to a culture we call the Olmec, which means proper people. This culture built the first city in Mexico called Tenochtitlan,

Or specifically San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, and so is often regarded as the mother culture of Mesoamerica. Now whilst we don’t see their civilisation in the archaeological record till around 1600 BCE, we do see some commonality between them and the farming cultures of Tabasco,

Which are around 7,000 years old. And one of the reasons for their success is probably down to their trade network of obsidian, jade, and rubber. Now the Olmec culture is known for the 17 large head carvings they left behind, and by large I mean these weigh tens of tons. And we believe

These are representative of their rulers, but they are dressed as ballplayers, a game which was probably invented by Olmec, and we still find courts today in archaeological digs where they played this ball game. But they also carved many smaller figures, laid mosaics, and so had a really

Rich artistic culture. And whilst we have no specific records of their religious beliefs, we do know that they considered the jaguar as being a very important animal, because it appears in much of their artwork. And they also performed religious rituals to feed gods, and there was much

Blood sacrifice, and as part of this there was much human sacrifice, something that wasn’t unique to the Olmec, as we will see it becoming common practice amongst other cultures in the Americas. Now what would be interesting is why this ritual act developed, and it suggests significant

Conflict or struggles in society, and many of the sacrificed people would probably have been enemy warriors caught in battle. But the other mystery we have is why this civilisation declined around 400 BCE, because we don’t really know for sure, which probably means it is a combination

Of events, maybe climate, maybe geological, or possibly other external cultural pressures. Now we see the Aztec Empire forming around 1428, a merger between three regions, Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan. But the seeds of this empire were being created somewhat before that

By marriages between what were the rival leader’s children in 1372, and this marriage paved the way for the third culture to join this alliance, all somewhat exhausted from the constant wars that had been breaking out between each other. And the city of Tenochtitlan, not to be confused

With the Olmec, Tenochtitlan, which was in a different place, became the capital of them, and this was founded in 1325. And it was considered an engineering marvel at the time, with floating gardens for farming. It was built on an island in Lake Texcoco, and was connected

To the mainland by causeways and an intricate system of canals. And at its height, this was one of the largest cities in the world at the time, with a population estimated to be around 200,000, possibly even 300,000. Now the ruler of this empire was considered divine by its people,

And so when war did break out with other cultures, the Aztecs would capture rather than kill the opposing forces, and then often use them as sacrifices in honour of their ruler. However, we also see other deities, such as the worship of the sun god, Huitzilopochtli, within the Aztec

Culture. And many sacrifices were also made in honour of this god as well, a ritual that aimed to keep the sun shining and prevent the end of the world. And this ideology was captured within the Aztec calendar. Now we also see the sacrifices take place high up, and we see this

In evidence on top of the pyramids that we find, with altars and washbasins on top of the structures, allowing the rituals to be performed there. And there is various information about the amount of sacrifices made and when, and although most of this information has come through the Spanish

Sources, the Spanish that conquered those lands, they will probably have a bias in understanding the Aztec religion and the significance of sacrifice. But even if we use this material as a rough reference, we see in one place that 60 victims were being sacrificed 18 times a year,

And we even have an indication that in 1487 as many as 80,000 people were thought to have been sacrificed at the Great Pyramid in Tenochtitlan. But this is almost certainly erroneous, with the number probably still significantly more than you want it to be, but far lower than 80,000 people.

There were also other divine beings too, there is the rain god, Tlaloc, and the dragon, Quetzalcoatl. And judging by the architecture and other records, poetry and oral mythology was very important to these people. However, unlike Indo-European myths, there aren’t any stories of

The Aztec serpent being fought by the rain god, in fact Quetzalcoatl shows more of a benevolent property at providing knowledge to the people, which is more of an older view of dragons. And if you want to know more about dragons, I talk about it in this video.

The Aztec Empire eventually fell to the Spanish conquestadors, led by Hernán Cortés in 1521. His success in conquering the Aztec Empire was as much to do with diseases brought by the Europeans as it was by using native alliances with other groups, and

His own military technology. The Mayans were east of where the Aztec Empire would eventually be founded, and we see their settlements in the Catan Peninsula, around 3,500 years ago. These settlements would eventually grow and become major cultural hubs, and then cities,

Including the famous Chichen Itza. And being close to where the Aztecs would eventually be, we see much Mayan influence within the Aztec culture, especially in art. These people farmed much of their food, with maize being their key crop, and like the Aztecs, they needed deities

Needed pleasing to help their crops, including a corn god. But they also had gods representing rain, chak, the cardinal directions, Ixcanil, and perhaps one of their key gods for agriculture was Yum-Kaz, a Lord of the Forest type figure, and this god was very much revered by farmers.

Their society was very patriarchal, with the rulers passing their power to their eldest son, keeping power within the family, and this helped establish them being semi-divine, and being linked to the health of the crops. The Mayans, like other cultures after them,

Had a calendar, and this was quite a complex calendar, it consisted of 20 periods of 13 days, and so had a 260 day cycle of rituals and ceremonies, but they were aware that there were 365 days in a solar year, meaning that they had a cycle of 18,980 days in all to repeat

Everything to come back to the beginning. And this excellent familiarity with the lunar cycle showed that they were really competent mathematicians. In terms of ritual, human sacrifice was a game practice, and this probably influenced the Aztec rituals later on. And luckily for us,

The Mayans had developed a kind of writing system, iconography based, that allows us to understand some of these rituals. We see that during and after war, captives of the highest status were sacrificed, and others were used for labour, and the blood of the sacrificed victims

Was used to feed the gods. And while this would seem rather horrific to us today, but parts of the sacrificed victims body were then used within a ceremony, some were worn, some presented, still showing signs of life. Now this civilisation eventually collapsed, with

Again, no one really knowing the reason why, but it was again probably a combination of climate, with droughts being suspected as being a significant cause, as well as deforestation of the areas due to farming. However, the culture lived on due to its many settlements

And extensive trade routes, allowing the influence of the Aztecs, and we can still find descendants of this culture today in Central America. The Inca Empire at its peak was huge, stretching down the west coast of South America. It started in what is now Cusco, Peru, and expanded

By negotiating alliances, or conquering those who didn’t want to negotiate alliances. And existence came from many cultures who were settled in the Andes before this, and it came to be from the many cultures that were settled in the Andes before this point, and some of the influences

From these cultures then fed into the Incan culture. Now architecturally they are well known, with amazing skills at building walls, and stone age pieces seem to fit near perfectly together. But they are less well known for their road system, which was amazing, a system that totalled

Around 40,000 kilometres, or 25,000 miles of road. And it is this that helped establish excellent trade routes, and deliver military mobilisation where necessary. Their culture was very much focused on oral tradition, there was no writing system used by them, although they did

Have a knotted rope system that allowed them to remember numeric information, as well as some important narratives. And they had many gods, with their sun god Inti at the head of their pantheon, and as such the ruler of the empire was known as the “Son of Inti”, and so he was considered divine.

Their culture also had a few simple rules, do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy, which seems a decent set of core values to me. Now the Inca Empire was effectively ended by the 1530s, with the last revolt by the Incas in 1572, which was defeated by the Spanish Francisco Pizarro.

The Iroquois, a name given to them by French colonials based on a mistranslation of another tribe’s derogatory name for them, actually preferred to be known by the name of the Hudenosaunee, meaning people of the longhouse, a reflection of their large wooden structured

Homes, which were a central place for their settlements. This culture was originally a combination of five tribes, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onodaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, before becoming a Six Nations when Tuscarora joined later. They created the Great Law of Peace, which influenced

Their social structure, and had two key councils, a Grand Council and the Mothers of the Nations, the latter being a reflection of the matrilineal nature of society, with inheritance traced through the mother’s side of the family. And all this helped them to create a very mature social system,

As well as allowing them to be well resourced in war, and some believe that this long lasting confederation and nations helped influence the United States Constitution. Now despite significant bias against the indigenous peoples of America in the past, the Hudenosaunee still

Continue to maintain communities in the current day in the United States and Canada, actively preserving their culture and heritage. And whilst all traditions are very important, they used wumpum belts, made from different coloured shell beads, to record stories,

As well as treaties and important events. And these records mean that we do have access to some of their myths, myths that are sacred to them, and so some are not told publicly. And this is an interesting point, there are still secrets of this culture that we do not know,

But one myth we do know is called the Sky Woman. So let me tell you this. Above us, above the clouds above the sky, there once floated a celestial island, a place of beauty and tranquillity. This was the home of the Sky People,

Spirits who lived untouched by the sorrows of life and death, and amongst them was one known as the Sky Woman. She was radiant and graceful, a spirit who carried the light of the stars in her eyes, and the breath of the heavens in her every step. Sky Woman’s world was a boundless garden,

Flowers bloomed with the colours of the sunset, and the air shimmered with the song of invisible choirs. However, beneath this floating island was another realm, a vast endless sea of gentle waters where no land could be seen, and a great sea turtle swam in the deep blue.

One fateful day, driven by an insatiable curiosity that often visits the hearts of those who dwell in perfection, Sky Woman found herself drawn to the great tree at the centre of the island. Some say this was the tree of life, and which should not be taken from,

But she felt a desire to eat from it. This tree bore fruits of unparalleled splendour, and held the secrets of life from the realms within its roots and branches. And in a moment of destiny, as the Sky Woman was at the tree, a cataclysm shook the celestial garden.

The tree, the anchor of the heavens, was uprooted, creating a gaping void beneath it. And the Sky Woman fell, fell into the void, her form cascading like a comet, trailing a celestial light behind her as she descended towards the watery abyss. And as she

Fell, a flock of birds caught her, but her weight was far too much for them to carry, and they could not lift her back up to the island above the sky, and so they placed her down on a

Sea turtle. She knew she could not survive on the back of the turtle without help, and so asked the birds to find her some earth, and they dived to the bottom of the sea, and brought back a little

Mud. She spread it out onto the turtle’s back, and her magical powers made the turtle grow, and the earth spread, and then she planted seeds from the fruit she had managed to take from the great tree of life, before she fell, and then she danced. And over time this place became a paradise

With crops of maize, and beans, and squash, and strawberries, and tobacco. And after this she found out she was pregnant, and gave birth to a girl, but she warned the girl not to go west. But when

The girl grew up, she went west, and saw a figure in the distance, and then she passed out. She awoke with two arrows across her chest. She had been made the bride of the spirit of the west wind,

And was pregnant with twin boys. The boys were born, one normally, but the other was birthed through her armpit, and this killed her. She was buried in the earth, but there she continued to look after her children, ensuring the crops would continue to grow, and she is known to us

Today as Mother Earth, and supports us all. Her children, the boys, made rivers, flowers, and humans, and one became the keeper of the day, and the other the keeper of the night. And when, after many years, the Sky Woman died, the boys threw her head into the sky,

And she is now known as the Grandmother Moon, looking over us and providing light at night, and allows us to keep time. This story is not just about creation, but it allows us to understand the connection between nature and the earth, between us and the earth, us and the sky, and

Even us and the night sky. It also contains an interesting motif when the birds get mud from the bottom of the sea, for this is called the earth diver motif, and it is based on one of the oldest motifs we know of in mythology, originating in the earliest creation myths from probably over

100,000 years old. And I’ve made a video about this if you are interested in understanding more about this myth, which again is incredibly interesting how it developed. The Great Plains around Minnesota in North America are now home to the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota tribes, the meaning

Is the same, they are just different pronunciations from different groups, each of which has a unique tradition and history, but who are often collectively known as the Sioux. The Sioux were originally hunter-gatherers, leading a nomadic lifestyle, and the introduction of

Horses and pressure on their lifestyle by colonists from Europe meant that they had to change their ways, and by the 18th century they were pushed to live in the plains, and became really adept at buffalo hunting and scouting. But before this it seems there was much conflict between the groups,

Including many wars. They have religious beliefs, which involved having animals associated with the four cardinal points, the bear representing north, the buffalo, or sometimes an eagle, represents the east, the coyote or wolf represents the south, and the elk, or sometimes the horse,

Represents the west. And even just looking at this we can start seeing that there is influence in European colonialist input into their myths, with the horse and buffalo starting to become part of their thoughts, their ways, their myths, which is a direct result of the environment changing.

Now these people have rituals, including singing and dancing, to celebrate and remember their myths, and their most important dance is called the Sun Dance, or Wiwan Wacipi. Now this dance is about renewal, and involves much drumming, and sometimes a personal sacrifice,

Although not to be confused with a human sacrifice, you give something you own up. They are also known for having what we would consider to be shamistic type rituals, and this makes sense as there are shaman type positions within the tribe structure,

Who represent the healers and storytellers. And one of these rituals is a vision quest, which is a rite of passage for men, a state achieved through fasting and isolation. They also have sweat lodges, where the participant would enter a hot room and sweat, and during this

Time they would pray and sing, and they would believe this would purify them. They also use a sacred pipe in ceremonies, the Chanunpa, believing the smoke carries their prayers to the creator. For those who have read old Norse stories, some of these rituals would also seem similar to some

Of the traditions we know of Nordic people of the first millennium. And whilst it is sometimes easy for us to create these connections, these patterns, these similarities, if you’re looking for them, the commonality may well stem from having common ancestors from around 30,000 years ago,

But we need far more evidence to prove this. But with the myths we’ve talked about, such as the cosmic hunt, and the journey to the other world, it really suggests that there is a connection

Here. But before I leave the Sioux, let me tell you a brief version of one of their most well-known myths, touching on a few of the things I’ve already said, and this is the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, a story about the importance of ritual and respect of the natural

World. It was a time of great need, the Sioux tribes were suffering from a severe famine and so their people were in despair, but a message of hope and abundance came to them when the White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared to them. It happened when two scouts were out searching for food,

And saw a figure approaching in the distance. This was a woman, beautiful and radiant, a woman dressed in white. One of the scouts was filled with impure thoughts at seeing her, and approached her with desire in mind. But the other scout was more respectful and tried

To restrain him, but the disrespectful scout carried on and walked up to the woman, before a cloud suddenly covered them. And when it lifted, a few moments later, nothing remained of the scout but a pile of bones. This woman was a holy being, and taught that

Those who sought to harm sacred things would face dire consequences. The White Buffalo Calf Woman walked past the other scout and went to the Sioux camp, and with her she had a sacred bundle. She spent her time teaching the Sioux people

About the things that would be important to them, such as how to conduct the sacred buffalo hunt, the importance of family, and the seven sacred rites, which included the sun dance, a key ritual of renewal and spiritual connection. Within her sacred bundle she brought gifts,

One of which was the chanunpa, the sacred pipe, which when used symbolised the unity of all things. The bowl of the pipe represented the earth and the stem represented all living things that would ascend to the heavens. And when the pipe was smoked, the smoke was believed to carry

Prayers up to the creator. After spending time with the tribe, the White Buffalo Calf Woman left, promising to return one day. She rolled upon the earth, and she transformed herself into a white buffalo calf, and this ensured everyone would know she was a holy being. And so now,

When the white buffalo is seen, it is a symbol of hope, of abundance, and of spiritual harmony. The Apache are a hunter gathering tribe, represented by several cultures that are joined by speaking a similar language called Athabascan, but each has their own traditions and history.

And this group includes tribes such as the Navajo, they are known for their creative art, including pottery and baskets, and they originated in the North American North West, but eventually migrated to the South in the first half of the second millennium.

The Apache have a reputation for being experts at guerrilla warfare due to their exceptional tracking skills and their ability to use the terrain to their advantage in battles. And they also quickly adopted the use of horses and firearms from the Spanish.

And one of the most famous Apache was Geronimo, a Chiricahua Apache leader, who became famous for resisting the Mexican and United States efforts to subjugate the Apache, and even today he remains a symbol of Apache resistance and the Native American struggle in modern day America.

Like other First Nation cultures, the Apache spirituality is deeply connected to the land, and includes a belief in a number of spirits. And they have a creator, they have dancing and singing as part of their rituals, and are known for a coming of age ceremony, such as the Sunrise

Ceremony for Young Women, a ceremony that has over 100 dances, each with between 500 and 1200 steps. And in this ceremony the female becomes the Changing Woman, considered the first woman, and the mother of her people, before she emerges having come of age.

America has a rich and diverse history, driven by diverse climate and landscape, and thankfully for us still a home to some of the oldest stories and myths that we know today. But there are secrets here, we don’t know all the myths the First Nation tribes tell,

And that is because much of their population is sceptical about the Europeans who came to colonise the Americas. Because until relatively recently laws were still being passed in America that actively reduced the ability of these indigenous cultures to hold on to their past

And heritage, and so their myths and culture. We also see that the indigenous American population was significantly impacted by diseases that were brought over by the Europeans, because they hadn’t developed any immunity for them, and they also succumbed to drugs,

Particularly in the form of alcohol, which was brought over. And as an aside, this isn’t a problem unique to First Nation Americans, we see a similar story in Australia, but also even in medieval Europe, where the likes of Charlemagne spread his beliefs by force, literally forcing

Genocide onto non-believers of the Christian faith. These are all tragic events, and ones I wish we’d learn from. The other interesting observation is that whilst many myths are unique to these people, it seems clear that some, and certainly some motifs, almost certainly

Migrated from Siberia and Asia into America along with the First Peoples over 20,000 years ago, which suggests the myths were probably nearer 30,000 years old. But we must have some balance here, there are other theories about how these myths came to be, such as archetypal thoughts

Amongst the population. And in terms of myth, there is much more I could talk about. There are so many cultures that I haven’t mentioned, and I’d love to mention, and hundreds of stories I’m aware of that I would like to tell you. So I really wish to continue this journey

Through North America, through Central America, and into South America. And as well as touching on cultures that came into the Americas later on, such as those with African heritage, because the folklore there, and the stories there, again give us a tantalising glimpse into history.

Now I hope this video is received well, and please comment below if I’ve made mistakes in pronunciation, if there are myths you want to know more about, if there are particular cultures in North, Central, or South America you’d like to know about, let me know, and I can start

Understanding what you want to hear most about. And I will look at producing videos on these as soon as I can. And if you can’t wait for my next video, then you can find more

Material about what I do on Patreon. I do have a free tier to join if you want to see certain information which you just will not get on YouTube, and there’s a link in the description

If you want to join. But if you do join you get access to all the features of the mythology database, and early access to some videos. And I want to thank them all for their support, questions, and comments, it really has made a huge, immeasurable difference to my ability to

Do research. Now for those of you who want to understand more about what I’ve talked about in this video, then I can suggest you watch a video on the Fair Man of the Dead, which explains more

About the motif of Gildir, the bird, in their journey into the Otherworld. As for the rest of you, please stay safe and well, and this was Crecganford.