Zuni

Team Members:
 * __Zuni__**
 * Jaki Vipond
 * Elbert Wang
 * Kathryn Powell


 * THE ZUNI COSMOLOGY-- **

Before the beginning of the newly-made, there was only Awonawilona. He was the father of all fathers and contained everything that existed. There was only darkness and void where he was not ( Hooker, Richard).

In the beginning of the newly-made, Awonawilona conceived inside himself and used his will to change himself into Sun-father. Sun-father took the shape of a person. Then there was a great flash of light that brightened the spaces. The big clouds of mist condensed and fell, turning into water, and then into the sea, until there was only a large expanse of water. This was how Sun-father created Earth-mother and Sky-father (Hooker, Richard).

From Sky-father and Earth-mother, earth, men, and creatures were born from the Four-fold Womb of the World (Hooker, Richard). Earth Mother and Sky Father asked each other how humans would know the difference between sky and earth. Through a transformation, Earth-mother and Sky-father spoke to one another as man and woman. Holding a great bowl in her hand, Earth-mother informed Sky-father that this water filled bowl would become the home for all humans and creatures. Before she gave birth, Earth-mother began to fear for her children's safety and hid them within the earth. "Our children need a home, for how shall they know where they are if we do not give them a place to live?" she said. So to ensure human's safety, Earth-mother created land for her children to live on (Hooker, Richard). Each country would be comprised of terraced mountains, distinguishing them from each other. She spat on the water and stirred it with her fingers. Foam began to arise from the great rim- thus the water of life was created and humans were given nourishment (Hooker, Richard). She breathed warmly upon the foam that covered the rim, and as pieces broke apart they floated above the water filled bowl. Sky-father’s cold breath touched the broken foam and it fell downward into a fine mist. The white clouds rose from the borders of the world and surrounded itself around the mountain terraces. Mankind would be nestled in the hollow places of Earth-mother’s lap, her warmness protecting them from the coldness of Sky-father. Even the trees on the mountains tried to remain close to Mother Earth because of her warmth (Hooker, Richard). From her bosom, people would be able to tend to their crops and create a living.

The Sky-father also wanted to provide something for mankind. With his palm faced downwards, he produced shining yellow corn grain that went inside each crevice and wrinkle of the bowl. The world was dark and the corn shone brightly from the depths of the water. Mankind would be guided by the seven grains held within Sky father’s hand. When it was dark in the world and the Sun-father is away, humans were guided by the lights of the six regions rotating around the center one. It is the center region, the midmost place, where the children shall live. And as Sky-father nourishes the grains on Mother-earth’s bosom, it too will nourish the children and allow for offspring (Hooker, Richard).The Sky-father then grasped seven grains of maize by his hand and proclaimed that they would be used as a light to guide the humans from the underworld, and other spaces, to the seventh and final space where they would live by consuming crops (Hooker, Richard).

Men, creatures, and plants had been created inside of Earth-mother's womb. Earth-mother's womb was an underworld made up of four dark caverns, or spaces. The First World, the Place of First Formation, was a pitch-black melting pot of everything alive. There were so many creatures in the Earth Mother's womb that they began to cry out in agony and wanted to escape. The creatures were stepping, spitting, and doing indecency all over each other (Hooker, Richard). Humans, at this stage, were considered unfinished (Beckman).

Poshaiyank' ya was the name of the first man to successfully make it to the surface. He applied his wisdom to exit the four cave wombs. After he reached the surface, Poshaiyank' ya headed towards Sun-father to ask him to free the rest of the humans (Hooker, Richard).

Sun-father agreed. There were no humans on the surface of the earth to worship him, all the humans were stuck in the deep parts of the earth. So then Sun-father decided to send a beam of light onto a foam cap. From the foam, the twin gods named appeared and were given the task to go rescue the humans from inside Earth-mother. To do this, Sun-father had to create twin gods that helped bring her children up to earth. The twins names were Ahayuta and Matsilema (Lynch, 120). Carrying bows, arrows and shields, the Twins floated down a river and enter the underworld (Beckman). The Twins also provided assistance when the children were brought up to earth because they were not fully human; the twins helped transform the children into full humans (Lynch 120).

In the First World, the Twins used their breath to awaken the plants that lived in here. By doing so, the plants grew stronger and created a staricase which allowed the humans to crawl into the Second World, the Moss World. Yet, not all successfully entered the Moss World. Many were lost in the First World where they remain as deformed creatures (Beckman).

As the plant ladder continued upwards into the Third World, the World of Mud, it became filled with more light. Rather than bring the humans into the Third World individually, the Twins separated the humans into groups. These groups were the yellow, the tawny gray, the red, the white, the mingled, and the black races, who then entered the Third World at varying times. As a result, humans were not all the same (Beckman).

Next, humans were brought to the Fourth World, the Winged World. Here, the light shined as it does in early morning. As the humans become more acustomed to the light, the Twins informed them of the Sun-father. Humans began to have a better understanding of who they were. Finally, the Twins lead the humans out of the underworld and into the Daylight World.

When the world was only four days and four nights old, there were many different populations of humans. Each population had been given the knowledge to grow and develop. However, humans were still similar to the creatures from below, and were ugly creatures that were very similar to lizards (Beckman). Humans still continued to crawl as they did in the dark caverns of the underworld. The Twins had brought the humans into the Daylight World during the night while the Sun-father was away. When it was day and the Sun-father came back, the humans were not able to tolerate such a bright light. As the Sun-father approached, the humans covered their eyes; yet were drawn to the light. And as they became more comfortable with the light, they stood up, looked at each other and began searching for clothing to wear (The Men of the Early Times). Over time, they continued to develop and gain wisdom. The First Wise man became the leader of the human race. This is the Zuni’s description of the evolution of man (Beckman).

The world was still very young and unripe (k'yaiyuna), just as the men and creatures born were still young and unripe (Hooker, Richard). The world was dark and covered with water. It constantly shook from the earthquakes that rocked the earth, and with each movement demons and monsters rose from the underworld and entered the Daylight world. Animals moved across it; some became predators while others became prey. Humans were terrified of this world. They clung to their belongings, wandering from place to place, and ate dead and killed things. However, the Twins guided them through this treacherous time, and told the humans to continue to follow the light and the pathway of the Sun-father. If the humans continued to travel guided by the Sun-father they would reach the middle of the world. There, in the middle of the earth, they would find stability and happiness (Hooker, Richard).

Finally, the shaking ceased. Even so, the humans were still defenseless. Humans were still timid creatures fearful of the predators that roamed the world. Feeling sorry for them, the Twins spoke with one another and sought guidance from the Sun-father. It was decided that the world would be made even more safe by lessening the number of preying monsters. The Twins decided to shot their arrows of lightning to burn the world over, and hardened the Earth's surface making it stable. As the Earth heaved from the firebolts and became covered with fire and flood, men hid in the hallowed areas of the world. Heavy rain soon had extinguished the fires and washed the face of the Earth. Trails were cut into the mountains where the heavy rains became the rivers that ran through it. The monsters's blood rushed into the rivers, was blackened by fire, and became volcanic tuff. Everywhere there were ashes and dust, red like the color of mud. The banks were clay-like and the soil soon hardened. The valleys and plains surrounding the canyons were free from this volcanic explosion. Forests, grass, and flowers soon grew in these areas. When the humans awoke from this nightmare, the world was a less fearful place. The monsters of prey had shriveled to the size of insects and turned into stone (Hooker, Richard). Still, some animals escaped this fate and are the ancestors of the animals alive today (Hefner, Alan).

All of the children lived on the earth and were happy, there were three tribes of people at that time: the Zuni, the Acoma, and the Navaho. Everyone had the same job and all worked the same work. Then the twin brothers Morning Star and Evening Star decided to give the children the gift of corn. They decided that not everyone should be able to grow corn. To decide which tribe to give the corn to, Morning Star and Evening Star held a corn race to decide which tribe would be better at raising the corn. On race day, each tribe chose their fastest runner to run the race. The course was then set up by the twins, they broke a large piece of corn in three pieces, a small piece, a large piece, and a middle sized piece. The corn pieces were placed on the course with the smallest one first and the largest one last. Then the race began! The Navajo runner was the fastest and picked up the smallest piece as he went by. The Acoma runner was the next fastest and he picked up the middle sized piece. The Zuni was the slowest runner and got the largest piece at the end of the course. The twins then decided that the Navajo would not be good corn growers because they were too fast and lived the life of a nomad going from place to place. The Acoma would grow corn, but not a lot. Zuni would grow the most corn because they were the slowest runners and they were to live in houses and stay in one spot. This is how the tribes became nomadic or farmers ( Malinowski, Sharon ).


 * Bibliography **

Beckman, Tad. "Notes on the Zuin Origin Myth." //Harvey Mudd College Internet-Wide// //Courseware Server//. Harvey Mudd College, 1998. Web. 5 Nov. 2010. [].

Hefner, Alan G. "Zuni Creation Myth." //Encyclopedia Mythica//. N.p., 23 Sept. 1998. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. [].

Hooker, Richard. "The Zuni Creation Cycle." World Civilizations. Washington State University, 6 June 1999. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. []

Lynch, Patricia Ann. Native American Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts on File, 2004. 120-121. Print.

Malinowski, Sharon, and Anna Sheets (Eds.). "Zuni." The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. N.d. Print.

"The Men of Early Times." //Books about California History and Culture//. N.p., 18 Aug. 2010. Web. 5 Nov. 2010. [].