Contrast Analysis Essay Revised 1

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The Iroquois/Navajo Creation Story
Introduction
The Navajo creation story is a myth that involves the Navajo people and their emergence. The location that the story revolves is the Dinetah area, which is the home of the Navajo people.
According to Bailey, “The word Diné is now mostly used on the Navajo Nation, and the word “Navajo” almost exclusively used outside the Navajo Nation” (Bailey 126). The creation story of the Navajo discusses the way of life among the Navajo people. ”According to the Diné, they emerged from three previous underworlds into this, the Fourth, or “Glittering World”, through a magic reed. The first people from the other three worlds were not like the people of today. They were animals, insects or masked spirits as depicted in Navajo ceremonies” (Bailey 126). The main focal point of the story starts with the creation of the Nilch’I Diyin, which is a Navajo traditional word for the Holy Wind and the lights that shone in the dark and brought the life to the four Diyin Dine’s, which is a Navajo traditional word for the Holy People. All the three aspects of creation in the Navajo myth existed before the world and human beings. The Iroquois creation myth discusses a female person that fell from the sky. She fell from the sky and was rescued by a turtle that carried her to safety. The giant turtle carried her on its back and that where the earth was created. When she passed away, she transformed into the moon while her daughter was known to be the Mother Earth.

The grandsons of the woman that fell from the sky became the flowers and the land. The story of the Iroquois creation discusses the woman’s need to drink a specified tea made from the Tree of life. The tea was made by the woman’s husband who uprooted the roots from the tree. While he was digging around the roots of the tree, the woman fell, which explains how she fell from the sky and on to the earth. The article compares the two stories of creation myths and analyzes the similarities between them.
Comparison
The two myths have one thing in common, which is the creation theme that they both discuss. The main theory in the Iroquois creation myth story is the woman that fell from the sky. She is the focal point in the story, and her character gives existence to earth, the moon, and land. Her desire to drink tea culminates in events that lead to the creation of the earth. The woman’s husband also plays a significant role in the creation story because of his actions. His activity of digging around the root of the tree leads the woman to fall and results in her falling from the sky (McCoppin 90). It is in direct contrast with the Navajo creation story which does not refer to any characters in particular but the spiritual nature of the myth. Unlike the Iroquois creation myth, the Navajo myth focuses on the three aspects of creation. The three aspects of creation in the Navajo myth are the Holy People, Holy Wind and the lights that shone and brought life to the people in Dinetah.
Even though the Navajo story discusses the creation spirituality, it also emphasizes the manner in which the Navajo people live. It is a different theory from the Iroquois story, which emphasizes the creation of the earth through the woman and the giant turtle. The two creation myths do not have many similarities,but the one factor that they both comprise is the creation myth (Ramen 213).In the Navajo myth, the darkness represents the period before the earth came into existence. The light the shone brought life to earth,and the people emerged. The story of the Iroquois defines the woman as the sole purpose of life on earth. Her falling from the sky resulted in the emergence of theearth through the back of the giant turtle. The main similarity between the two myths is the fact that physical factor of human beings only came to exist after sometime. The spiritual aspect of human beings existed during the creation period of both stories. It is a similarity that can enable the audience to relate to both stories while analyzing the facts.
In the Navajo mythology, the dark world took center stage before the lights shone. It was the first world that consisted of the four Holy People, two Coyotes, and some spiritual aspects of living things. It is in the first world of darkness that the two spiritual beings, a woman,and man met (Jane 68). The other spiritual living things did not stay in the same world as the two spiritual beings for long as they departed after fighting with each other. They departed and left the dark world to the two spiritual man and woman. It is a contrasting view that is shared in the Iroquois mythology where the woman fell from the sky and onto the back of the giant turtle than the world came into existence. The woman’s grandsons were responsible for the various aspects of living things on earth. They were responsible for the creation of flowers, land animals on the universe.
Conclusion
The Navajo and Iroquois myth creation stories do not have many similarities, but the story of creation is the main focal point for both tales. The two myths discuss the manner in which the earth was created through different versions. Another similarity that both stories posses is the non-existence of the physical aspect of human beings.
Works Cited
Bailey, Flora L. “NORTH AMERICA: Navajo Creation Myth, The Story Of The Emergence.Hasteenklah. Recorded By Mary C. Wheelwright.” American Anthropologist 45.1 (1943): 125-126. Web. 13 Feb. 2018.
Jane, Rebecca. Dumpy Yarns &Diminutive Legends: A Collection of Poems, Essays, and Short.
Place of publication not identified: Lulu Com, 2012. Print.
McCoppin, Rachel S. The Lessons of Nature in Mythology. , 2015. Print.
Ramen, Fred. Native American Mythology. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2008. Print.