Table of Contents
The Arapaho
are a Native American people. According to scholars, their presence was first
noticed circa 3,000 years ago in the western region of the Great Lakes, along
the Red River Valley, which could be now Manitoba in Canada, and Minnesota in
the United States. They were popularly agrarians and spoke the Arapahoe
language. My main interest is in their understanding of how things came into
being. That is, how the Flat Pipe creates in the Arapaho tradition.
Many
different creation hypotheses are closely related to the ‘earth-diver’
creation myth. Examining a few of these will help us better understand the
Arapaho creation hypothesis.
Creation Hypotheses and Earth-Diver Myths
The creation
hypothesis is the claim that one being, or more supernatural beings or gods
created the natural world. Earth-diver myths emphasize that a powerful being or
group of spirits sends a bird or animal into the waters to see if there is
earth or mud on which to build living homes for humankind. Briefly, some of the
creation hypotheses and earth-diver myths will be examined below.
Creation from nothing and the Dove’s Olive leaf in Judeo-Christian Traditions
In both
Judaic and Christian religious beliefs, the story about how the universe came
into being is two-fold as recorded in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. In the first
account, God creates ex nihilo, and by just saying the ‘word’; the
heavens and the earth are created in six days, and he rests on the seventh day.
In the second account, God creates the first man, Adam from the dust of the
earth. Believing that it is not proper for Adam to be alone, he creates the
first woman, Eve from Adam’s ribs while he sleeps. In this account, the first
man appears to have been created from something that already exists, that is,
the dust of the earth.
Again, the
story of the Great Flood in the book of Genesis chapter 7 destroyed the whole
world of which only Noah, his household, and seven pairs of clean and unclean
animals, birds of the air, etc., were spared of the deluge. After 40 days, Noah
wanted to find out if the flood had subsided; he first sent out the bird raven
and it moved to and fro until the waters dried up the earth.
He sent out
the dove from the ark and it did not find a place to perch because the waters
were still on the surface of the earth. It came back to the ark. After seven
days, he sent out the dove again. The dove returned to Noah in the evening with
an olive leaf on its beak. Finally, he sent out the dove the third time and it
did not return to the ark. That informed Noah that the waters had subsided, and
he opened the ark.
The mating of Earth Mother and Sky Father in A’shiwi Tribe’s Creation Account.
The A’shiwi
people, also known as ‘Zuni’ practice shamanism that is closely intertwined
with their traditional dances, and ceremonies associated with mythologies. In
their creation myth, the earth mother slept with the sky father while upon the
waters and they conceived and gave birth to everything in the world. As the
children of Earth’s mother increased, perhaps, she needed more space. As a
result, the earth mother pushed the sky father away and he went up to the sky.
Then, the earth's mother began to sink into the deep waters. She saw a bowl
filled with water nearby and she thought that each place should be surrounded
by mountains like the edge of the bowl. She then spat on the water and foams
were formed.
Arapaho Creation Myth
In their
account, Flat Pipe is a being who exists on its own and dwells upon the waters.
But Flat Pipe seemed to exist alongside the Great Spirit who made suggestions
on how things should be. The Great Spirit suggested that creatures should be
created to build the world. In his wisdom, Flat Pipe created ducks and other
water birds, and they went into the deep but the deep was bottomless. They
could not find land as they sunk deeper and deeper.
Again, the
Great Spirit suggested that the Turtle be created that can dwell on both the
waters and land. The Turtle went into the deep waters and returned with mud.
The Turtle spat out a piece of land which turned into earth. Flat Pipe
progressed to creating all things that filled the earth.
The Great
Spirit suggested to Flat Pipe what was possible, such as creating creatures and
in particular the Turtle that would create the earth. Analogically, we can see
the same consultation in the Judeo-Christian creation account where God said:
“let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…” (Genesis
1:26). This can be viewed as both consultation or invitation and suggestion.
In the
Arapaho creation myth, three beings seem agreeably involved: The Great Spirit,
who offers suggestions, Flat Pile who creates and Turtle who extends Flat
Pile’s creative power. In some Algonquian traditions, the Turtle is described
as a base or solid foundation holding the entire earth’s structure, hence the
earth rests on its back.
A better
description of the Arapaho creation myth can be found in Andy Cowell of the University
of Colorado narrative. Based on George Dorsey’s account of the Arapaho creation
myth of 1903.
A great
flood covered the space and a man carrying a Flat Pipe, weeping, and fasting as
he walked around on the water for six days in search of a safe place for it. By
the seventh day, when no place was found, he saw the need for the earth to
place the Pipe. Now what he did next was so important. He beckoned people from
every direction to help find land for the Pipe. Yet there was no dry land, the
same man invited the seven cottonwood trees and invoked birds of the air and
creatures that live in waters. Among the animals that answered the call was the
Turtle, who informed him that land is at the bottom of the waters.
Diving into the Bottom of the Waters
The man then
challenged the birds and animals to dive into the deep to find land. It was not
a simple challenge. And the creatures dive into the waters in successions: the
Grebe went first and failed. Then two waterfowl followed but they too failed.
Since two couldn’t make it, maybe three would. Three waterfowl dived in but
failed. Otter, Beaver, Packed Bird, and Garter Snake tried but did not make it.
A contingent of a black snake, two ducks, a goose, and a crane dived, but they
too did not make it.
On the seventh
round, the Turtle decided it was his time. But before diving into the deep
waters, the man was to join. He performed some rituals by lifting the Flat Pipe
four times and touching his body with it five times. The Flat Pipe changes into
a Red-headed duck and follows the man and the Turtle down into the waters.
Finally, the Turtle and the Red-headed duck were the only creatures that
brought mud for the man who placed them in every direction and created the
earth.
Conclusion
There are
quite some similarities among the different creation hypotheses. The
Judeo-Christian creation account presents God as creating the world from
nothing, in one sense but in another sense, it claims that God created the
first man, Adam from the dust of the earth. It may mean that God created Adam from Adamah,
that is, human from humus, as the two Hebrew words denote. This can be viewed
as God defining humankind as dust to which they shall return when his breath of
life is taken away from them.
The mating
of the Earth Mother and the Sky Father upon the waters in the A’shiwi Tribe’s
creation mythology eventually led to the creation of the Earth.
Another
interesting fact is that after the Great Flood, Noah sent out the dove to
survey the earth for dry land. In a different way but of the same significance,
the man, in the Arapaho creation myth sought the help of different creatures to
dive into the deep waters to find land.
Flat Pipe,
in the Arapaho creation myth, can be said to be a great force, that put the
birds and animals to test in finding land by diving into the deep waters.
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