Every culture has a story that
tells of how they were put on this earth. This creation story originates from
the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). In this
legend, our planet, in the beginning, was nothing but water. No land existed
and the only inhabitants were creatures who could survive without land.
In the Sky World, however, the
beings there thrived. There was a Tree of Life that was sacred to the human-like
beings there and they were instructed not to touch it. One day, a woman who was
very close to giving birth fell through the Sky World onto Earth. There are
many versions where Sky Woman jumped through the hole, she fell through by
accident or she was pushed. Nonetheless, the Tree of Life was uprooted and Sky
Woman fell through the hole it created.
When Sky Woman fell she frantically
grabbed two plants, in her left she grabbed the tobacco plant and in her right,
the strawberry. The birds flying over the water noticed Sky Woman falling, and
they caught her. With the help of the sea animals, they led the birds to the
back of a giant turtle. Once the woman was safely on the turtle’s back, the
animals decided that she needed something more than the turtle’s back to live
on, and the turtle offered his back as the base of the land she could create.
So, one by one the creatures dove into the water, each one failing except for
the muskrat that floated up dead, but in his paw was a little bit of earth. Sky
Woman took the bit of earth and placed it on the turtle’s back. The woman
walked counter clock-wise and the earth began to spread until it created Turtle
Island. Life began to form on Turtle Island and Sky Woman thrived. To this day,
the Haudenosaunee dance counter clock-wise in order to honour Sky Woman and her
contribution to the development of the earth.
Some time passed and Sky Woman gave
birth to a girl. This girl grew older and she was instructed by Sky Woman to
never walk towards the West. One day, this girl walked towards the West and she
was overwhelmed by a powerful force. Sky Woman later found her daughter with
two arrows crossed on her stomach. Later on, it became more apparent that the
girl was pregnant with twins. The two boys growing inside her did not always
agree with things, and as the date of their birth grew nearer, they disagreed
on how they should start their earthwalk. The Good twin, Thaluhyawaku
(Sky-Holder), entered this world the right way. The Evil twin, Tawiskalu
(Flint), entered this world through his mother’s side, killing her in the
process.
Sky
Woman believed that Thaluhyawaku was the one that entered this world from his
mother’s side, and so out of the two, she favoured Tawiskalu. As they grew
older, it became more apparent that Thaluhyawaku and Tawiskalu had two
different mind sets. When Thaluhyawaku would create something, Tawiskalu would
change it to the opposite way. Sky Woman passed on, and the twins disagreed
with each other how she would be placed to rest. The conflict resulted in
Tawiskalu throwing his grandmother’s head in the sky and forming the moon.
This
cycle continued. Eventually, the twins disagreed on who would be in most
influential on the living things of Creation. They fought day and night until
Thaluhyawaku won. To this day, Thaluhyawaku is considered to be influential
during the day and Tawiskalu was cast to have influence during the night. Since
Sky Woman favoured Tawiskalu, she is seen mostly at night, although
occasionally she visits Thaluhyawaku during the day.
