Crow creation story

Old Man at the Beginning

A story of the Crow People of Montana and Wyoming

At the beginning of the world, there was nothing but water. It was dark in the world, and no one saw the water of the world. Then the Old Man of the Crow People came into the world, and he looked all around and said, "Is there nothing in this world but water?"

Off in the distance, Old Man saw that there were two little ducks swimming about. These ducks had red eyes. Old Man called them to him. They came swimming, paddling in the world of water.

Old Man said to them, "Is there nothing in this world but water?"

The elder duck answered, "We have never seen anything in this world but water, but we think that there may be something down under the water. We feel it in our hearts."

"Dive down, Younger Duck," said Old Man, and the younger of the little ducks dove deep under the water, looking for the bottom. He was gone a long time, and Old Man said, "Oh, I am afraid Younger Duck has drowned."

"No," said the Elder Duck, "we are able to hold our breath for a long time. He will come back up." At about that time, Younger Duck came up with something in his bill. It was a root.

"If there is a root," said Old Man, "then there must be earth as well. Dive down Elder Duck, and see if you find some earth."

The elder duck dove deep, and was gone for a very long time. When he came up, he had a ball of mud in his bill.

"This is what I have been looking for," said Old Man. He took the root and put it in the ball of wet earth, and blew three times on it. Once he blew, twice he blew, and again he blew on the ball of earth. The ball began to grow and fill the world and push the water aside. It grew until there was a great land, with many plants and animals living on it.

The ducks, who live in water, on land, and in the sky, brought up the earth, and Old Man made the world for the Crow People.

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore121.html

My Item

The item that I have chosen to discuss is my skull bracelet. This item holds a lot of personal memories for me. I was given this bracelet by my girlfriend at the time. She gave me the bracelet when we were relaxing in her room. I was just lying on the bed watching something on the television. All of a sudden I felt someone gently grab my hand. I looked over and saw Sarah lying on her back. She was pushing the bracelet onto my hand and up my arm. I wasn’t sure what she was doing or why she was doing this so I just let it happen. I asked her why she had done this and she explained to me that her older sister had been on holiday to Bermuda. While she was on holiday she had bough two of these bracelets. The bracelets were meant to protect who ever wore them. I had seen my girlfriend wearing these before and I had just assumed that they were just normal bracelets. She said that she wanted me to have one because it meant that I would always be protected and that she would always feel close to me. I wore this bracelet for almost three years and it began to feel like it was a part of me. Whenever I would take the bracelet off my wrist would feel naked, when I didn’t have the bracelet on it felt odd and I when I did have the bracelet on it felt normal.

When I look at my bracelet I remember you. You were there when we both lay on the beach. You were there on the balcony with me. When I look at my bracelet I remember you. I remember being on the plane with you, looking over and seeing you reading, looking so peaceful. Feeling so lucky. We arrived together in a strange place. You kept me safe and made sure I was okay. It seems so long ago. But when I look at my bracelet I see you and can almost speak to you. It takes me back to us on the balcony. Me looking over at you, you look so sweet, you look so nice. Your perfect in everyway.

My first experience with the native american headdress

When I was first shown the headdress I felt a varied array of emotions. The first thing that I noticed when looking at the headdress was the impression that it made. What I mean by this is when I looked at it I felt humbled, I imagine that’s what you feel when you see the crown jewels. The grandness of the headdress is one of the first things that it shows you. The second thing that I noticed was the craftsman ship of the headdress. When you look at it closely you see all of the feathers and the intricate stitching and how it has all been painstakingly brought together.
When I looked at it, it seemed to me to very natural, what I mean by this is that you wouldn’t normally associate an Item of clothing with being natural. I think though that because the headdress has been made from bird feathers and has been made using material that has all been sourced from the plains, that the item becomes a amalgamation of all these different parts but still comes together in such a natural way that you almost don’t question if it has been made or weather it was just grown.
What else I found interesting about the headdress was found. The fact that this native American headdress had been found in a museum in Bristol. I though that this was quite sad. Something that would have been made in such a way with so much dedication and love, has wound up in a different country, in a place that couldn’t possibly be father away from its original home. Not just that though the fact that it wasn’t even being exhibited for people to see. It was locked away in a museum that wasn’t even aware of its existence. I think that one of the main things that I took away from seeing the headdress was the fact that I felt it was in such an alien place. All I could think of when I saw the headdress was how I thought that it should be returned to its own country and how it was a little disappointing to see something that should be in its own country and restored to its full glory being underappreciated in a museum in Bristol.

Explore Coyote

I slowly walk up the church steps, I look around and see the world pass me buy. Something that matters so much to me and not at all to anyone else. The white petals are falling from the tree and being blown across the ground. I’m not sure what I can smell but I know it’s sweet because I can taste it on the back of my tongue. I can feel my heart begin to beat faster as the anxiousness rises up inside me. I catch a glimpse of you walking up the steps and my heart skips a beat. I’m so glad to see you but I wish you had never come. I explain to you how I feel and you cry. I watch as tear after tear falls from your face and hits the petals on the ground creating something that reminds me of blood. I sit there helpless as you beg me to take it back, knowing that I can’t. You get up and you leave and I watch you, wanting so much to run after you and grab you and tell you how much I . . . I wipe the tears from my face tasting salt as I do, I don’t feel anything I’m numb and your gone.

My first experience with the other

When I was young my parents made it clear to me that everyone was the same. I took this as the truth. I never judged anyone on their colour or creed because when I was young I didn’t even see the difference. Physically I was aware that people were different but I had no idea of the vast number of different views and cultures that there were in the world. My primary school was a mix of people. Indian, African, Asian and white. Everyone was friends at this point and we thought this was the norm. I made friends with a boy called Akmed. We spent a lot of time together and began hanging out on the weekends. The first time I went to his house I was amazed. I had never seen a house like his and found it fascinating. His mother wore a sari and was a practising Muslim. I noticed small things like the letters on their keyboard were Arabic and that his parents spoke in Arabic most of the time. I sat down to eat with them and at first I was terrified because I had never seen food like the kind they made and it was a new experience for me. I suppose what I’m trying to explain is what my first experience of the other is. It was that day when for the first time I was exposed to a new strange and interesting culture for the first time.

My first experience with the native american other

My first experience of Native American culture came at a very early age. I was about four when I was given a make your own dream catcher kit by my granddad. At the time I was given the kit I had no idea of what it was for. Soon after I got the kit, me and my dad put it together, as we were doing this I asked my dad what was a dream catcher and what do they do. My dad then explained to me that dream catchers are used by the Native Americans and they are hung above their beds. This is done because the Native Americans believe that if you have a dream catcher above your bed it stops the bad dreams from getting into your mind and only lets the good ones in. As a child I thought that this was amazing. It sounded so mystical to me and it was something so removed from anything that I had known before. Also as I was growing up, my parents always had a lot of different artefacts around the house I came to realise that these were different native American objects, we had wooden carvings of animals on the walls of our living room and conservatory, we also had drums made from animal skin which I would often bang on when I was bored as children do. So I suppose technically my first experience of the native American other was when I was a child, but growing up I was surrounded by all different aspects of native American culture which I wouldn’t consider other I would consider it familiar almost comforting.
My first experience with the Native American other

My first experience of Native American culture came at a very early age. I was about four when I was given a make your own dream catcher kit by my granddad. At the time I was given the kit I had no idea of what it was for. Soon after I got the kit, me and my dad put it together, as we were doing this I asked my dad what was a dream catcher and what do they do. My dad then explained to me that dream catchers are used by the Native Americans and they are hung above their beds. This is done because the Native Americans believe that if you have a dream catcher above your bed it stops the bad dreams from getting into your mind and only lets the good ones in. As a child I thought that this was amazing. It sounded so mystical to me and it was something so removed from anything that I had known before. Also as I was growing up, my parents always had a lot of different artefacts around the house I came to realise that these were different native American objects, we had wooden carvings of animals on the walls of our living room and conservatory, we also had drums made from animal skin which I would often bang on when I was bored as children do. So I suppose technically my first experience of the native American other was when I was a child, but growing up I was surrounded by all different aspects of native American culture which I wouldn’t consider other I would consider it familiar almost comforting.