Part 1
STORIES OF THE CHEROKEES

The following stories about how the world was made and what it means to be female or male have been told in the Cherokee Nation for hundreds of years. A late-nineteenth-century Cherokee shaman named Swimmer told these versions to James Mooney (1861–1921), who worked for the Smithsonian’s Bureau of Ethnology. He began his research in 1887 and lived with the Cherokees for several years. Mooney gained the trust of Swimmer, who revealed sacred knowledge about healing and medicine. Swimmer also told him Cherokee stories of ancient origins. Mooney published three works on the Cherokees that are some of the finest ever written on their culture.

The first story, “How the World Was Made,” is the creation story. It explains why a woman has only one child in a year, and also how animals, plants, and humans are related.

The second story, “The First Fire,” tells how the humble Water Spider spun a thread from her own body and brought fire to the people by weaving a tusti—the Cherokee word for bowl, sometimes connoting a small bowl—and carrying a live coal back in it. Like Prometheus in the Greek myth, the Water Spider is the fire bringer to humans.

The third story, “Kana’tĭ and Selu,” tells of the first man and woman. It emphasizes Selu’s sacrifice of her life and her gift of corn. The story of her sons, the Thunder Boys, explains why Cherokees do not live in a perfect world. The boys introduce uncertainty into an ordered world by breaking rules. The story teaches that if the people show respect and gratitude and do not break taboos, the blessings of the Corn Mother might return. In contrast to a patriarchal religious system in which deities are male and women are considered subordinate to men, Cherokees believed in female and male supernatural beings. Ceremonies, rituals, warfare, and sports helped teach who they were and where they came from.

The stories about Spear-finger and Stone Coat (or Dressed in Stone) reveal a fear of women’s terrifying and destructive powers. In addition to the powerful images of Selu and the sun as female, women’s strength is evident in the story of Nûñ’yunu’wĭ (Stone Coat). Menstrual blood was believed to be dangerously powerful, as demonstrated by Stone Coat, who is killed by the sight of seven menstruating women. Women mysteriously bled each month without dying. Cherokee women’s power derived from their ability to give and sustain life, especially through farming. However, blood was believed to be the ultimate symbol of that power. War women gained power through shedding blood and taking life in times of conflict. Selu’s blood was shed as she sacrificed her life and gave the gift of corn. Clan membership was determined through the mother’s bloodline. In the female version of the Stone Coat story, Spear-finger, U’tlûñ’tă, has the ability to change herself into any shape; she is also covered with a stone coat. Spear-finger represents a female monster that takes life.

The following stories teach that the relationships between men and women and their roles must be in balance for a community to flourish. They also identify femaleness with menstruation, childbirth, motherhood, blood, the sun, clan, corn, and agriculture. Masculinity is associated with warfare, hunting, animals, water, fatherhood, the moon, and ball play.