Native Folklore

La palabra muisca, significa en lenguaje nativo persona o gente. Y según muy serias investigaciones los nativos muiscas parecen descendientes de los chinos que poblaron la América Central, y de ahí sin duda pasaron a Panamá, territorio que antes pertenecía a Colombia, Perú, Ecuador y otros lugares. Sí, a los “Chibchas” o “Muiscas” los hacen descendientes de los chinos, por cuanto el legisla cultural y legendaria, cuna a la vez de los primeros inventos y de una gran civilización. De la misma manera se afirma que los fenicios también se establecieron en América.

In the tradition of Calvino’s Italian Folktales, Greg Sarris, author of the award-winning novel Grand Avenue, turns his attention to his ancestral homeland of Sonoma Mountain in Northern California. In 16 interconnected original stories, the twin crows Question Woman and Answer Woman take us through a world unlike yet oddly reminiscent of our own: one that blooms bright with poppies, lupines, and clover; one in which Water Bug kidnaps an entire creek; in which songs have the power to enchant; in which Rain is a beautiful woman who keeps people’s memories in stones.

In the 15th century, four Mahu sail from Tahiti to Hawaii and share their gifts of science and healing with the people of Waikiki. The islanders return this gift with a monument of four boulders in their honor, which the Mahu imbue with healing powers before disappearing. As time passes, foreigners inhabit the island and the once-sacred stones are forgotten until the 1960s. Though the true story of these stones was not fully recovered, the power of the Mahu still calls out to those who pass by them at Waikiki Beach today.

In Cherokee myth - as in other indigenous American traditions - the whole of creation is alive and able to communicate like humans and with the human beings who share their environment. Cherokee myths explain how the world came to be the way it is and imparts important lessons about Cherokee cultural values.