KONOHANA – Also called Sengen-Sama, Konohana was the goddess of flowers and cherry blossoms and
is the wife of the god Ninigi.That god had come to Earth from Takamagahara, the High Heavenly Plain, at the command of his grandmother, the sun goddess Amaterasu.
Konohana’s father, the mountain god Ohoyama, offered Ninigi a choice between Konohana and his other daughter, Ihanaga, the goddess of stone which endures for ages.
If Ninigi had Continue reading
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SARUTAHIKO – The god who guards the floating bridge between the Earth and the heavenly realm of the gods, Takamagahara (“High Plain of Heaven”). He is depicted as a giant wielding the jeweled spear that once belonged to his father Izanagi and which Izanagi used to stir the primordial broth on Earth as he and his wife Izanami were preparing to begin creation.
Sarutahiko is considered the god of pathways and crossroads, both real and symbolic. He took his sentry duties so seriously that he once even tried to bar the way of the god Ninigi and his retinue when he was Continue reading
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The belief systems of the indigenous people of the continental United States often get twisted through the same condescending prism as the myths of the Inuit. Just as Balladeer’s Blog previously gave proper due to the deities of those people of the far north, this time around I hope to do the same with the figures from Choctaw mythology.
Much material about Native American mythology still reflects the distortions of the Christian missionaries who did some of the first work in recording the oral traditions of native mythology and who imposed their own editorial slant on those belief systems. In their efforts to guide the Choctaws and other peoples away from what the missionaries saw as “pagan belief systems” an artificial elevation of one “Great Spirit” figure, (analogous to the missionaries’ monotheistic “God” ) took place. An equally artificial de-emphasis on the divinity of the other figures in those belief systems took place, again accomodating the prejudices of the white recorders of the myths without regard to objectivity.
Ironically, politically correct white scholars often wind up reinforcing these distortions of Native American mythology through the mistaken notion that the indigenous peoples originally presented their belief systems in this way. Those scholars often believe it is “Eurocentric” to look for pantheons in the Americas, unaware that it is the “Great Spirit” approach that is really the white distortion, and not the original reflection of indigenous beliefs. See the list of source books on my Inuit Myth page for some excellent research guides in tracing this unfortunate twisting of Native American belief systems.
As with all belief systems there are many alternate versions of these myths. MY SOURCE BOOKS ARE LISTED IN THE COMMENTS.
For Inuit myths: https://glitternight.com/inuit-myth/
For Navajo myths: https://glitternight.com/navajo-myth-clear/
For Hawaiian myths: https://glitternight.com/hawaiian-myth/
11 and 12. HELOHA AND MELATHA – The Choctaw version of the Thunderbirds. The chief deity Nanishta (or in some versions the sun god Hashtali since he and Nanishta are often conflated in the myths) assigned these two gigantic, intelligent birds the task of Continue reading
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Balladeer’s Blog will now present a Continue reading
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Welcome back to Balladeer’s Blog, the site where everything that is unjustly neglected gets its well-deserved due! The Navajo myth about the Continue reading
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Now we move along to the Navajo war god Nayanazgeni’s battle with Continue reading
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INUGPASUG – This god was a giant who could be said to fall under the mythological category of a “divine geographer”, like Khong Lo in Vietnamese myths and Halmang in Korean myths.
Such figures are revered as having sculpted and/or created many of the world’s geographical features. In the case of Inugpasug, the Shaktoolik Peninsula in Alaska, Egg Island, Besboro Island and many other landmarks in regions occupied by the Inuits.
In some traditions Inugpasug was the Continue reading
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Continuing the neglected epic myth of the Navajo war god Nayanazgeni battling the evil gods called the Anaye. This was Continue reading
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