Wednesday October 27, 2010

Friday cumulative vocabulary assessment; vocabulary 4 due





We are looking at two Native American works today: The Navajo creation legend and The Walum Olum. Make sure you get copies if you are absent.

Please note the relationship between man and the environment. How does this contrast with the English settlers' attitudes toward the land? How are two groups spirituality expressed through their writing, pictographs or oral tales. Where do you observe potential problems in their interactions?


Thinking about the Walum Olum
1. List five of the Great Manio’s creations.
a.

b.

c.

d.

e.
2. What did the evil Manito create?

3. What six troubles did a “mighty magician” bring to the earth?
a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.
4. According to The Walum Olum, what constitutes a happy life for the Delaware?

5. Examine the pictographs carefully. What evidence is there that the “evil Manito” and the “evil being, a mighty magician” might be the same spirit?

Writing assignment: due Friday. MLA heading; minimum 250 words. Reflect upon one of our contemporary evils. Select one and provide an imaginative explanation for its origin.


1. At first, in that place, at all times, above the earth,
1. Sayewi talli wemiguma wokgetaki,



2. On the earth, [was] an extended fog, and there the great Manito was.
2. Hackung kwelik owanaku wak yutali Kitanitowit-essop.


3. At first, forever, lost in space, everywhere, the great Manito was.
3. Sayewis hallemiwis nolemiwi elemamik Kitanitowit-essop.



4. He made the extended land and the sky.
4. Sohawalawak kwelik hakik owak [read, woak] awasagamak.
See handout for additional. You may access this on the web, as well.

Navajo Creation Story
Only the Creator knows where the beginning is. The Creator had a thought that created Light in the East. Then the thought went South to create Water, West to create Air, and North to create Pollen from emptiness. This Pollen became Earth.

Light, air, water, and earth is contained in everything within nature; all of the natural world is interconnected and equal.

All of these elements mixed together, and the first thing created were the Holy People. These Holy People were given the job and responsibility of teaching what is right and wrong. Holy people were given the original laws, then they created the earth and human beings.

The Creator with the help of the Holy People created the Natural World. They created humans, birds, and all of the Natural World was put in Hozjo (BALANCE). This Hozjo (harmony, balance, and peace) is dependent on interconnectedness. All of the Natural World depends on another. The Navajo say they are glued together with respect, and together they work in harmony. To the Navajo this present world is the fifth.

The place of emergence into this level was Xajiinai, a hole in the La Plata mountains of SW Colorado. The Holy People have the power to hurt or help, and centuries ago taught the Dineh how to live in harmony with Mother Earth, Father Sky and the other elements: man, animals, plants, insects. The Dineh believe that when the ceremonies cease the world will cease.