Indian Underground Origins
An Excerpt from: The Whirling Mountain of the Navajos
" The Navajo religious system is intricate. Like most
Amerindian nations, they claim to have come from a subterranean
world through caves or vents that connect with this upper world.
Theirs is a Mystery Religion based on Drug Cults (Peyotism),
on shamanism, and on amuletic songs, dances, design and rituals.
But the idea of a subterranean Creation one in which Mankind
somehow originated underground and later ascended to this earth
in some manner is peculiar not only to the Navajos, but to most
Indian nations of the three Americas. As a matter of fact, this
conception of a subterranean Paradise whence Mankind sprung
into the present era coming from a former one was also widespread
in the Ancient World as well. For instance, Civilizing Heroes
such as Osiris, Serapis, Mithras and several others originally
rose from a cave or a subterranean abode, more or less in the
way that Christ too rose from among the dead.
This cave or tomb is the Primordial Cave, the Cave of Archetypes
of which Plato tells us in his dialogues. It is the Pacari-tambu
of the Incas, and the Cave of Illusion so masterfully described
in the Ramayana. In fact, this cave is no other than the sunken,
submarine realm of Atlantis-Eden. Again, the Polynesians also
claim to have come originally from a sunken island or continent
which they called by names such as Hawaiki (or Javaiki), which
mean something like " Sunken Grove ", that is, the
same as the sunken Garden of Eden. And, as we argue elsewhere,
the Polynesian Paradise, just as all others indeed lay in the
submerged portion of primordial Indonesia."
Chippewa:
In the beginning before there were people, before there were
animals a lone woman lived in a cave. She lived on the roots
and berries of the plants. One night a magical dog crept into
her cave and stretched out on the her bed beside her. As the
night grew long the dog began to change. His body became smooth
and almost hairless. His limbs grew long and straight. His features
changed into those of a handsome warrior. Nine months later
the woman birthed a child. He was the first Chippewa male and
through him came the Chippewa peoples.
Choctaw:
At the beginning there was a great mound. It was called Nanih
Wiya. It was from this mound that the Creator fashioned the
first of the people. These people crawled through a long, dark
cave into daylight. They became the first
Choctaw.
Tewa Pueblo:
In the beginning the People lived in the darkness of the underground.
One day the Mole came to visit them. The People asked him if
there was another world beside the one they lived in. The Mole
told them to follow him. The People formed a line behind the
Mole as he began to dig his way upward. The People took the
soil he loosened and passed it back to the end of the line.
That is why the tunnel that was dug was closed behind them and
they could never find their way back. He led them to a land
with sunlight and blue skies. That is the end of the story.
Hopi-
" Way back in time all men emerged from a single hole
in the earth. There was a mockingbird there at the entrance
to the hole. He gave each a name and a language. To one he would
say, 'You shall be a Hopi and speak that tongue.' To another,
'You shall be an Apache and speak that language.' And so it
went for all who came from the hole, including the White People.
The earth was still covered in darkness in those days so the
peoples came together and decided to change things. They made
the sun and the moon and placed them in the sky. With light
and warmth things got easier for the people so the chiefs of
all the races and tribes got together and decided to break up
and go to different places. They decided to go eastward to where
the sun rises and that whoever got there first was to cause
a shower of stars to fall from the sky, and then everyone would
see this and stop where they were. The Whites, always impatient,
soon grew tired. Their women rubbed flakes of skin from their
bodies and molded them into horses. Thus, mounted on these speedy
animals, the Whites were first to arrive in the east. Thereupon
a shower of stars fell to the ground and all remained where
they were at the time."
Cherokee Underworld Folklore-
An Excerpt from The Legend of The Tlanuhwa and The Uhktena
" The people living in the town never had any problems
with the Tlanuhwa until one day, the Tlanuhwa began to swoop
down out of the sky, grabbing young children in their talons
and taking them away to their caves by the Hogahega Uweyu i.
The people of the town became very upset and all the mothers
started crying and shouting at the men to bring back the children
stolen by the Tlanuhwa."
So the men made a plan; they went very near the Tlanuhwa caves
and took vines growing there from some trees and made ropes
to climb down over the cliffs to the caves. The men waited until
they were certain that the Tlanuhwa were out of the caves. Then
down the ropes some of the men went, into the caves of the Tlanuhwa.
All of the children that had been taken from the Ani Yunwiya
town were there in the caves and, were very anxious to get back
to their homes. Also in those caves were many eggs of the Tlanuh."
Huyata'kéá'
The Cherokee word huyata'kéá' has been translated
as " cave people," and is a word which the Cherokee
use to refer to themselves.
( An Excerpt from American Indian Creation Myths. )
