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Native American Creation Myths

Origin stories explaining how the world began, including Turtle Island and Sky Woman myths.

Coyote holding a cracked stone that brings mortality into the world.

Coyote and the Making of Death

by Elizabeth Fabowale

January 22, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

Before the world learned the weight of endings, life moved in an endless circle. Beings rose, aged, and rested, only to return again as they once were. The land remembered every footstep, and the people believed that nothing truly vanished. In this early age, death was not permanent. It was a pause, a doorway that always led back. Among the

Humans emerging through the Sipapu into the present world.

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

The Emergence from the Sipapu

Long before the present world took its familiar shape, humanity lived below the surface of the earth. These earlier worlds were not places of darkness alone but realms of learning, trial, and gradual understanding. The people who lived there were not yet ready for the responsibilities of the surface world.

Sky Woman descending from the sky as animals help form the earth on a turtle’s back.

Sky Woman and the Turtle’s Back

High above the waters of the first world existed Sky World, a

Raven releasing the sun, moon and stars into the sky.

Raven Steals the Light

A long age passed when the world existed without true light. The

Glowing cosmic egg hovering over Arctic ice with aurora borealis in the night sky representing Inuit creation myth.

Cosmic Egg Creation (Inuit Myth)

February 27, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

Far across the Arctic expanse, where ice stretches to the horizon and the sky dances with auroras, the Inuit tell of a time when nothing existed but a vast, endless darkness. The land, the sea, and the sky had not yet been formed, and life had not yet awakened. In

Scenic view of Crater Lake and surrounding mountains representing K’mukamtch’s creation in Klamath tradition.

Klamath World Builder K’mukamtch

February 27, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

High above the valleys and forests of southern Oregon, where mist curls over river bends and jagged peaks pierce the sky, the Klamath people tell of K’mukamtch, the great world builder. Unlike humans, K’mukamtch possessed the power to mold the earth itself. He walked across a shapeless land, carefully raising

Lakota woman placing fragments of light in the night sky over Northern Plains, creating stars and constellations.

The Creation of the Stars

February 27, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

Long before the night sky was filled with stars, the world of the Lakota people existed in a quiet balance. The land was rich with rolling plains, rivers, and forests, but darkness reigned once the sun set. People walked carefully by the light of campfires, relying on memory and intuition

The first elk teaching humans to name features of the land across the northern plains in Blackfoot creation legend.

Blackfoot First Elk and Earth Naming

February 27, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

Long ago, before the rivers and valleys were fully formed, before the prairies stretched under open skies, the world was young and unsettled. The Blackfoot people tell that in these early days, the land and all its creatures were coming into being, shaped by the will of the spirits and

Wenabozho placing earth on a turtle’s back after the muskrat retrieves soil from deep waters.

Ojibwe Earth‑Diver and Wenabozho

February 27, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

Before there were forests whispering along the shores of the Great Lakes, before canoes cut across shining waters, before villages sent smoke curling into the sky, the world was covered entirely by water. There was no solid earth where feet could stand. No hills rose against the horizon. No trees

A glowing maiden stepping from the sun in a desert landscape teaching two young men about growing crops.

The Sun Maiden Story (Hopi and Pueblo)

February 27, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

Long ago, when the desert winds moved across the mesas without villages or planted fields, two brothers wandered beneath the blazing sky. They had emerged into a new world but did not yet understand how to live within it. The land around them seemed harsh and endless. The soil was

A peaceful dawn scene showing land rising from the ocean with sea animals and birds symbolizing Mi’kmaq creation tradition.

Micmac Dawn of the Land

February 27, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

In the beginning, before cliffs stood against the sea and before forests whispered in the wind, there was only vastness. The waters stretched endlessly, and above them drifted sky without boundary. There were no villages, no rivers carving pathways through stone, and no shores where waves could rest. The world

A symbolic scene of a woman descending from the sky toward a giant turtle on calm waters representing the Haudenosaunee creation story.

The Emergence of the Sky Woman

February 27, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

Long before forests covered the earth and before rivers found their paths, there was only Sky World above and a vast stretch of water below. In Sky World lived beings of light who dwelled in harmony around a great sacred tree. This tree stood at the center of their world,

Spider Woman weaving the world with threads, teaching humans in a desert landscape.

Spider Woman Shapes the World

January 22, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

The first light of dawn had not yet painted the skies, but the world already stirred with potential. In the vast expanse of land and sky, patterns waited to emerge. From the Southwest deserts and canyons, a figure appeared who would bring order and wisdom to the unfolding world. She

Coast Salish humans performing fire ritual at first sunrise, light spreading over mountains and forests.

First Sunrise After Darkness

January 22, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

For many generations, the world had known only shadow. Even the stars had grown dim, and rivers mirrored nothing but black. People moved cautiously across forests and mountains, their eyes adjusting to nothing more than faint outlines in the gloom. Survival demanded patience, but life persisted in quiet determination. There