Reading Notes: Great Plains, Part A

For Tuesday's reading during week nine I went with the Great Plains unit. I chose this unit because I live in Oklahoma and I thought it'd be interesting to read about some of the creation stories that the Great Plains Indians had. I enjoyed this unit's reading because it did have such an emphasis on various creation stories and how thing came to be about. I also found some similarities to that of the Japanese creation stories, such as the Elk calling the winds and uncovering land. Obviously they weren't exactly the same, but it was an interesting point to take note of.

The points of interest that I'll take away for my own story are the ways in which the various tribal people interacted with their surroundings. For instance, the Indians mostly knew where they came from (i.e., Moon (mother), Sun (father)) and tended to work alongside the animals in order to find a habitable place to live. Also, they had a relationship with their creators, and consulted them throughout their adventures. I found this interesting because their communication between their creators and their surroundings seems to be much more fluid than that of other cultures' creation stories.

Going on, I saw hints of all the Great Plains people finding this bluish stone, which I imagine was obsidian or some stone similar to that, which they used as a tool/weapon. In addition to using this bluish stone, they also used the bones of different animals for different uses and modified those uses as they came into contact with other tribal people. Although the interactions weren't always friendly between the different tribes, they usually came to some sort of peace agreement throughout the story. Finally, I like the inclusion of the different pipes and how each one symbolized something different, from peace to settling disputes. I would like to incorporate this into my own story in some way, shape, or form.

Bibliography: Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson
Image: A Native American peace pipe