The Seneca Creation Story: The Creation Of The Seneca Indians

Creation stories can tell a person a lot about a people’s culture along with with their different values. The Seneca people were one of the six tribes of the larger Iroquois tribe located in present day New York. The Seneca culture has evolved over the last 600 years. However, there are some ideals that have remained since the formation of the Iroquois. As seen through The Seneca creation story, the Seneca people seemed to value women and men for different tasks, the importance of good and evil, and hunting was also a prominent part of their culture. Since the creation of the Seneca tribe, a clear division between female and male capabilities is reflected through the jobs they were allowed to do. The creation story, dating back to the 1300’s, makes it one of the newest creations stories of … what??? The story displayed what would now be considered a clear prejudice against women and their physical and mental abilities. Of course, in the people were more accepting of these casteism. Of all the characters in the story only two were women. Both appeared only to give birth to more prominent characters in the story, or ill until their eventual death. Meanwhile the men of the story were awarded titles such as chief, creator, and …show more content…
Each brother represented two types of people: good and evil. The younger of the two brothers was portrayed as the destructive, reckless, and devilish brother. He created animals designed to kill the more prized work of his older brother. The older brother created humans as well as rivers and plants designed to help them. The older brother was more prized and he was allowed to return to the sky where the first human fell from. The younger brother was burdened with torturing the souls of those who followed in his evil ways. This is a direct look into the religious values of the Seneca people. It is also a direct reference to their after