Humming Bird Symbolism

The choice of animals in the tale of Hummingbird and Fly is interesting. Buzzards are known to be like hawks, vultures, and falcons. They are scavengers and they consume the things they scavenge, which separates them from animals that decompose dead organisms. It is not like they are breaking down dead bodies so that the nutrients can go back into the earth, they are eating these dead organisms for their own needs. The buzzards are meant to represent the Europeans who came to the Americas and destroyed the land for their own gain. They did not take from the Earth and then put something back in its place and continue the give and receive circle that the world had always been a part of. They stopped the circle because they did not care about …show more content…
There is a part outside the tale of Hummingbird and Fly where the text says “as long as the hummingbird had not abandoned the land, somewhere there were still flowers and they could all go on.” This is very close to the meaning of hope. As long as there is still a small piece of the hummingbird in the world, hope will continue to exist. Buzzard is antagonistic, demanding tobacco in exchange for saving people. Hummingbird is the opposite, requiring nothing in return for his help. Hummingbird, who is innocent, kind, and helpful, is meant to represent the Native Americans in the tale because he is the opposite of Buzzard. Caterpillar represents metamorphosis because caterpillars are known for changing into moths or butterflies. They, here could be representing the change from Native American culture to European culture, or in a more optimistic light, the change from Native Americans and Europeans hating each other to a hopeful vision of the future where the two could live in harmony with one another. Caterpillar gives Hummingbird the tobacco to give to Buzzard and therefore helps the people get food and rain. Buzzard does get what he wants, the tobacco, but the people also get what they want, the food and rain. Perhaps changing to a system where the Native Americans and Europeans cooperate with one another rather than the Europeans taking the Native’s land and animals, and then centuries of fighting between them, is the only way that …show more content…
If Fly had not been in the story, things would have happened the same way. But Fly has a metaphorical purpose to serve. Fly’s birth shows the start of a new thing. The repetition of the number four in the tale is seen again with the preparation of Fly’s birth, and even the birth itself. The people must sing “after four days you will be alive” four times and then on the fourth day, Fly is alive. There are also four worlds mentioned in the tale. There is the world that the people live in, the world where Mother lives, and two worlds between them. This is interesting because some people believe that there are four realms of life: Heaven, Earth, Purgatory, and Hell. While there is some debate amongst those who believe in the existence of Purgatory if Purgatory is a physical place, there are those who believe that it physical. This Native American folktale has something in common with what some Europeans believe, despite how the tale, and Ceremony as a whole, spends a lot of time saying how the two cultures are different. Although the two have this one aspect in common, the text again shows how polar opposite they are of each other by having Mother be the most important figure of the tale and the person who can save the people’s lives. The European settlers, in contrast, were Christians who worshipped a male God. They even went so far as to justify