Throughout history, creation stories describe the way people have thought Earth has been made. After reading the creation story from the Native American tribe, Iroquois, and reading the creation story from Christian Bible, one could make some comparisons between the two. (Throughout the rest of the essay the Christian creation story will be referred to as “Genesis” although the source material doesn't include all of book of Genesis written in the Bible, and the Iroquois creation story will be referred to as “The Sky World”) The first thing to notice is how the universe is set up at the beginning of the stories, what there is to work with, and any characters there are. In Genesis, a single deity, God stands center place as the main figure
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“In the Skyworld there stood a tree that grew at the very center of this celestial world. … [The sky people] were also warned that they were not to touch the roots in case it would cause harm to the tree.” Both Skyworld and Eden are depicted as paradise with certain rules and objects which are off limits. In the story Skywoman attempted to get that root from the tree, this ended with her falling to a completely water-covered earth. Skywoman's fall was saved by helpful birds which lowered her to a large turtle, this shows the importance of animals to the Iroquois' beliefs (this is not the only time where the importance of animals is shown in the story). Skywoman's literal fall from the grace of Skyworld is parallel with Adam and Eve's exile from the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, after also getting something from a forbidden tree get exiled by God as punishment for eating the fruit of the tree. Although a tree is central in each person's fall from grace, it could just be coincidence that both feature a tree; However, this does show the significance of trees to humans. It is also nice to note that God directly removed Adam and Eve from Eden while Skywoman’s removal from Skyworld came though a less direct means, by falling to earth after doing what she was told not to do, messing with the roots of the
“In the Skyworld there stood a tree that grew at the very center of this celestial world. … [The sky people] were also warned that they were not to touch the roots in case it would cause harm to the tree.” Both Skyworld and Eden are depicted as paradise with certain rules and objects which are off limits. In the story Skywoman attempted to get that root from the tree, this ended with her falling to a completely water-covered earth. Skywoman's fall was saved by helpful birds which lowered her to a large turtle, this shows the importance of animals to the Iroquois' beliefs (this is not the only time where the importance of animals is shown in the story). Skywoman's literal fall from the grace of Skyworld is parallel with Adam and Eve's exile from the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, after also getting something from a forbidden tree get exiled by God as punishment for eating the fruit of the tree. Although a tree is central in each person's fall from grace, it could just be coincidence that both feature a tree; However, this does show the significance of trees to humans. It is also nice to note that God directly removed Adam and Eve from Eden while Skywoman’s removal from Skyworld came though a less direct means, by falling to earth after doing what she was told not to do, messing with the roots of the