View source for Muscogee mythology

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{ref improve|date=February 2015}}
{{use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Mythology}}
'''Muscogee mythology''' (previously referred to by its [[exonym]] "Creek") is related to a [[Muscogee]] tribe who are originally from the [[Southern United States|southeastern United States]], also known by their original name '''Mvskoke''' (or '''Muskogee'''), the name they use to identify themselves today.<ref name="Transcribed documents">[http://anpa.ualr.edu/digital_library/Additional%20Texts%20-%20Yuchi%20.htm Transcribed documents] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213170748/http://anpa.ualr.edu/digital_library/Additional%20Texts%20-%20Yuchi%20.htm |date=February 13, 2012 }} Sequoyah Research Center and the American Native Press Archives</ref> ''Mvskoke'' is their name in traditional spelling. Modern Muscogees live primarily in [[Oklahoma]], [[Alabama]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], and [[Florida]]. Their language, ''[[Muscogee language|Mvskoke]]'', is a member of the Eastern branch of the [[Muskogean languages|Muskogean language family]]. The [[Seminole]] are close kin to the Mvskoke and speak an Eastern Muskogean language as well. The Muscogee were considered one of the [[Five Civilized Tribes]]. 

==History==
[[File:Rogan plate 1 birdman HRoe 2012.jpg|thumb|Illustration of a [[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex#Birdman|S.E.C.C. Falcon Dancer]] based on a [[Rogan plate]] from [[Etowah Indian Mounds|Etowah]] in northern Georgia]]

The early historic Muscogee were probably descendants of the [[Mississippian culture]] peoples who lived along the [[Tennessee River]], in what is now modern [[Tennessee]]<ref name=Finger_2001>{{cite book | last = Finger | first = John R. | title = Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition | title-link=Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition | pages = 19 | publisher = Indiana University Press | year = 2001 | isbn = 0-253-33985-5}}</ref> and Alabama, and possibly related to the [[Utinahica]] of southern Georgia. More of a loose confederacy than a single tribe, the Mvskoke lived in autonomous villages in river valleys throughout what are today the states of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama also consisted of many ethnic groups speaking several distinct languages, such as the [[Hitchiti]], [[Alabama (tribe)|Alabama]], and [[Coushatta]]. Those who lived along the [[Ocmulgee River]] and the [[Oconee River]] were called "Creek Indians" by British traders from [[South Carolina]]; eventually the name was applied to all of the various natives of creek towns, becoming increasingly divided between the Lower Towns of the Georgia frontier on the [[Chattahoochee River]] (see [[Apalachicola Province]]), Ocmulgee River, and [[Flint River (Georgia)|Flint River]] and the Upper Towns of the [[Alabama River]] Valley.

The Lower Towns included Coweta, Cusseta (Kasihta, [[Cofitachequi]]), Upper Chehaw ([[Chiaha]]), Hitchiti, Oconee, Ocmulgee, Okawaigi, [[Apalachicola (tribal town)|Apalachicola]], [[Yamasee]] (Altamaha), Ocfuskee, Sawokli, and Tamali. The Upper Towns included Tuckabatchee, [[Abihka]], [[Coosa chiefdom|Coosa]] (Kusa; the dominant people of [[East Tennessee]] and [[North Georgia]] during the Spanish explorations), Itawa (original inhabitants of the [[Etowah Indian Mounds]]), Hothliwahi (Ullibahali), Hilibi, Eufaula, Wakokai, Atasi, [[Alibamu]], Coushatta (Koasati; they had absorbed the Kaski/Casqui and the [[Toqua (Tennessee)|Tali]]), and Tuskegee ("Napochi" in the de Luna chronicles).

Cusseta (Kasihta) and Coweta are the two principal towns of the Muscogee Nation to this day. Traditionally the Cusseta and Coweta bands are considered to the earliest members of the Muscogee Nation.<ref name="Transcribed documents"/>

==Creation==
[[Image:Chromesun moundville stone palette01.jpg|right|thumb|225px|Several [[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex#Motifs|S.E.C.C. Motifs]] on a ceremonial stone palette found at the [[Moundville Archaeological Site]] in [[Moundville, Alabama]]]]

Many Muscogee creation stories revolve around how human beings arrived on the earth rather than the earth's origins. Muscogee creation stories differ among tribal groups that became grouped colonially by language similarities, but stories from Kasihta, Kasihta-Chickasaw-Coweta, and Coweta origins all include humans emerging from beneath the earth in the West and journeying to the East.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grantham |first=Bill |title=Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians |publisher=Gainesville: University Press of Florida |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8130-2451-6 |pages=111–132}}</ref> Muscogee creation stories reference [[Hesaketvmese|Hesaketvmesē]] (meaning "Maker of Breath"<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Joel W. |title=Sacred revolt: the Muskogees' struggle for a new world |date=1991 |publisher=Beacon press |isbn=978-0-8070-5402-4 |location=Boston (Mass.) |pages=22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harjo |first=Laura |title=Spiral to the Stars: Mvskoke Tools of Futurity |date=2019 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-3982-6 |series=Critical Issues in Indigenous Studies |location=Tucson}}</ref> or "the One Above who holds life's breath";<ref>{{Cite book |last=Swanton |first=John Reed |title=Creek religion and medicine |date=2000 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-9274-1 |edition=1st Bison Books |location=Lincoln, Neb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Grantham |first=Bill |title=Creation myths and legends of the Creek Indians |date=2002 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-2451-6 |location=Gainesville |pages=330}}</ref> pronounced Hisa'kita immi'si<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Martin |first1=Jack B. |last2=McKane Mauldin |first2=Margaret |date=2023 |title=A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee. |url=https://www.webonary.org/muscogee/ }}</ref>), a [[solar deity]] also called [[Epofvnkv|Epohfvnkv]] ("the Creator" or "the One Above us"<ref name=":1" />), who spoke to and guided the Muscogee on their journeys.

In Muscogee beliefs, the cosmos is divided into three worlds: The Upper world, primarily home to Maker of Breath, the Sun, the Moon, and Thunder, The Middle World, inhabited by humans, and the Lower World, notably occupied by the creature known as the Tie Snake or the [[Horned Serpent]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grantham |first=Bill |title=Creation myths and legends of the Creek Indians |date=2002 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-2451-6 |location=Gainesville |pages=24–30}}</ref> The Middle World is the balance between the order and chaos between the Upper and Lower Worlds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Joel W. |title=Sacred revolt: the Muskogees' struggle for a new world |date=1991 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-5402-4 |location=Boston |pages=24–30}}</ref>

== Legends ==
In Muscogee legends, the Tie Snake and the Horned Serpent are underwater serpents seen frequently as a chaotic figure. The two creatures are sometimes interpreted to be interchangeable but the Horned Serpent is larger. Across different legends, key points of the Tie Snake and Horned Serpent origin stories involve one of two hunters eating prohibited food, causing them to transform overnight into a snake.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Creation myths and legends of the Creek Indians |date=2002 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-2451-6 |editor-last=Grantham |editor-first=Bill |location=Gainesville |pages=204–227}}</ref> This story signals the importance of respecting the cosmic balance between the worlds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Joel W. |title=Sacred revolt: the Muskogees' struggle for a new world |date=1991 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-5402-4 |location=Boston |pages=27}}</ref>

Another significant figure in Muscogee mythology is Corn Woman, whose origin varies across legends. One version tells the tale of corn falling from a woman's feet after she rubbed them together. In another, corn poured out of Corn Woman's thigh after she scratched it. Many of the legends end in the Corn Woman sacrificing herself to allow corn crops to grow. The legend of Corn Woman symbolizes how life comes from death and women's fertility.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Joel W. |title=Sacred revolt: the Muskogees' struggle for a new world |date=1991 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-5402-4 |location=Boston |pages=35–36}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Creation myths and legends of the Creek Indians |date=2002 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-2451-6 |editor-last=Grantham |editor-first=Bill |location=Gainesville |pages=241–253}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Choctaw mythology]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Muscogee}}
{{List of mythological figures by region}}

[[Category:Creation myths]]
[[Category:Muscogee culture]]
[[Category:Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of North America]]