Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Reading Notes: Apache, Part A

Jicarilla Apache Texts edited by Pliny Earle Goddard (1911) = New York: Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. VIII.

The Emergence
I like the contrast between the Apache creation story compared to the Great Plains story from last week. This one focuses on them coming up out of the ground, rather than being created by the sun and moon. I wonder what caused the difference between each tribe's creation story.

The First War
I like the continuation this story has from the creation one. I had to reread the story because I was confused about why the chief had been shot, as well as by whom. I wonder why he refused to attend the feast when everybody else went. Maybe this is why the first war was a disaster, due to the apparent dysfunction.

The Killing of the Monsters
This story definitely takes a lot of time to dissect. The beginning is easy enough to understand, as the man kills the elk and wears its hide, but it begins becoming very complicated next. At first, where it says the eagle digs its talons into the man and carries him to its nest, it seems to infer that the man is dead, yet he is alive and avoids being eaten by the eagle's children. The man then kills both the mother and father eagle, making me wonder if the monster isn't the creatures that he is killing, but is him instead. I mean, he tells the young eagles that they will essentially be servants to man, inferring their feathers will be taken as man "will like your feathers." His interactions with grandmother bat seem to avoid these same actions, as he tries to help her as long as she follows directions, but he also becomes vindictive when she keeps returning as she was unable to follow his commands, leading bats to become the featherless creatures they are today. This does make me wonder where his motivations truly lie, and whether he is a good or bad character.

Elk on Apache Hunting Land

Naiyenesgani Rescues the Tao Indians
This is the second story that includes 4 different pieces of the same thing, each a different color. The Emergence had 4 ladders, while this has 4 hoops, with one black, one blue, one yellow, and one multi-colored. I'm wondering what kind of symbolism these 4 items have when together, and why these colors are important to the Apache. The fact that they are all used in the same fashion makes it even more interesting.

I also have noticed in other stories that the number 4 is very prevalent. For example, the phrase "making motions four times" and other similar variations are commonplace in these stories. Since they make 4 motions, and with the colors, it is 4 items that vary only in color, this number must have had significant value to the Apache.

Coyote Secures Fire
The coyote was the only creature that did not have its hide restored by jumping in the river after losing it in the hoop and pole game. Is this because of the coyote's ultimate actions where it set almost every tree on fire, or is it related to him simply being a coyote? The making fire with a drill being due to coyote is an interesting little tidbit. That was one area that I never thought about how people might explain why it works. I guess a coyote is as good an answer as any.
Coyote

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