Sacred Texts  Native American  Iroquois 

Seneca Indian Myths

by Jeremiah Curtin

[1922]

The Seneca are one of the members of the powerful Iroquois tribe, and live in the western part of New York State, along the shores of Lake Ontario to the west of the Finger Lake region. This huge (500 page) book of Seneca myths was collected by Jeremiah Curtin at the turn of the 20th century. Curtin also wrote Creation Myths of Primitive America, Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland, and Tales of the Fairies and of the Ghost World, all also at this site.

The tales in this book are consistent in themes and style with Native American storytelling from diverse regions. Themes such as shape-shifting culture heroes, gambling for keeps, and journeys beyond the sky are reminiscent of many other tales from diverse parts of the continent. The tales are mostly set in a pre-human dreamtime, and the players are the conventional zoomorphic first people. There are a few legends set in more recent times, particularly regarding conflict of the Iroquois with the neighboring Cherokee.

There are many distinctive Iroquois touches, for instance, the importance of the uncle as opposed to the father, and the strong and self-motivated women characters; this is an outgrowth of matrilineal descent. Also of note are the hideous man-eaters, used as figures of horror here. (This should not be taken as an indication that cannibals were once prevalent, no more than Grimms' tales indicate the use of gingerbread as a construction material in medieval northern Europe.) These tales are very entertaining and present insights into Iroquois psychology. There is no evidence of European contact, as is sometimes seen in other collections, whether this was the result of editing by Curtin is unknown. The repeated use of similar themes is never tedious, but shows how various storytellers built on the same foundation.

John Bruno Hare, July 8th, 2004.