Cusick's "The Iroquois Creation Story"

Journal # 23
Posted By: Melissa Veum
12-08-09
Engl 48A

"..., at last the good mind gained the victory by using the horns, as mentioned the instrument of death, which he succeeded in deceiving his brother and he crushed him in the earth; and the last words uttered from the bad mind were, that he would have equal power over the souls of mankind after death; and he sinks down to eternal doom, and became the Evil Spirit. After this tumult the good mind repaired to the battle ground, and then visited the people and retires from the earth (Cusick, 21)."

"We have drunk too much of your rum already, which has occasioned our destruction, we will, in the future, beware of it... (Cayuga Tribe, www.politicalandhistoricalquotations.org)."

This passage reminds me, in some ways, of the creation of the world through the Catholic church minds as well. If their minds were more nature oriented and not so cut and dry. The Good spirit reminds me of Jesus, God, and the priests and fathers of Catholicism who "won" in terms of fighting the devil. The Bad Spirit reminds me of the fallen angel, Lucifer who now resides in Hell and always was such a cocky character who thought he could overtake the Good Spirit. This passage struck me as interesting because the Bad Spirit said that he would only die from the horns and that's what his brother used to kill him. At the end of this passage it says that the Good Spirit now helps and teaches people to grow corn and how to pray to avoid the bad spirits, kinda like Catholic and christian priests. The devil on the other hand "dies" and goes to Hell to rule the underworld and wait for his followers. The devil has always been known as the Evil Spirit who got overthrown by the Good Spirit, in this case his brother.

I like the Iroquois way of thinking the world was created because it refers to a lot of animalistic ways of people and uses nature as the forefront to how things got going on this earth. I love the turtle and how it just took it's place for the woman to fall and life started right after. Having one woman start the beginning of both bad and good brothers stuck me as interesting because she is sort the creator all by herself. With the help of the turtle and mother nature of course.