The Woman Who Fell From the Sky: March 2012

Myths are one of the longest form of stories that have been around in our times. And most myths follow basic principles, yet each give their own flare and twist to their stories. The Woman Who Fell From the Sky is a myth that came from the Americans – to be more specific, the Iroquois speaking nation. A basic story about how the land was made, this myth follows guidelines and traits of many myths, including good and evil, gender roles and stereotypes, as well as spirits and beliefs.

In a brief synopsis of the story, there are two worlds, the upper world in which the Divine Sky People lived upon, and the lower world, which was covered by Great Water where the animals who adapted to the water lived. There was no in between these two worlds, besides darkness, which was the separator of the two. Long story short, Atahensic, a sky person, became ill and was told the only to overcome her disease was to be placed by and overcome by a great corn tree. Which then turned into the tree itself dying, Atahensic to fall down the hole the tree had created, making her fall down into the lower world, where she was then rescued by the animals (Rosenburg 627). Overtime, the lower world became a livable place through many characters in the story, which is where the describing comes in.

In most myths, as stated above, there are gender roles and stereotypes. For instance, in this story, as well as many other stories, women are seen as the creators the earth itself, as well as all of the natural plant life and nature - where as men are the creators of the physical aspects of a world, the makers and shapers of the wildlife and animals around. The Woman Who Fell From the Sky is no different. When Atahensic was falling from the sky, she was rescued by Loon, who floated her down to safety upon a raft made from the water life. Once the raft became weak, it was time to find a new place of rest for Atahensic, which is where Great Turtle comes in and uses his shell as her resting place. In order for the land on his shell to become bigger, parts of the earth down below the ocean must be retrieved, and once spread upon his shell, the land became bigger and bigger. Sky woman, AKA Atahensic, was the one given the earth remains, to create an earth for all to live on. Through her strength and power of spreading more and more earth upon the shell, she was the creator of the Earth itself once it became Great Island (Rosenburg 628). "She plays a central role in creation." (Myths Encyclopedia). This whole thing basically resonates with the concept of Mother Nature, Sky Woman is mother nature, the creator of the Earth and nature for all to live. Mother Nature, also known as Mother Earth, focuses on the giving of life and nurture, just like women are essentially the givers of life, as well as the nurturers. Now when it comes to the men being the creators of wildlife, this is no different for Good and Evil Twins, sons of Sky Woman’s daughter who passed away in the birth of the twins due to complications with Evil Twin being disruptive when it came to the birth, but, we will get to that later. As the story goes on and the Earth begins to grow, the wildlife being to appear, created by the Twins themselves. However, Evil twin is the creator of the bears, wolves, panthers and foxes, making them harmful to the Eagwehoewe people to survive once living on the land (Rosenburg 630), and the Good Twin created the small animals, the loving elks, deer, rabbit and birds (Rosenburg 631). By them creating these animals for the Earth, they fir the stereotype and gender role of the male figurines as the creators of the wildlife.

Beyond the roles in this myth, there is the Good and Evil aspect, just like there is a hero and a bad guy in every story. In this case, we have the Good and Evil Twins. Starting from conception, each twin had their own persona, the Good wanting to come into the world the natural way, where as the Evil wanting to come out of the pit of his mother’s arm, causing her death (Rosenburg 628). From then on, their personalities were made. One was light, one was dark. With this, the darkness between the two worlds was something Good Twin wanted to fix, he didn’t enjoy living in the darkness, where as the Evil Twin wanted to keep it the way it was, stating, “Do not be absurd! Our word is good enough as it is! Leave it alone!” Also, the Evil Twin had an evil imagination, which is where the creation of mountain ridges on Great Island were evolved. Even those these are beautiful to look at, they are hard to walk upon, making it difficult and very mischievous of him. Where on the other hand, Good Twin created the light to light up their world, as well as changing up the creations the Evil Twin had made to make them more sustainable to every life form on Great Island (Rosenburg 629). With this, we see the difference in pure and innocent and sneaky and mischievous, which is why in the end, the Good ends up “winning.”

In the end, the twins decide they are to different to live in a world where they both want different things, so a race is held and whoever wins gets to keep and create the world the way they want it to be, as well as make a decision on what happens to the other brother (Rosenburg 632). This part reminds me of the Tortoise and the Hare, where it is not the same as slow and steady wins the race, but the pure hearted one wins, the one who finds the good in everything is the achiever, and the negative one is the loser, facing eternity one way or another. Which comes to the belief and spirits. The beliefs and spirits of the pure, nurturing souls want what is best for everyone, as well as will do anything in their power for peace and land. Whereas the evil only want the satisfaction for themselves, which lead to greedy and selfish moves on their part, kind of like achieving gold in some myths, where people kill their own family to gain more power and gold, they don’t have the right mindset.

From here I would like to point out the archetypes in this myth, which, “Typically, archetype means a perfect or typical specimen, or, in Plato (427-347 BCE), an original model or pattern or prototype. In the arts, archetype refers to a constantly recurring symbol or motif.” The Woman Who Fell From the Sky is filled with these, which is why it makes it so relatable and easy to understand. In this story I feel there are two Mentors, one from each world. First off would be the medicine man from the Upper World, who gave his knowledge in medicine, letting Atahensic survive her disease. The nest one would be Great Turtle, for he is the one who lent his shell for the Earth to be created on. He was the mentor who lead Sky Woman in the right direction. However, the Great Turtle can also been seen as the Shapeshifter for this exact reason. Next, I would like to point out the mixture of The Shadow and the Trickster, both who would be Evil Twin, for he is mischievous and the dark of the story. When it comes to the Good Twin, he is different the archetype of The Maiden, or the Innocent, for he is as pure as the wind and only wants the best for not only himself, but more importantly, the people and creatures around him. And Lastly, The Mother, which of course would be Atahensic, or Sky Woman, for she is there to create the earth and nurture those upon it.

With this in mind, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky is a classic and should be read by every human being for it shows the pureness in out earth and people, as well as shows the evil as well, teaching us how to stay away from it. If I could relate a story or character to relate to this story or plot I would suggest Pocahontas, for one will see the pureness in her soul, as well as the nurture in her spirit, and the Earth Mother who feels it all as the tree of life.

Rosenburg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. 3rd. Chicago: NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, 1999. 627-633. Print.

"Woman Who Fell From the Sky ." Myths Encyclopedia . N.p., 2012 . Web. 14 Mar 2012. <http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Wa-Z/Woman-Who-Fell-From-the-Sky.html>.

The Woman Who Fell From the Sky

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Sky Woman

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What One Should Get From The Woman Who Fell From the Sky

Great Turtle, Great Island

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