In a quest to find something ritualistic I decided to delve deeper into the Pueblo creation stories.
Doing so I discovered the fascinating story of Shipap, which is The Pueblo land of the dead, an underground kingdom of the corn-goddess, Iyatiku. This place is regarded not only as the place to which the dead go but also as the place from which the tribes emerged and whence babies come.
Loosely speaking the myth has parallels with the creation story of Adam and Eve. In the Shipap story the Pueblos begin life underground, in a place near perfect albeit underground. The pueblos are for the large part happy, going about their lives, but the actions of a few. These few find life is boring for them and so they start to behaving in an unruly, lewd and promiscuos manner. The rest of the pueblos decide its time to leave this world, and in so doing leave this group of heathens behind. A seed is planted and a tall vine grows. Using this vine as a ladder they ascend to the roof of the cave world. They chip, scrape and work away at the roof until a whole is made through a new brighter, better world. Ascending the vine the good pueblos leave the heathens behind, sealing the roof and trapping them below. In short, this same pattern happens three more times, with the final group of pueblos eventually emerging into what we know as earth.
Loosely speaking the myth has parallels with the creation story of Adam and Eve. In the Shipap story the Pueblos begin life underground, in a place near perfect albeit underground. The pueblos are for the large part happy, going about their lives, but the actions of a few. These few find life is boring for them and so they start to behaving in an unruly, lewd and promiscuos manner. The rest of the pueblos decide its time to leave this world, and in so doing leave this group of heathens behind. A seed is planted and a tall vine grows. Using this vine as a ladder they ascend to the roof of the cave world. They chip, scrape and work away at the roof until a whole is made through a new brighter, better world. Ascending the vine the good pueblos leave the heathens behind, sealing the roof and trapping them below. In short, this same pattern happens three more times, with the final group of pueblos eventually emerging into what we know as earth.
There is something about the wanton acts of the few against the will of the many that I felt I could explore.
A mythical conflict, played out on an underground stage...
1 comment:
Not gonna lie this explanation is dog water lol. And the validity is already questionable when it has mother church influences.
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