COVE

This 1936 oil painting by Ernest Smith is titled Sky Woman, and it depicts a scene from a popular Iroquois creation story which describes how the birth of two brothers, and the fall of their mother, impacted the creation of the “Great Island” (“Bookmachine”). There are many differing perspectives on how this story unfolded, but the first interpretation of this story states that, as the picture depicts, the Sky Woman lived amongst mankind on an island in the sky. The Sky Woman was pregnant with twins, but she was pushed by her husband, who was jealous of the children, into the ocean below. On her descent into the dark watery abyss, a few other sky people jumped as well to slow her fall, and these people took the form of birds and other water creatures (Mitchell 50). One of these water creatures was a turtle who swam to the bottom of the ocean to gather mud to put on its own back to cushion her fall (H.B.Z. 32).

Other sources state that these two worlds, the upper and lower worlds, were very dissimilar, and they depict the woman’s descent in different ways. These depictions say that the Sky Woman laid down to rest and while asleep, she sunk to the dark world beneath her. This dark world was filled with monsters, and they all gathered around the place where she was expected to land. They came together, but they could not decide on how they should catch her. Fortunately, a large turtle volunteered to catch the woman on its back and sustain her life and the lives of her children. In both depictions, the turtle then grows in size and becomes a “Great Island” for the twins to grow up on (Cusick 13). The twins grew up to be complete opposites, for one was named Enigorio, the good mind, and the other was named Enigonhahetgea, the bad mind. The good mind created everything on Earth including, “creeks and rivers . . . and numerous species of animals of the smallest and greatest, to inhabit the forests, and fishes of all kinds to inhabit the waters” (Cusick 13). He also created human beings and allowed them to inhabit the island as well. During this time, the dark mind was also making creations, but these were meant to harm the humans, such as an assortment of reptiles. The two brothers continued to feud until finally, the bad mind challenged the good mind to a fight in which the winner would be able to rule over the land. In the end, the good mind prevailed and the bad mind, “. . . sinks down to eternal doom, and became the Evil Spirit” (Cusick 13). On the contrary, the good mind becomes the Great Spirit, seen throughout a variety of other Native American cultural documents and stories, which is the god that many tribes across North America worshipped at the time.

Works Cited

Bookmachine. “Native American Creation Stories.” Jesse’s Blog, jesselatour.blogspot.com/2012/12/native-american-creation-stories.html. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.

Cusick, David. “David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations First-A Tale of the Foundation of the Great Island, (Now North America), the Two Infants Born, and the Creation of the Universe. Second-a Real Account of the Early Settlers of North America, and Their Dissensions. Third-Origin of the Kingdom of the Five Nations, Which Was Called a Long House: The Wars, Fierce Animals, &c.” The Project Gutenberg eBook of David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations, by David Cusick, 23 Mar. 2024, www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/57237/pg57237-images.html.

H.B.Z. “The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: The Iroquois Story of Creation.” Horn Book Magazine, vol. 69, no. 3, May 1993, p. 338. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9306105848&site=ehost-live.

Mitchell, George. “Walking with Sky Woman: Towards a Future Informed by Land, Balance, and the Feminine.” Living Histories: A Past Studies Journal, ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/lhps/article/view/16309. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.