November is Native American Heritage Month. Libraries, Archives, and Museums across the United States take this month to pay tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.
Native American cultures and tribes have wonderful myths, legends, fables, and folklore that have been passed down from generation to generation which can tell us about the peoples from whom these stories came. Although stories sometimes include multiple genres, generally speaking:
§ Myths are stories that try to explain how the natural world works and how we should treat each other. They often begin with allusions to “in times long ago before history as we know it was written…” One myth that most cultures, tribes, or groups of people have is their version of how our world came to be in existence.
§ Legends tend to recount stories about people and their actions or deeds. Legends usually try to teach a lesson, or have a “moral” to the tale as passed down from generation to generation and are embellishments of actual historical events and people (like Robin Hood or King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table).
§ Fables feature animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are given human qualities. Aesop’s Fables is a well-known example.
§ Folklore explores oral history, proverbs, popular beliefs, rituals, customs, and traditions of a specific culture or group of people.
SLCC Libraries have a wide selection of books and electronic resources on Native American myths, legends, fables, and folklore. Be sure to check some of them out! And for more information about Native American Heritage Month, please visithttp://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/about/ which details the history behind this celebration and specific growing collaborative projects related to celebrating Native American Heritage.
The Butterfly Nation
ReplyDeleteA man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day the small opening appeared and he sat and watched the butterfly as it struggled for several hours to force its body through the small hole. Then, it seemed to stop making progress. It appeared that it had gotten as far as it could.
The man decided to help the butterfly, so he snipped of the remaining cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily, but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly. He expected that at any moment the wings would expand and support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened!
In fact the butterfly spent his whole life crawling around with swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required to get through the tiny opening was the Creators way of forcing the fluid from the body up into the wings, so it would be ready for flight once freedom was achieved.
Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If our Creator had allowed us to go through life without struggles, it would cripple us. We could not be as strong as we could have been.
And- we would never fly!
Cindy Morning Sky
Who is the artist of this painting?
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