Native American Legends
How the Great Chiefs made the Moon and the Sun
A Hopi Legend
Once upon a time, when our people first came up from the villages
of the underworld, there was no sun. There was no moon. They saw
only dreary darkness and felt the coldness. They looked hard for
firewood, but in the darkness they found little.
One day as they stumbled around, they saw a light in the distance.
The Chief sent a messenger to see what caused the light. As the
messenger approached it, he saw a small field containing corn, beans,
squash, watermelons, and other foods. All around the field a great
fire was burning. Nearby stood a straight, handsome man wearing
around his neck a turquoise necklace of four strands. Turquoise
pendants hung from his ears.
"Who are you?" the owner of the field asked the messenger.
"My people and I have come from the cave world below,"
the messenger replied. "And we suffer from the lack of light
and the lack of food."
"My name is Skeleton," said the owner of the field. He
showed the stranger the terrible mask he often wore and then gave
him some food. "Now return to your people and guide them to
When all the people had arrived, Skeleton began to give them food
from his field. They marveled that, although the crops seemed so
small, there was enough food for everyone. He gave them ears of
corn for roasting; he gave them beans, squashes, and watermelons.
The people built fires for themselves and were happy.
Later, Skeleton helped them prepare fields of their own and to
make fires around them. There they planted corn and soon harvested
a good crop.
"Now we should move on," the people said. "We want
to find the place where we will live always."
Away from the fires it was still dark. The Great Chiefs, at a council
with Skeleton, decided to make a moon like the one they had enjoyed
in the underworld.
They took a piece of well-prepared buffalo hide and cut from it
a great circle. They stretched the circle tightly over a wooden
hoop and then painted it carefully with white paint. When it was
entirely dry, they mixed some black paint and painted, all around
its edge, completing the picture of the moon. When all of this was
done, they attached a stick to the disk and placed it on a large
square of white cloth. Thus they made a symbol of the moon.
Then the Great Chiefs selected one of the young men and bade him
to stand on top of the moon symbol. They took up the cloth by its
corners and began to swing it back and forth, higher and higher.
As they were swinging it, they sang a magic song. Finally, with
a mighty heave, they threw the moon disk upward. It continued to
fly swiftly, upward and eastward.
As the people watched, they suddenly saw light in the eastern sky.
The light became brighter and brighter. Surely something was burning
there, they thought. Then something bright with light rose in the
east. That was the moon!
Although the moon made it possible for the people to move around
with less stumbling, its light was so dim that frequently the workers
in the fields would cut up their food plants instead of the weeds.
It was so cold that fires had to be kept burning around the fields
all the time.
Again the Great Chiefs held a council with Skeleton, and again
they decided that something better must be done.
This time, instead of taking a piece of buffalo hide, they took
a piece of warm cloth that they themselves had woven while they
were still in the underworld. They fashioned this as they had fashioned
the disk of buffalo hide, except that this time they painted the
face of the circle with a copper-colored paint.
They painted eyes and a mouth on the disk and decorated the forehead
with colors that the Great Chiefs decided upon according to their
desires. Around the circle, they then wove a ring of corn husks,
arranged in a zig zag design. Around the circle of corn husks, they
threaded a string of red hair from some animal. To the back of the
disk, they fastened a small ring of corn husks. Through that ring
they poked a circle of eagle feathers.
To the top of each eagle feather, the old Chief tied a few little
red feathers taken from the top of the head of a small bird. On
the forehead of the circle, he attached an abalone shell. Then the
sun disk was completed.
Again the Great Chiefs chose a young man to stand on top of the
disk, which they had placed on a large sheet. As they had done with
the moon disk, they raised the cloth by holding its corners. Then
they swung the sun disk back and forth, back and forth, again and
again. With a mighty thrust, they threw the man and the disk far
into the air. It traveled fast into the eastern sky and disappeared.
All the people watched it carefully. In a short time, they saw
light in the east as if a great fire were burning. Soon the new
sun rose and warmed the Earth with its kindly rays.
Now with the moon to light the Earth at night and the sun to light
and warm it by day, all the people decided to pick up their provisions
and go on. As they started, the White people took a trail that led
them far to the south. The Hopis took one to the north, and the
Pueblos took one midway between the two. Thus they wandered on to
the places where they were to live.
The Hopis wandered a long time, building houses and planting crops
until they reached the mesas where they now live. The ruins of the
ancient villages are scattered to the very beginnings of the great
river of the canyon-- the Colorado.
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