In mythology a deep-going difference between the three culture areas
again appears. The Northwestern mythologies are characterized primarily
by a very deeply impressed conception of a previous, now vanished,
race, who by first living the life and performing the actions of
mankind were the producers of all human institutions and arts as well
as of some of the phenomena of nature. Second in importance in the
Northwest are myths dealing with culture-heroes more or less of the
trickster type familiar from so many other parts of North America.
In Central California there is always a true creation of the world, of
mankind, and of its institutions. The conception of the creator is
often quite lofty, and tricky exploits or defeats are usually not
connected with him. Often there is an antithesis between this
beneficent and truly divine creator and a second character, usually the
Coyote, who in part cooeperates with the creator but in part thwarts
him, being responsible for the death of mankind and other imperfections
in the world-scheme. In the northern half of the Central region the
creator is generally anthropomorphic; if not, he is merged into one
personage with the more or less tricky Coyote. In the southern half of
the region the creators seem always to be animals with the dignified
and wise eagle as the chief. The myths of the Central region not
directly concerned with creation are mostly stories of adventure, of
much the same type as European folk and fairy tales. They do not
explain the origin of phenomena except in a casual, isolated way, and
but rarely are of ceremonial import.
In Southern California there is no creation. The various animate and
inanimate existences in the world are born from heaven and earth as the
first parents. Sometimes heaven and earth are regarded as the first
concrete existences, who were, however, preceded by a series of psychic
beings grouped in pairs. The bulk of the Southern origin myth consists
of a history of mankind, at first as a single tribe and later centered
in the tribe which tells the story. In the successive experiences of
this body of people, which are accompanied by more or less journeying,
the world is gradually brought to its present stage, and all the
institutions of mankind, particularly of the narrating tribe but also
of others, are developed. The people are under the leadership of one or
two great leaders, at least one of whom always dies or departs after
his beneficent directions. The thoroughly Southwestern and Pueblo
character of this long origin myth is obvious. It is usually followed
to a greater or less extent by migration legends recounting the
wandering and conflicts of different tribes or clans. The remaining
myths are in plot essentially not very different from the adventure
stories of the Central region, but both much longer and more elaborate,
and at the same time distinctively ritualistic in that they form the
basis or framework of the singing ceremonies that have been described.
As these ceremonies themselves are nothing but myths, there is neither
need nor room for traditionary accounts explaining the origin of the
ceremonies.
An identification of myth and ceremony that is in many ways similar to
that prevalent in Southern California is characteristic also of the
Northwestern region, where the formulae which constitute the essential
religious elements, as well as being the direct means, of most
supernatural accomplishment, are nothing but myths. The Northwestern
formula is a myth, rarely a direct prayer, and practically every more
serious myth is either in whole or in part a also a formula. In
purpose, however, as well as in rendering, the spoken myth-formulae of
the Northwest and the sung myth-ceremonies of the South are different,
the former having always a definite practical result in view, whereas
the latter have no aim other than their own recital.
Thus the mythology of Southern California resembles that of the
Southwest rather than that of the remainder of the state. That of the
Northwestern region shows affinities to the North Pacific Coast in its
prevalence of the culture-hero and trickster over the creator. The most
marked special characteristic of the Northwestern mythology, other than
its practical use of myths for religious purposes in the shape of
formulas, is its strong and definite, though inconsistently carried
out, idea of the previous race which is parallel to but distinct from
mankind, and which is the originator, not by any act of creation but by
merely living its life, of everything human except mankind itself, the
origin of which is never accounted for. This idea of a previous
supernatural race analogous to mankind crops out to some extent in
almost all North American mythologies, and particularly in other parts
of California: but it seems nowhere to be so deep-seated and so freely
expressed as in this region. The members of this vanished race are
almost always strictly human, in Northwestern California, and not
animals or personifications. They are nothing but men, living the life
of the Indians, transposed into a mythic supernatural age, and by the
fact of their mere existence regarded as the originators of the present
condition of the world. They therefore leave no room for a creator, and
but little for the culture hero, whose exploits, when not of purely
personal significance, consequently consist mainly of the destruction
of evil beings.
If the mythology of Northwestern California in spite of its partial
northern affinities accordingly has a dominant character all its own,
the same is also true of the larger, more representative Central
region. A true creator, and a full and consistent attempt at an account
of the creation, are found nowhere else in North America, or at least
only sporadically and carried out with an apparently much less degree
of thoroughness. The remainder of the Central Californian mythology
however scarcely presents any unique qualities, even some of the
specific myth-episodes, such as the favorite one of the bear and deer
children, being found over considerable territories outside of
California. Even the important characteristic of the presence of
creation-myths is in a measure a negative one, for from a world view
some approach to such a myth may be expected among most peoples,
whether primitive or civilized, and it is primarily only in America
that special bents of mind and of religious thought have supplanted the
idea of creation by the culture hero, the tribal history, and other
conceptions. We are therefore not far from right if we regard the
unique development of creation myths over the greater part of
California as merely a part of a general tendency of the California
Indians towards simplicity and lack of strongly marked peculiar and
American qualities in any one direction, a tendency which has already
been emphasized in other aspects of their religion, and which must be
said to characterize their whole life and culture.
Ideas as to the world and the existence of the dead vary from tribe to
tribe but present nothing specially distinctive. The world is usually
regarded as surrounded by water, sometimes as floating upon it. It is
often secured by four or five pillars, ropes, or other supports. Beyond
where earth and sky meet there is often another land. The dead
sometimes go below, sometimes above, sometimes across the ocean to the
west, and sometimes to more or less distant parts of this earth. The
entrance to the world of the dead is pointed out by some tribes. People
who have temporarily died have been there and returned to describe it.
Dances constitute the principal occupation of the dead. No ideas of
future rewards and punishments based on conduct in this life have yet
been found. If such ideas exist they must be very scantily developed.
As in other parts of the world, there are occasional ideas of
transmigration of souls into animals, but these conceptions are nowhere
systematically worked out or of any religious importance.