THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
In a vision, the Indian through his mysterious eyes
Sees yonder in the distant skies,
A scene sublime of the past ages,
That for aye will enchant bards and sages.
On His mighty Throne, high in the infinite realms of Heaven, sat the
great ruler of the stars and endless skies, Wah-pec-wah-mow (God). As
he peered down through the darkness of a cheerless and lonely space,
He created a new world, the earth on which we live. He first made the
soil of the earth and placed it in a buck-skin sack. He opened the sack
and shook the soil from it; it fell down into the chasm of darkness,
and Wah-pec-wah-mow could not see anything but the intense darkness. He
commanded that the rays of light should penetrate the awful darkness,
and there should alternately be night and day. The sun to shine by day
and the moon to shine by night, to break the awful stillness of this
once dark and cheerless world.
Gazing down from His Throne on high, Wah-pec-wah-mow saw the world he
had created was a desolate waste without human life, or life of any
kind. He now began the transformation of the new world, and lo, the
once barren surface of the earth was clothed in verdure; forests lifted
their giant branches sky-ward; tranquil streams flowed and great rivers
wended their way to the ocean.
The first living thing placed upon the earth was the white deer
(Moon-chay-poke). The white deer roamed over the hills, mountains,
in the valleys and on the plains. He was the pride and dignity of
the animal kingdom. This is why the Klamath Indians revere the white
deer that is so sacred to their hearts and use the skin as an emblem
of purity, in one of their greatest festivals, or worships, which
is termed in English as, “The White Deer-skin Dance.” In the Indian
language it is called, “Oh-pure-ah-wah”; which does not mean dance but
means one of their most sacred religious festivals.
The next living creature that Wah-pec-wah-mow placed upon the earth was
the red eagle, Hay-wan-alth, who has ever since ruled as the monarch of
the skies. The Indians prize the feathers of this eagle very highly,
and use them in their great festival. In the decoration of their
head-gear, they take a single feather, fasten it in the hair at the
back of the head, arranging it so that it stands straight up. They also
use the feathers of the bald eagle, Per-gone-gish, and the gray eagle,
Per-gish, sometimes as a substitute for the feathers of the red eagle.
After the white deer and red eagle was placed upon the earth,
Wah-pec-wah-mow now created all the other animals of the earth. Some
were to roam upon the plains, others in the forests, some to eat grass
and others to devour other animals, etc.
Wah-pec-wah-mow did not give our people any single day during the
week or month, as a day of worship, but gave them a certain season
of the year in which to hold their religious ceremonies. This season
of worshipful ceremonies usually begins in the month of September,
and lasts for several days. It is the season of the year when the
water of the rivers and brooks ebb lowest, and the summer is almost
ready to wane into the glories of Autumn. This season is called,
“Kne-wal-la-taw,” the eighth month of the year, according to our way of
reckoning time.
When Wah-pec-wah-mow had finished creating the plant and animal life of
the earth, He then created the first real man. He made the first man
of the soil of the earth, and placed him in the beautiful valley of
Cheek-cheek-alth. This valley was located in a far off northern clime.
When the first man was created and he became a living being upon the
earth, Wah-pec-wah-mow said to him, “You are a living man.” God named
this man He-quan-neck. Inspired with the breath of life, He-quan-neck
first saw the light of day in this sweet valley of sunshine, flowers,
fruits and herbs. Among the growing herbs was the herb walth-pay,
which has a forked root. God saw that the man was lonely in this
sunny valley, and he was not pleased with his work. Wah-pec-wah-mow
now requested He-quan-neck to blow his nose, which he did, and
immediately the forked root, or walth-pay turned into a living woman,
Kay-y-yourn-nak. Man now became blessed with a living companion and for
a time they dwelt together in the chaste life of peace and happiness.
Our tradition has been handed down through the long centuries, the
first dwelling place of man and woman was far away in a northern clime.
It would seem a distant land across the waters from the North American
continent that is located in the northern part of the world, which we
call Cheek-cheek-alth.
Man and woman in the valley of Cheek-cheek-alth knew no sin, two pure
souls were they in this valley of perpetual sunshine and flowers.
The loneliness of two human beings dawned upon Wah-pec-wah-mow so
he decided to have the earth populated with people. He now caused
He-quan-neck and Kay-y-yourn-nah to fall asleep, and while they slept
He caused the snake to crawl across the woman’s bare abdomen, that
awakened the sleepers, and this opened their eyes to their nudeness and
thereafter they knew sin. The finer senses of the woman awoke, as she
became deeply humiliated at the sight of her naked self, and she began
to fasten leaves together from the herb, Cur-poo-sa-gon, out of which
she made an apron to clothe herself. Thus the first garment that woman
wore was from the leaves of this wonderful plant. This plant grows in
abundance along the lower Klamath river and its surrounding regions,
and the little Indian girls up to this day like to gather these leaves,
rub their face and hands with and wear them upon their heads under
their caps. These leaves have a very strong and unpleasant odor.
Wah-pec-wah-mow commanded the man and woman to go forth and bring
children upon the earth. A curse fell upon the woman, that she should
bear children with pain, therefore every woman after her, through all
the long centuries has had to endure this hardship. The first children
were born some with light hair and fair skin and blue eyes, and some
with black hair, dark skin and black eyes and as they married they
would mate with black hair, the others with light hair and when they
left the old land Cheek-cheek-alth they were not so dark, many of them
were light haired, fair and blue eyed.
Wah-pec-wah-mow put a curse upon the snake that it should crawl upon
its belly as long as the earth should last.
God’s laws were that every man and woman should marry and bring forth
children. These people were taught to obey the laws and be honest.
They increased in number until they became very numerous, and at that
time, they all talked the same language. As time sped by they became
very numerous and Wah-pec-wah-mow now caused our people, the Indians,
to start on their long journey, away from their native haunts and
childhood’s land, Cheek-cheek-alth. We do not know how long, but they
wandered thus in search of a new land, leaving behind them only a
memory of the old land. A land that claims its own no more in life and
like a people in exile they wandered on.