Cherokee rise from water - creation story

Creation - Spring & Easter
You do not know the extent of waters you haven't been to. (Zanzibar)






Cherokee flag


To the Cherokee, the world began with water and sky. The animals lived above the sky, and no people existed. When the animals decided they needed space to expand, the water beetle volunteered to see what he could find under the water. He dived deep down, right to the bottom, and all he found was mud. As he brought the mud to the surface of the water, the mud started to get larger and larger. The earth was formed, but it was soft and soggy. The animals therefore attached it to the sky by four ropes, in the hope that the land would become dry.

A bird went down to check on the land, and came back to say it was still too muddy and too flat. By the time great buzzard flew over the land, he could see it had become solid. He flew in to look more closely – some say he was just tired – and the wind from his wings created mountains and valleys. The Cherokee say that is why their territory is so mountainous.





The animals climbed down to earth on a rainbow, and pulled the sun from behind the rainbow to give them light. However, the sun was in one spot, and it burnt some of the animals because it was just too hot and bright. So the animals put the sun in the sky, and made a path for it to travel to so everyone could share the light.

The Creator-God put plants on the earth, and told the plants and animals to stay awake for seven days and seven nights. Some animals, like the owl, managed to follow the instruction, and they received the gift of being able to see in the dark. Among the plants, those that stayed awake, like the pines, were able to keep their leaves during the winter.

People were made last of all. The first man hit the first woman with a fish and told her to multiply. At first new babies were born after just seven days. Later, because people feared multiplying too fast, women could have only one child in a year.