NATAMST 151 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sacred History, Awanyu, Lewis And Clark Expedition

• School: Berkeley
• Department: Native American Studies
• Course: NATAMST 151
• Professor: Diane Pearson

Document Summary

History begins with the earth -- pulled out of the water by the old man . No humanity at first -- all beings existed on equal footing. One of the original beings, coyote , had power to change the world. He broke a dish dam at celilo falls on columbia river & salmon appeared upstream. Afterwards, coyote saved all original beings from terrible monster living in. He killed the monster & from its body he determined the character of all the tribes except the nez perce. Reminded of this by another being named fox, coyote created the nez. Perce by mixing the monster"s blood with water & sprinkling it on earth. At end of narrative, coyote says, in effect, that all beings must prepare themselves b/c human race will soon appear. Thus nez perce were created from earth, water & monster"s blood in land. Where they now reside in survive by sharing their lives, literally, with fish, game & roots.