Religious assimilation

In my last journal entry I mentioned that I did not follow all facets of my Mohawk ancestry because of large similarities with Christian mythology in many of our teachings. I also stated that as I grew older and read up on religion that my cynicism grew. I read of how when the Christianity was "created" after Jesus' death, that they took on aspects of paganism to help convert the pagans. This is kind of what I feel has happened here. A kind of religious assimilation.

Here is a portion of our creation story. I trust that most are familiar with the biblical version of creation.

'In the beginning there was no world, no land, and no people. But there was water as far as the eye could see. High above this world there was a Sky-World. The people who lived here were Onkweshona who were similar to humans.
In this Sky-World there was a man and his wife who was expecting a child. In the middle of the Sky-World grew a Great Tree. It grew many kinds of leaves and fruits. The husband was supposed to stop anyone from harming or taking anything from the tree. The wife had a craving for the bark of the tree. She kept bugging her husband, and even though he knew it was wrong he gave in to her wishes.
The husband dug a hole near the roots of the sacred tree, but he would not get the bark for his wife. She came closer to the hole in the ground of the Sky-World and saw water beneath. She bent over to get a closer look, and as she was grabbing to get the bark of the roots she fell through. As she was falling, she managed to grab some of the roots of the tree.
The woman fell towards the water below. The water birds saw her falling and they flew to catch her on their backs.

Some of the birds flew down to ask the great turtle if she could rest on its back. He said OK. And she was gently placed on his back. The beings in the sky world chose to ignore what was happening below.
The woman asked for the help of the water animals. She told them if they could get dirt she would be able to plant some of the roots she had brought from the Sky-World. Many animals tried; finally it was the muskrat’s turn. He dove into the water and they all waited. After a while his body floated to the top. But he had a crumb of earth in each paw.
The woman placed the dirt on the middle of the turtle’s back. Then the woman began to walk in a circle in the direction of the sun. The earth began to grow.
She continued to walk and walk until she could walk no more. She gave birth to a daughter. They continued to walk and to form turtle island. One day the younger woman fainted. When she awoke there were two arrows placed on her chest. She and her mother continued to walk. They knew that she would bear a child.
The daughter was expecting twins. They argued in their mother’s body as to how they should be born. The right-handed twin wanted to be born the right way. The left-handed twin said no, he came out of his mother’s armpit and killed her. The other twin was born the normal way as all children are born. They buried their mother and from her grave they grew corn, beans and squash. From her heart grew tobacco.
The grandmother raised the twins. The twins had powers to create things. The right-handed twin created the plants and medicines that were beautiful and helpful. The left-handed twin made the created thorns and poisons.

The right-handed twin made the animals that would be prey, and the left handed twin made the animals that would be their predators.
In time the twins became men. They had contest against each other, they played the peach pit game, and they had a lacrosse game and even a battle with clubs. There was no winner. They had a final battle and the left-handed twin was killed. The right- handed twin returned home and the grandmother became angry. In his anger he grabbed her and cut her head off and threw it into the sky.
The right-handed twin lives in the Sky-World and he watches over his favorite people the Onkwehonwe. The left-handed twin lives on the earth and he gets enjoyment from seeing people fighting in wars.'



Now this is a condensed version of this story, but the gist is there. Am I being over skeptical about these similarities? Or is it a warranted assumption that there was some religious assimilation here?

Such similarities are not uncommon, as the Joseph Campbell lectures in the IP indicate. Sometimes these stories spring up independently and seem to be more a feature of the collective unconscious (ie shared features of human perception/conceptualisation/understanding) than via any actual assimilation.

That said, and whilst I enjoyed the story, I didn't find any especially striking biblical similarities here. It read like a lot of creation myths to me.

That was great.

Do you have any other stories you could share?

My line comes from the Sioux peoples and I consider all Native Americans to be my brothers and sisters and I love the stories passed down by our peoples.

Stories get retold. How important those stories are varies. Things change over time. This is a constant.

To be fair, all religions are "created" sometime. Christianity's roots are in Judaism. The Pagan elements didn't show up until the Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity and wanted to convert the people. If you look really really hard, you can find "Christianity" (or elements of) anywhere (and the other way around too). I know Christians who do it just to 'prove' that Christianity is the one true religion. Instead, I look at it as a point of commonality. "We all believe in the same thing guys! Let's all get along "

But you'll find many similarities in many religions all across the world. Maybe partly due to "assimilation" and maybe more I think due to the shared human experience.

something something monomyth something somewhere tzb's class probably goes into further detail. something something.

The things that I see that are similar to me are the sacred tree that no one shall take from, the literal fall of the woman the sky world and the status of "god", and the good twin who resides back in the sky world and is named Shonkwaiahtison (The Creator).

This conversation is helping to cement my conviction and dedication to Jediism. I am only halfway through lesson 1 and I already have made discoveries about myself that I may never have known. Thank you all for your responses so far.

As for Mohawk stories and traditions, all you need to do is ask and I will share everything I know.

As I watched the video for Sacrifice and Bliss, Joseph Campbell spoke of this very topic. He said there are two thoughts on how myths can be similar, even in cultures who are physically on different continents. The first is diffusion. He used te example of agriculture being developed in Asia. When it started to spread throughout the world the hunting cultures incorporated the nuts of the planting cultures to explain the importance of agriculture.

The other idea is that because human beings are physically similar throughout the world and our experiences and psyche are also similar. All cultures seek to explain these experiences and wonders, that there are bound to be similar stories told.