MYTH-601 Lessons

Eager to learn about another culture’s myths, Professor Morgan’s students gather outside the door to her classroom. At the appointed hour, the students enter the room to take their seats, but instead stop in their tracks, a bit frightened by the image displayed at the front of the room. A terrifying creature or person - they are not sure - wearing the skull of an elk and holding a snake in its arm stares at them from the front.

Skinwalker

Now, now, my dears, it is simply a picture! Do come and take your seats, I promise this skinwalker (in truth, a dark wizard) will not actually come out of the drawing and hurt you. Yes, I’ve checked it for enchantments. This image is a mere representation of someone’s imagination - nothing more.

Today we are studying the mythology of the Navajo people. Our focus will stray a bit from actual myth (although we will look at a couple), to magical creatures and a few magical occurrences that have found themselves intertwined with Navajo myths and legends.

As you may recall from Ancient Studies Year Five, the Navajo are actually a branch of the Athabaskan people who migrated south, following the path of the Thunderbird, to settle in what is modern-day Arizona. The original settlement was mostly comprised of witches, wizards, and Muggles who were fascinated by the Thunderbird and wanted to learn more about it through intense study in its native homeland. Excited as they were to settle in the area, they were not prepared to encounter a great number of other magical creatures - all of which were, and continue to be, quite dangerous and lethal to humans in general.

Before we get to the dangerous creatures, I’d like to show you a more positive, lighthearted myth that will settle your nerves a bit. Similar to the Greek myth of the sun being carried across the sky by a chariot, this story tells of the sun god, Johano-ai, riding one of his five winged horses across the skies, carrying the sun with him from east to west. In the myth, each of his horses is actually made of a different material: turquoise, white shell, pearly shell, red shell, and coal. Johano-ai chooses which horse to ride depending on what he wishes the weather to be. It is fair when he rides the turquoise, white shell, or pearly shell horses, and stormy when the red shell and coal horses are chosen. We know, of course, that winged horses are actual creatures, and that they are no more capable of carrying the sun across the sky than you or I, however it is an interesting myth nonetheless, and indicates at least some familiarity with these magical creatures.

Johano-ai is a central character in many Navajo myths, as are his sons, Monster Slayer and Born of Water (yes, those are their names). When the mythology of a culture features a god named Monster Slayer, well, you can imagine the themes of the stories in which they appear. In fact, these twin boys were tasked with killing three of the Anaye - monstrous beings that the Navajo believed came from another realm.

The first of these monsters  the twins were asked to slay was called Big Monster, whose thirst was so great that he continued to drink up all of the water in the land. Using lightning bolts, the favoured tool for the job, Monster Slayer struck down the creature with a series of blasts that hit his foot, hip, back, and finally his head. Born of Water ensured that the creatures heart and soul, which were apparently stored in a neighbouring cave, could not mix again with his physical form, meaning the creature could never come back to life.

The second creature that the twins killed is referred to as the Horned Monster. Monster Slayer again used lightning to bring about this creature’s demise.

The third creature actually referred to a mated pair of creatures described as Rock Monster Eagles. The name sounds awfully confusing, but the creatures were described as having the ability to fly, kill adult humans, and drink blood. They were also nocturnal. Monster Slayer picked these creatures off one by one as they returned home to feed, using the lightning as his weapon once again.

Now, what did Born of Water do during these events? It was Monster Slayer who did all of the, ah, slaying, afterall. Born of Water’s role can most simply be described as the sidekick, although do not think of him as lesser than his brother. Born of Water was the counsell to Monster Slayer. He provided guidance and support to Monster Slayer during these trials, and even served as bait during the incident with the Rock Monster Eagles. Born of Water may not be directly responsible for the deaths of the creatures, but he was crucial to the success of Monster Slayer.

Let’s take a closer look at these specific creatures now. In reverse order of their deaths, let’s begin with a being that we know of that flies, drinks blood, has skin as cold as stone, and is nocturnal. Any guesses? Yes, a vampire. Vampires are most likely one of the beings that the Navajo people encountered in their new home that they may not have encountered in their previous homeland, and therefore did not know the proper name for. Vampires certainly can be terrifying and deadly. Now I know that the description of the Rock Monster Eagles includes the ability to fly - which we know vampires cannot do, but most scholars agree that this reference is more of an embellishment to the myth that was added at some point in history.

Secondly, what could a horned monster be? Well, quite frankly, it could be a number of magical (and deadly) creatures, but based on geography, it was most likely a horned serpent of some sort.

Horned Serpent. By Dracarian

Discerning the first creature that the twins killed requires a bit more theory than fact, but the reference to the creature’s size, as well as its bipedal appearance in the myth leads researchers to believe that the creature could very well have been a giant. Now I agree that a giant would not be able to separate his heart and soul from his body for safe keeping, however this reference may simply indicate just how incredibly difficult it is to kill a giant.

Big Monster

Skinwalkers

In addition to the vampires, giants, and horned serpents, the Navajo were in an area known to suffer from werewolf transformations on a fairly regular basis, and the area was also subject to droughts, wildfires, dust storms, flash floods, and even an occasional tornado, hurricane, or earthquake. Given these seemingly oppressive and unpredictable living conditions, it is not surprising that some witches and wizards went stark-raving mad. It is due to one such situation that the myth of the Navajo skinwalker - a reference to a dark witch or wizard - was created.

The witch in question, whose name has been lost to time, was actually an incredibly skilled priest in her clan whose animagus form was an elk. Whether you had a stomach ache, a magical malady, or were simply looking for a pep talk to encourage you to court the girl from the neighbouring tent, she was the witch to consult. She had a large family and was blissfully happy.

Alas, a year of great tragedy began. First, a drought in early spring caused the crops to start slowly. Not having time to sink their roots firmly into the ground, the majority of them were washed away by a flash flood that arrived courtesy of the quick melting snow from the mountains. Undeterred, the clan work diligently to grow what they could. Ultimately, this work was futile, as a tornado came and decimated the clan. Although the witch lived, her entire family perished. Wracked with grief, she grabbed the hide of an elk - the only possession she had left - and fled into the wilderness.

Over time, she used her Animagus form more and her human form less. She began stealing food from other tribes, and sometimes even destroyed some of their crops with her magic. She wore only the elk hide, earning her the name “skinwalker”, as she wore the skin of another creature while in human form, and often appeared in animal form.

Perhaps the legend would have faded over time if not for one final devastating event that solidified the witch into history, and into the myths of the Navajo. Tired of having their crops stolen and tampered with, a few of the villages started trying to track the witch they called Skinwalker. They followed her silently for several nights, until she entered another tribe’s camp and began to steal food once again. At this, the men descended into the camp with the intent of capturing and puting an end to the witch. Unfortunately, the men at this neighbouring camp were also trying to stop Skinwalker’s raids and had been lying in wait for her arrival. To this group, it seemed as if Skinwalker was leading an army of creatures into their camp, set on their destruction. They acted much as you would expect anyone would when defending their home from intruders; they attacked. The men who had been following Skinwalker, confused in the darkness, assumed that Skinwalker had an army and had led them into a trap. They too did the only reasonable thing for people under attack to do: they struck back.

The great skinwalker battle was short, but horrifically deadly. There were few survivors on either side. Those that had followed Skinwalker fled back to the wilderness and their homes where they told tales of the great horde of skinwalkers that they had been trapped by. The survivors at the neighbouring camp told stories of the army of skinwalkers that had attacked their village, and how only a few had survived. In either case, the story of the Skinwalker became synonymous with evil and dark magic. It affected them to the point where Navajo witches and wizards became hesitant to change into creatures, as they were afraid of being labelled as evil.

The question that remains is what happened to the witch called Skinwalker in the end? Her body was not found after the battle, however the theft and destruction of food and crops ceased as a result of the battle. Some researchers theorize that she may have been so frightened by the violence that her traumatized brain broke even further. They say that she must have transformed into her elk form and remained that way to the end of her days. Other researchers feel that the trauma of the battle may have had the opposite effect - it may have brought her to her senses enough to realise the destruction and death she was causing, and therefore ended her cycle of madness, causing her to flee from the area, and never bother anyone again.

The myths of skinwalkers that survive to this day describe the creatures as dark witches (and sometimes wizards) that kill their families to gain their ability to change into any animal of their choosing. It is also thought that if you look a skinwalker in the eye, it can be absorbed into your body and possess you. They are considered to be completely evil and are said to curse people, livestock, and the lands.

Now that you know the story that created the myth, I am certain that you can see where parts of the myth have come from. The others, such as being possessed by a skinwalker, are most likely features that have been added to the myth over the centuries, most likely based on maladies or injuries that were assumed to have been caused by a skinwalker. Do not forget, my dears, that fear is one of the most powerful forces on the planet. Controlling your fear is a great way to protect yourself from it.

Can You Repeat That?

I do not wish to leave you with such a sad and tragic tale, so please read over this myth as the last one for our lesson today, featuring Coyote, a common character in various mythologies of North America:

Coyote, courtesy of Grand Ours

Coyote was a bit of a trickster, but he had a good heart and most of what he did was to benefit mankind. One day he took it upon himself to slay a giant that was killing everything in its path. Unfortunately, the cave which Coyote entered to try and find the giant was actually the giant’s mouth. The creature was so large that it’s belly was said to fill an entire valley. Nevertheless, Coyote did succeed in slaying the giant by stabbing it in the heart from the inside of its body.

Does this myth sound shockingly familiar? It should! It is exactly the same myth that we saw in our previous lesson on Salish myths. If this surprises you, think back to the origins of the Navajo people. They came from the north - modern day Alaska and the Yukon, to be exact. They traveled down the west coast of Canada and the United States, then inland to their current homeland. They traveled through Salish territory on their way. In fact, they travelled through the lands of a great many cultures, and encountered creatures that were not native to their original homeland, such as the coyote. It is therefore unsurprising that they would adopt the myths of the cultures they encountered along the way.

And this is where I shall leave you for today. I hope that I have not caused and nightmares with today’s lesson. For your next class, and for much of the remainder of this year, you will be taught by Professor Wessex of Ancient Runes fame. I will be around for your midterm next class, which will cover material up to the end of today’s lesson, and will then join you again near the end of term. It has been my absolute pleasure teaching you for the first part of the year, and I look forward to seeing you all again soon! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions throughout the remainder of this year. Good luck!