Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths

'During the earlier years of my life with the Zuñi Indians of western-central New Mexico, from the autumn of 1879 to the winter of 1881-before access to their country had been rendered easy by the completion of the Atlantic and Pacific railroad, -they remained, as regards their social and religious institutions and customs and their modes of thought, if not of daily life, the most archaic of the Pueblo or Aridian peoples. They still continue to be, as they have for centuries been, the most highly developed, yet characteristic and representative of all these people.' Contents: Outline of Spanish-zuñi History Outline of Pristine Zuñi History Outline of ZuñiMytho-sociologic Organization Myths The Genesis of the Worlds, or the Beginning of Newness The Genesis of Men and the Creatures The Gestation of Men and the Creatures The Forthcoming From Earth of the Foremost of Men The Birth From the Sea of the Twain Deliverers of Men The Birth and Delivery of Men and the Creatures The Condition of Men When First Into the World of Daylight Born The Origin of Priests and of Knowledge The Origin of the Raven and the Macaw, Totems of Winter and Summer The Origin and Naming of Totem-clans and Creature Kinds, and the Division and Naming of Spaces and Things The Origin of the Councils of Secrecy or Sacred Brotherhoods The Hardening of the World, and the First Settlement of Men The Beginning of the Search for the Middle of the World, and the Second Tarrying of Men The Learning of War, and the Third Tarrying The Meeting of the People of Dew, and the Fourth Tarrying The Generation of the Seed of Seeds, or the Origin of Corn

Frank Hamilton Cushing (1857-1900) was an American anthropologist and ethnologist. He made pioneering studies of the Zuni Indians of New Mexico by entering into their culture; his work helped establish participant observation as a common anthropological research strategy.