Native American mythology facts for kids

Coyote and Opossum appear in the stories of a number of tribes.

The mythologies of the indigenous peoples of North America comprise many bodies of traditional narratives associated with religion from a mythographical perspective. Indigenous North American belief systems include many sacred narratives. Such spiritual stories are deeply based in Nature and are rich with the symbolism of seasons, weather, plants, animals, earth, water, sky and fire. The principle of an all embracing, universal and omniscient Great Spirit, a connection to the Earth, diverse creation narratives and collective memories of ancient ancestors are common. Traditional worship practices are often a part of tribal gatherings with dance, rhythm, songs and trance (e.g. the sun dance).

Algonquian (Northeastern US, Great Lakes)

From the full moon fell Nokomis - from The Story of Hiawatha, 1910

• Abenaki mythology – religious ceremonies are led by shamans, called Medeoulin (Mdawinno or medicine man).
• Anishinaabe traditional beliefs – a North American tribe located primarily in the Great Lakes area.
• Cree mythology – a North American band most commonly found west of Ontario in the Canadian Prairies, although there are tribes located in the Northwest Territories and Quebec.
• Leni Lenape mythology – a North American tribe from the area of the Delaware River.

Plains Natives

• Blackfoot mythology – a North American tribe or band who currently live in Alberta and Montana. Originally west of the Great Lakes in Montana and Alberta as participants in Plains Natives culture.
• Crow religion – a North American tribe who currently live in southeastern Montana. The shaman of the tribe was known as an Akbaalia ("healer").
• Lakota mythology – a North American tribe originally located in The Dakotas, also known as the Sioux.
• Pawnee mythology – a North American tribe originally located in Nebraska, United States.

Muskogean (Southeastern US) and Iroquois (Northeastern US)

• Iroquois mythology – a historically powerful northeast Native American confederacy known as the Five Nations.
• Cherokee mythology – a North American culture situated in the Southeastern United States and in Oklahoma.
• Choctaw mythology – a North American culture in the Southeastern United States and Oklahoma. Originally from the Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana area.
• Creek mythology – a North American culture in the Southeastern United States and Oklahoma. Originally from the Alabama, Georgia, and Florida area. The shaman was called an Alektca.
• Ho-Chunk mythology – the Ho-Chunk and Winnebago are North Americans tribes which were once a single tribe living in Wisconsin.
• Wyandot religion – a North American people (sometimes referred to as the Huron) originally from Ontario, Canada, and surrounding areas.
• Seneca mythology – a North American people, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy from the Northeastern United States.

Alaska (United States) and Canada

• Alaska Native religion – the beliefs of the Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, and other Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
• Gwich'in religion – an indigenous group of First Nations and Alaska Natives (Alaskan Athabaskans) living mainly above the Arctic Circle.
• Haida mythology – a nation living in Haida Gwaii and the Alaska Panhandle.
• Inuit religion – a North American people culturally similar to other peoples of the Arctic.
• Tsimshian mythology – an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast living on the British Columbia Coast and the Alaska's Annette Islands.

Northwestern US and Western Canada

• Kwakwaka'wakw mythology – an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
• Lummi – a North American tribe from the Pacific Northwest, Washington state area.
• Nuu-chah-nulth mythology – a a group of indigenous peoples living on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
• Salish mythology – a North American tribe or band in Montana, Idaho, Washington and British Columbia, Canada.

Uto-Aztecan (Southwestern US and Mexico)

• Kuksu (religion) – a religion in Northern California practiced by members within several Indigenous peoples of California.
• Miwok mythology – a North American tribe in Northern California.
• Ohlone mythology – a North American tribe in Northern California.
• Pomo religion – a North American tribe in Northern California.
• Ute mythology – a North American tribe located in both the Northwestern and Southwestern United States.

Other southwestern US

• Diné Bahaneʼ (Navajo) – a North American nation from the Southwestern United States.
• Hopi mythology – a North American tribe in Arizona.
• Zuni mythology – a North American tribe in New Mexico.

Central America

• Aztec mythology – an ancient Mesoamerican empire centered in the valley of Mexico.
• Maya mythology – an ancient Central American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America.
• Olmec religion – an ancient Central American people of south-central Mexico, in the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco.
• Purépecha religion – a Central American people centered around Lake Pátzcuaro.

South America

• Chilote mythology – the cultures of Chono and Huilliche, who live on the Chiloé Archipelago, off the coast of southern Chile.
• Guarani mythology – an indigenous people of the Gran Chaco, especially in Paraguay and parts of the surrounding areas of Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia.
• Inca mythology (Religion in the Inca Empire) – a South American empire based in the central Andes mountain range.
• Mapuche religion – an indigenous people of the Southern Cone, especially in Chile and some regions of Argentina.
• Muisca mythology – the indigenous people of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the modern Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

Images for kids

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  Proportion of Indigenous Americans in each county of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico as of the 2020 United States Census

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  Quetzalcoatl (The Plumed Serpent), the god of the air. And Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror), the god of the earth.