The Flood: Choctaw LegendHow does sassafras attach to Native American creation legends? The picture here is not Mississippi, Choctaw country, but it sets an overall mood.
We know that sassafras was banned after inadequate testing and after thousands of years of use and reference in cultural lore in the Americas, including in religious legend.
Should we not take a second look at the discard pile.
Do go to www://choctawindian.com/, and read the tale aloud to yourself. It is sassafras that saves the life of the last human before the Flood. This is not the creation myth I was looking for from eastern countries, but this flood story may be even better.
The Choctaws are (were?) a matriarchal society, with roots in the Mississippi-Alabama areas, and seeing nature's bounty as symbolic of a mother's love. See www"//choctawindian.com/.
They lost out when the European Patriarchal and conquering cultures arrived.
Their Creation story is at that site. I found elsewhere their Great Flood story, with parallels to our Noah. The flood looks like a tsunami, rather than after a long rain. Read the www.tc.umn.edu/%7Emboucher/mikebouchweb/choctaw/flood1 for Ancient Choctaw Legend.
1 comment:
Thanks so much for posting about the Choctaw! I am writing a research paper for my class on sassafras albidum and its uses by Native American tribes. You're the best.
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