One Hunter
In the north, the First Father and the Twins play the ball game, as they do in Maya myth. They all also meet with beings or animals in the otherworld (Mooney 1901, Radin 1948, Tedlock 1996). At times the father works against these beings, while in some versions, he seems to be working with them against the Twins (Mooney 1901, Swanton 1929).
First Father shares his knowledge of the hunt and the art of the bow and arrow with the Twins. He keeps deer, other animals, and insects in a cave in a mountain. In the Cherokee story, the Twins secretly follow him to the cave, but leave the doorway open for all the animals to escape. The father (Kanati or Lucky Hunter) then kicks over jars of biting and stinging insects that attack the boys as punishment (Mooney 1901). Creek versions of the myth also refer to the father as "Lucky Hunter" (Swanton 1929).
Kanati has traits very similar to Camaxtli, also known as Mixcoatl, a god of central Mexico associated with deer, hunting, and Venus (Miller & Taube 1993). Their names even sound similar. This was first pointed out by Robert Hall over twenty years ago (Hall 2000). He further noted the similarity in the Cherokee name for Corn Mother or "Selu" and the Mesoamerican maize goddess Xilonen.
Mixcoatl is also the father of Quetzalcoatl. His name translates as “Cloud Serpent”, a name that also suggests some association with rain, lightning, and thunder (Coe, Urcid & Koontz 2019). Kanati is often referred to as a
thunder being.
On rock art found in Picture Cave in Warren County, Missouri, we can see stripes running down the body of the figure some have identified as the Ho-Chunk hero Red Horn, the same markings found on Camaxtli and Mixcoatl. Kanati, Red Horn, Camaxtli, and Mixcoatl are all associated with the bow and arrow, raising the question as to the actual direction of influence. This may be one of the best examples of cultural cross pollination.
Image of Mixcoatl from Atlas de Duran in Duran 1995. Drawing by Elbis Dominguez.
Image found on a wall at Picture Cave, Drawing by Richard Dieterle, based on a photograph in Carol Diaz-Granados, "Marking Stone, Land, Body, and Spirit," in Townsend & Sharp (2004) 148, fig. 20.
Both the First Father and First Mother are somehow associated with the cross and tied to the waters of creation and the source of life, much like the waterlily. In western Mexico, we also see the cross associated with the waterbird (see image from Amapa Western Mexico).
In the early part of the twentieth century, while explaining how to make the lance for the Thunderbird Lance Society, members of the Skidi Pawnee told James Murie that the Thunderbird is actually a swan, “though outsiders are led to believe it to be an eagle”. Members of another group, the Squash Vine Pawnee, told him they use a loon instead of a swan (Murie 1914). The loon is also a waterbird.
In the origin myth of the Ho-Chunk medicine dance, the Earthmaker is described as though he were completely anthropomorphic, and interestingly, the symbol associated with him in the war-bundle feasts is the cross (Radin 1923).
The migration and return of water birds each year was an important event also linked to Corn Mother and the Woman Who Never Dies. These birds, along with crows and ravens, were her companions and protectors, assisting her in times of need. For the Mandan, this deity is the one who taught them the ways of the sacred bundle and it is the Goose Society that carries her bundle and leads any rights associated with her (Bowers 1950). First Mother is usually identified with the earth, water, serpents, shells, birds, agriculture, the Moon, and the Evening Star.
The association of the Corn Mother with a serpent is found in various locations very distant from one another (Bowers 1950, Lankford 2008). Her characteristics are reminiscent of Chicomecoatl or Seven Serpent, one of the most important Mesoamerican maize bringers of the Postclassic. We also see this trait on various flint clay figurines found near Cahokia (see the Sponemann, Keller, Birger, and other flint clay figurines: https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/607716 ).This again shows the power of the original maize myth and its significance to those that cultivate it.
Mississippian Birdman
Rogan Copper Plate. Etowah, Georgia. (Smithsonian Institution, NMAI)
Mississippian deity with a cleft double head and extended tongue. This being is also holding a broken serpent much like the stone relief of Chicomecoatl on the right (Fundaburk 1957).
Stone relief of Chicomecoatl.
Chicomecoatl or Seven Serpent stone statue.
The Mississippian gorget above shows what appears to be a female figure similar to Chicomecoatl and other maize goddesses of Mesoamerica. She is positioned at the center of a cross. (Jackson 1931)
Chicomecoatl (Credit: National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution)
Fertility goddess from the Codex Borgia. Note the squash emerging from her back and the fishlike creature suckling at her breast. We see the same imagery on the Mississippian Birger flint clay figurine. (Codex Borgia)
Mimbres ceramic bowl with waterbird and being's head in the chest (Photo by Peter D. Tillman)
Another Maya vase with waterbird and "Old God" head with one of the Maya glyphs for Venus. (Photo by Justin Kerr)
Maya vase with waterbird and shell spiral. This same spiral is also associated with the central Mexican deities. (Photo by Justin Kerr)
Maya shell pendant with the head of the "Old God" on its breast. This pendant was made between 600 and 700 CE, in either
Mexico or Guatemala. (Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Casas Grande seed bowl with a waterbird emerging from a shell. The same concept has long been associated with Itzamna also known as the Maya creator deity, the old man, God D, or Grandfather. (Photo: Evening Star Project)
The Maya Old God, God D, or Itzamna emerging from a shell marked with the K'an Cross. (Milbrath 1999)
Mississippian waterbird in the Holly Bluff style.
Here we see Mississippian waterbird serpents, in the same style, with flower like foliage emerging from their mouths.
A waterbird vessel excavated from a mound at the Mississippian site of Moundville, Alabama.
Amapa, Western Mexico (Hill 1996).
This gorget from the Late Mississippian/Historic Era retains the google eyes of the long nose god without the cleft, but with the addition of two lightning like waterbirds and a dragonfly. The dragonfly would become the more abstract double cross later worn by many plains tribes. (Holms 1883)
The Water Lily
The Mississippian “petaloid motif” likely represents what seems most obvious: a flower. In Mississippian art, the water lily dominates, just as it does in Mesoamerica. Water lilies can be found growing in aquatic environments in Mesoamearica and as far north as the upper Mississippi River.
Note the use of water lily flowers as feathers in Mississippian art (Note the flower like feathers on the head of the serpent on the "rattlesnake" gorget on this site). This is found across the Mississippian world when representing avian wings or tails. In Mesoamerica, this is a fertility symbol, connected to rain and the still, primordial waters of creation (McDonald & Stross 2012).
Water lilies played a central role in the ancient story of maize, especially among the Maya and people along the wet, humid coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Water lilies, waterbirds, and fish are also associated with the Maize Hero of the Gulf Coast and the Maya “old god” or principle deity. He is also referred to as God N, the Principal Bird Deity, or GI. This god also has characteristics of Chac, the axe welding lightning, thunder, and rain god of the Maya (Martin 2015).
A Mississippian flower bundle.
Detail of wings as part of a Mississippian sacred bundle.
Huastec "flower" gorget with similar design elements.
Mississippian bird bundle with the same petaloid motif. The birds in these images always carry three objects or seeds in their mouth from which something appears to sprout.
Mississippian Sacred Bundle (Moundville): The bird wings around the bundle tie look to represent flowers, possibly water lilies. We can see similar design elements in representations of Mesoamerican bundles and Huastec flower gorgets. Also, the object in the mouth of both birds is much like the images of incense balls found in Mesoamerican codices.
Maya hieroglyphic for the city of Tikal, including a sacred bundle. (Image: John Montgomery)
Detail of sacred bundle found on a stick carried by Quetzalcoatl (Codex Borgia).
Quetzalcoatl holds a sacred stick, possibly a planting or lightening stick (Codex Borgia).
Pawnee ceremonial club (c. 1800) of similar design, commonly referred to as a gunstock club, takes the form of a deer leg and is inscribed with cosmological and lightning imagery.(Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Kee-shes-wa, a Fox Chief, holds a similarly shaped object sometime during the 1830s. The shape of these objects has long been ascribed to the gunstock of European firearms. However, this design most likely pre-dates the arrival of Europeans. (Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)
The Lightning Axe
In lowland Maya towns, town leaders were called batab or “axe wielder” (Thompson 1970), most likely related to their responsibilities associated with rain and agriculture. In parts of the Mississippian world, like Etowah and Moundville, the “Monolithic” Axe, or more accurately, the Lightning Axe, was also part of the town leadership’s paraphernalia. So, again, we find elements that hint at a similar mythology related to the cultivation of maize.
In the Creek story, The Orphan, we find the hero wielding an axe. In the end, he mysteriously strikes his wife in the middle of her head with the axe and magically transforms her into two women (Swanton 1929). In the same story, Rabbit steals the clothes and sacred items of the orphan boy in an attempt to acquire his powers. Interestingly, we find a similar scene depicted in Maya art. Rabbit has taken the clothes of the Maya Principle Deity (See Justin Kerr image: 1398, 1560, 5166). The reason he does this is still unclear to Maya scholars.
The Mississippian "Monolithic" axe is likely a local reproduction of the same lightning axe we see wielded by the Maya god Chac and the central Mexican god Tlaloc, both gods of rain, lightning, and thunder. On page two of the Codex Laud (below), Tlaloc can be seen wielding an axe that has attributes very similar to the "Monolithic" axe pictured here. Many of the Mississippian axes are clearly crafted in the same style as the central Mexican Lightning Axe.
The Maya rain god of the east, often identified with the color red, carries a symbolic axe. Most representations of him are partly zoomorphic with reptilian features in the face, a long, curling snout and two carved fangs projecting downward from the mouth. His long hair is gathered up atop the head in a loop. Chac Xib Chac's image is often seen paired with the baby jaguar. In Maya cosmology, Chac Xib Chac is identified with the planet Venus as the Evening Star. In Postclassic iconography, Chac is shown wielding serpents, axes, and conch shells to make rain, lightning, and thunder (Milbrath 1999).
Image: Museum of the American Indian; Heye Foundation, New York, New York; catalog number MAI/HF: 17/891.
Here we see Tlaloc again wielding his axe and holding a serpent (Codex Laud). Also note the knelling stance found in Mississippian art.
The central Mexican storm god Tlaloc wielding his axe and holding a serpent. (Codex Laud)
This image from the Codex Laud is very informative. On the left is the head of Tezcatlipoca and on the right is Red Tezcatlipoca, also known as Mixcoatl. The five pointed star in the middle likely represents Venus. Below the star we find a container with seven ears of maize. The Lightning Axe is on the right with Red Tezcatlipoca (Mixcoatl), suggesting that it it associated with him. A skull sits on the left below Tezcatlipoca and a serpent head sits below Mixcoatl. In the Southeast, First Father is sometimes referred to as the "Red Man of the East".
Closer image of the Mississippian axe shown above.
Detail of axe in codex image shown above.
Another axe found at the Mississippian site of Etowah, Georgia. Images have been etched along the handle.
A line drawing of a gorget found in New Madrid County, Missouri with a being carrying an ax. Note the similarity with the nose of Tlaloc shown above.
Mesoamerican double head with extended tongues and axe.
Detailed line drawing from the ax shown above.
Here we see Quetzalcoatl carrying an incense bag marked with the cross (Codex Borbonicus).
This is part of an etching found on a "Monolithic" axe at Etowah, Georgia. It looks very much like a Mesoamerican incense bag laying flat. Another similar image from Moundville is shown below with the cross. Bones are also associated with these motifs. Are these the bones of the ancestors brought from the underworld by Quetzalcoatl?
Another example of a Mesoamerican incense bag turned upside down.
In this image from the Codex Fejervary Mayer we see a deity or priest carrying an incense bag.
This item has frequently, and erroneously, been identified as a scalp (King 2007).
A serpent emerges from an incense bag marked with a cross (Codex Borbonicus) .
In this image also from the Codex Borbonicus, we see a spider and an incense burner in the form of a serpent and water lily marked with a cross. A serpent or fish's bi-forcated tail emerges from the center with the smoke. We see this same tail in Mississippian art.
The Duality of Creation
There is a complementary nature to First Father and First Mother. They may represent two entities, but they also act as a singular force in creation. It may be that the creator or “great spirit” is represented by the duality of Grandfather and Grandmother, manifested as elderly, wise, and magical beings, much like we find in Mesoamerica. And much like Mesoamerica, they may have many forms, including younger aspects or offspring that are the young corn maiden and mother and the young hunter and father. They are the Morning and Evening Star, the duality of the masculine and feminine, the earth, and the sky.
“...Quetzalcoatl is one of the few Mesoamerican gods who crosses over all categories. It is one of the creator gods, in the Mayan as well as the Mixtec and Nahuatl pantheon's. As Ehcecatl (wind god), Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (Morning Star or god of the dawn), and Evening Star, it is one of the most important celestial deities. For classical-era Maya, it is also a god of the netherworld and thus intimately associated with the gods of rain and water. As Xilonen (tender young corn god), Chicomecoatl (Seven Serpent, corn goddess), and Centeotl (mature corn god) it is the Nahuatl god of corn and vegetation. In the classical period, it is a god of death and resurrection. Finally, it is also a deified ancestor, through antonomasia, the First Father of the classical Maya and the tutelary ancestor of the Toltecs, the divine Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, founder of the Toltec dynasty.” (Florescano 1999)
First Father and First Mother have the ability to travel in various forms between the upper, middle, and lower worlds. Together they are givers of sacred knowledge and sustenance, who passed this knowledge to the Twins, and sacrificed themselves so that the people may live. In the end, the Twins share what they have learned with the people and then join their parents in the upper world. They are mother-father, grandmother-grandfather, the creators and sustainers, and together they may be the "Sovereign Plumed Serpent" that lies at the center of the world.
When Mother Corn finally leaves the Arikara, she tells them that she will turn into a cedar tree to remind them that she gave them life and that the stone that is placed to the right is the man who came with her and gave them order and established the office of chief. The “Wonderful Grandmother” cedar tree was then placed before the Arikara medicine lodge, while the black meteoric rock becomes the “Wonderful Grandfather” and is placed beside the cedar tree. For the Omaha people, the cedar tree represents life and is connected with thunder. They also kept a sacred shell that, along with the cedar tree, was formally connected with the cultivation of corn (Will & Hyde 1917).
In the Popul Vuh, the Kʼicheʼ Maya describe the beginning of the world:
Whatever might be is simply not there: only murmurs, ripples, in the dark, in the night. Only the Maker, Modeler alone, Sovereign Plumed Serpent, the Bearers, Begetters in the water, a glittering light. They are there, they are enclosed in quetzal feathers, in blue-green. Thus the name, “Plumed Serpent.” They are great knowers, great thinkers in their very being (Tedlock 1996).
Ometeotl, the creator couple that sit above all, expressed as a duality.
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Ometeotl, the creator couple that sit above all, expressed as a duality.