It has been suggested that [[:|List of mythologies#Americas]] be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2012.

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

Native American mythology is the body of traditional narratives associated with Native American religion from a mythographical perspective. Native 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 & 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.

Tribal/National Mythology

• Abenaki A North American tribe located in the northeastern United States. Religious ceremonies are led by shamans, called Medeoulin (Mdawinno).
• Anishinaabe A North American tribe located primarily in the Great Lakes
• Aztec. A Mesoamerican empire centered in the valley of Mexico.
• Blackfoot A North American tribe who currently live in Montana. Originally west of the Great Lakes in Montana and Alberta as participants in Plains Indian culture.
• Cherokee. A North American culture situated in the southeastern United States and in Oklahoma.
• Choctaw A North American culture in the southeastern United States and Oklahoma. Originally from the Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana area.
• Cree A North American tribe most commonly found west of Ontario in the Canadian Prairies, although there are tribes located in the North-West Territories and Quebec.
• Creek 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.
• Crow A North American tribe from the Great Plains area of the United States. The shaman of the tribe was known as an Akbaalia ("healer").
• Guarani A South American people of the south-central part of South America, especially the native peoples of Paraguay and parts of the surrounding areas of Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia.
• Ho-Chunk and Winnebago are North Americans tribes which were once a single tribe living in Wisconsin.
• Hopi A North American community located in the southwestern United States.
• Incan A South American empire based in the central Andes mountain range.
• Inuit A North American people culturally similar to other peoples of the polar regions.
• Lakota A North American tribe, also known as the Sioux.
• Lenape A North American tribe from the area of the Delaware River.
• Lummi A North American tribe from the Pacific Northwest, Washington State area.
• Mapuche, A South American culture of Chile and some regions of Argentina.
• Maya, A Mesoamerican people of southern Mexico and Northern Central America.
• Miwok mythology, A North American people in Northern California.
• Navajo A North American nation from the southwestern United States.
• Ohlone mythology, A North American people in Northern California.
• Pawnee A North American tribe originally located in Nebraska, United States.
• Pomo mythology, A North American people in Northern California.
• Seneca A North American people, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy from the northeastern United States.
• Wyandot A North American people (sometimes referred to as the Huron) originally from Ontario, Canada, and surrounding areas.

See also[link]

• List of mythologies#Americas
• Earth-maker myth, Native American, California.

External links[link]

• Apache Texts
• Chiricahua & Mescalero Apache Texts
• Jicarilla Apache Texts
• "Midwest-Amazonian" Folklore-Mythological Parallels

This article may contain excessive, poor or irrelevant examples. You can improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. (March 2012)

Part of a series on the
Culture of the United States
History
People
Languages
Traditions
Mythology and folklore
Cuisine
Festivals
Religion
Art Architecture Sculpture Fashion
Literature Comic books Poetry
Music and performing arts Dance Theater
Media Radio Television Cinema
Sport
Monuments World Heritage Sites
Symbols Flag National anthem Coat of arms
Culture portal United States portal
v t e

The folklore of the United States, or American folklore, is one of the folk traditions which has evolved on the North American continent since Europeans arrived in the 16th century. While it contains much in the way of Native American tradition, it should not be confused with the tribal beliefs of any community of native people. American folklore covers the same broad categories as the folklore of other nations. It encompasses myths, jokes, riddles, legends, cautionary tales, and many other forms of storytelling.

Founding myths[link]

The founding of the United States is often surrounded by legends and tall tales. Many stories have developed since the founding long ago to become a part of America's folklore and cultural awareness, and non-native American folklore especially includes any narrative which has contributed to the shaping of American values and belief systems. These narratives may be true and may be false; the veracity of the stories is not a determining factor. Three so-called "founding myths" (or national myths) include: Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and George Washington.

Christopher Columbus[link]

Though Christopher Columbus did not participate in the founding of the American government, he has been interpreted as a "founder" of the American nation, in that it is descended from the European immigrants who would not have moved to the New World if Columbus had not found where it was. Indeed, one particularly pervasive story is that Columbus discovered America, as it is far easier to elevate a man to heroic status than to reflect the reality among complex series of waves of immigrants from multiple conditions and walks of life.

According to some stories, Columbus began his journey across the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, August 3, 1492, in order to prove that the world was round, because he expected to reach the Far East by sailing west. In fact, it was generally accepted by Columbus' time that the world was round. What set Columbus apart was that he believed the world to be considerably smaller than most thought, small enough that a ship sailing west to the Far East could carry enough supplies for the journey.

By this legend Columbus' mission is then rendered entirely noble, intellectual and rational. He helped dispel the inaccurate beliefs of his time, and, so, it is concluded, the nation he founded must be a nation of intellect and logic. Washington Irving is the first citation for this belief. The late 20th century, however, saw a decrease in the prestige of Columbus' legend as skepticism about Europeans' activities in the New World and elsewhere had become more prevalent.

Pilgrims[link]

The Pilgrim ship the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 and the Plymouth Colony was established. The holiday of Thanksgiving is said to have begun with the Pilgrims in 1621. They had come to America to escape religious persecution, but then nearly starved to death due to the unfamiliar land. Some friendly Native Americans (including Squanto) helped the Pilgrims survive through the first winter. The perseverance of the Pilgrims is celebrated during the annual Thanksgiving festival. As a legend, this story relates to the founding of the culture. The Pilgrims' dedication to their cause in spite of the hardships renders the foundation of the country, and therefore the country itself, stronger and more resilient. It is also a fertility festival, similar in some ways to other harvest-time celebrations in other cultures, celebrating the nourishment that comes from the earth. Although there were earlier colonies, Plymouth is one of the most famous and only the second English colony to be successful, after Jamestown in Virginia, which was settled more than 10 years earlier, in 1607.

Puritans[link]

In 1630, aboard the ship Arbella, Puritan preacher John Winthrop delivered his famous sermon Shining city upon a hill. The ship landed in 1630 and the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established at what is now Boston, Massachusetts. Winthrop's sermon gave rise to the common belief in American folklore that the United States of America has a special status in the world as God's Country. This belief is called by historians American exceptionalism.

George Washington[link]

George Washington, the country's first president, is often said to be the founder of the United States. Since his death, Washington has been "mythologized", with many anecdotes and stories about his life told, in general, to present the founder of the modern American nation as a just and wise cultural hero. For example, it is said that Washington, as a young child, chopped down his father's cherry tree. His angry father confronted the young Washington, who proclaimed "I can not tell a lie" and admitted to the transgression, thus illuminating his honesty. Parson Mason Locke Weems mentions the first citation of this legend in his 1850 book, The Life of George Washington: With Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honorable to Himself and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) is also known to have spread the story while lecturing, personalizing it by adding "I have a higher and greater standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie but I won't." Stories of national value often have similar themes – that the founder of the nation, George Washington, – was a wise, virtuous and brave man.

American folk figures[link]

The following is a list of people who are either folk heroes, important figures in American folklore, or chroniclers and creators of such folklore.

Apocryphal people[link]

• Paul Bunyan
• Cordwood Pete
• Iron John
• John the Conqueror
• John Henry
• Roy Hobbs
• Johnny Kaw
• Joe Magarac
• Molly Pitcher
• Pecos Bill
• Zorro
• Stagger Lee
• Henry "Ole Pete" Peterson
• Casey Jones

Historical persons[link]

Legendary and folkloric creatures[link]

• Babe the Blue Ox
• Bigfoot
• Bloody Mary
• Cardiff Giant
• Champ
• Christmas elf
• Chupacabra
• Fur-bearing trout
• Goatman
• Grey aliens
• Hodag
• Jackalope
• Jersey Devil
• La Llorona
• Mothman
• Nain Rouge
• Rabbit's foot
• Santa Claus
• Skunk Ape
• Squonk
• Wendigo
• The White Lady
• The Michigan Dogman
• Zombie

Locations and landmarks[link]

• Jamestown, Virginia
• Plymouth Rock
• Independence Hall
• Liberty Bell
• White House
• Mount Vernon
• Monticello
• Mississippi River
• Old West
• Ellis Island
• Statue of Liberty
• Broadway (New York City)
• Times Square
• Empire State Building
• Route 66
• Hoover Dam
• Pearl Harbor
• Disneyland
• Graceland
• Area 51
• Vietnam War Memorial
• World Trade Center
• Grand Canyon
• Tombstone, Arizona
• The Alamo
• Gettysburg
• Deadwood, South Dakota
• Dodge City, Kansas
• Nome, Alaska
• New Orleans
• San Francisco
• New York City
• Chicago
• Hollywood
• Atlantic City, New Jersey
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Alcatraz
• Mount Rushmore
• Stone Mountain
• Great Lakes
• The Bermuda Triangle
• Great Smoky Mountains
• Great Plains
• Yellowstone National Park
• Yosemite National Park
• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Cultural archetypes and icons[link]

• Adventurers
• Columbia
• Cowboys
• Entrepreneurs & Robber barons
• Gangsters and gangs
• Hackers
• Hippies
• Storm Chasers
• Bikers
• RVers
• Voluntarily Homeless and Vagabonds - Wanderlust
• Hillbillies
• Hoboes
• Juvenile delinquents
• Missionaries
• Motorcycle gangs like the Hells Angels
• Pioneers
• Prospectors
• Rednecks
• Uncle Sam
• Amish
• poor immigrants achieving the 'American Dream'

History[link]

• Scalping
• American Old West
• California Gold Rush
• Cowboys and Indians
• Ellis Island
• Hatfields and McCoys
• Indian captivity narratives
• Noble savage
• Norumbega
• Pony Express
• Salem witch trials
• Wagon train
• Wounded Knee Massacre
• St. Valentine's Day Massacre
• Paul Revere's Ride
• Siege of Yorktown
• Negro league baseball
• Haymarket Massacre
• Kent State Massacre
• September 11th attacks
• Attack on Pearl Harbor
• Battle of Iwo Jima
• Battle of Gettysburg
• Battle of the Little Bighorn
• Lexington and Concord
• The Wreck Of The SS Edmund Fitzgerald
• Boston Tea Party
• Watergate
• Legend of the Dark Moose

Titanic

Contemporary folklore[link]

• Bloodstopping
• Conspiracy theory
• Faxlore
• "Legend tripping"
• List of character-based movie franchises
• Post turtle
• Skull and Bones
• Superhero
• Tall Tales
• Urban legend

Songs and games[link]

• jump rope rhymes
• stickball or sandlot ball
• counting-out game
• "Oh My Darling, Clementine"
• "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain"
• "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

See also[link]

• American Dream
• John C. Campbell Folk School offers courses in U.S. folklore.
• The Frontier
• The Seven Cities of Gold
• Seeing the Elephant