Reading Notes: Great Plains (Part A)

This week we're reading Native American myths, and I chose to read stories from the Great Plains. I share a name with one of the tribes! Most of the legends are origin stories, dealing with either the history of the natural world or the history of social traditions. The latter stories read a lot like instruction manuals for how people should behave.

A picture of the Great Plains (Flickr)

I was especially impressed by the number of ghost stories and the diversity of explanations. It seems like becoming a ghost is an inevitable part of the afterlife, and whether you're allowed ghostly lodging or are doomed to roam the earth is dependent on your actions in life. In some cases it depends on the circumstances of death, and in others it depends on the completion of rituals.

Bibliography. Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Link.