Coyote (mythology)
This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic, although he may have some coyote-like physical features such as fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes, a tail and blunt claws.
The role Coyote takes in traditional stories shares some traits with the Raven figure in other cultures.
The ceremony is intended to restore the patient's harmonious relationship with Coyote and the world, and to bring about a return to good health.
Coyote is featured in the mythology of a number of Indigenous cultures of the Americas, including: Coyote is featured in the mythology of numerous peoples from the area covered by the modern state of California, including the Achomawi and Atsugewi,[1] the Chumash,[2] the Diegueños,[3] the Gallinoméro,[4] the Juaneño,[5] the Karok,[6] the Luiseño,[7] the Maidu,[8] the Miwuk,[4] the Pomo,[9] the Rumsen,[10] the Shasta,[11] the Sinkyone,[12] the Wappo,[13] the Yana,[14] and the Yokuts.
After it is completed, and Earth Maker has created the people, Coyote vows to spoil the world and introduce evil to it.
[8][15] A common theme is of Coyote benefiting the human community by organizing the theft of fire, or of the sun, from the supernatural beings who have been keeping it for themselves; in these myths he is portrayed as a benefactor of the people.
[9][6][16][12][15] In a Shasta myth, Coyote saves the world from ten evil moons which have afflicted it with everlasting winter.
[11][15] In a Miwok myth, Coyote creates all animals, then calls them to a council to discuss the creation of human beings.
[17] Some stories depict Coyote as the embodiment of evil lechery: a serial rapist who uses trickery to attack a variety of victims including, for example, his own mother-in-law [8] and his sister.
[14] Such tales may have served to reinforce the community moral code, by using outrageous humor to portray examples of intolerable behavior.
Great Basin Coyote is featured in myths of the Chemehuevi,[18] Paiute,[19] Shoshone[20][21] and Ute[22][23] peoples.
Coyote agrees to this plan but before he sets it in motion, he goes to the spot where his grandson was killed where he finds some blood and a little bit of hair which he packs in a basket before leaving.
He then asks Parotsokitapitsi to accompany him at the edge of the water and shout when the Sky-Down-feather brothers try to fly away in order to keep them in place and he also agrees to do this.
[24] Myths and stories of Coyote are also found in the cultures of the Plateau area: the Chinookan (including the Wishram people and the Multnomah),[25] the Flathead,[26] the Nez Perce,[27] the Nlaka'pamux, the Syilx (Okanagan), the St'at'imc, the Tsilhqot'in, and the Yakama.
Eventually, his feces stops insulting him and offers detailed advice not only for catching the salmon, but also for preparing the fish once he has them.
[33] Between the Fraser and Columbia rivers, the Natives of the area held stories of Coyote in their Creation mythology.
Into the world then came certain transformers, the greatest of whom were the Coyote and the Old Man, who put the earth in order, giving the mountains and the valleys their present aspects and transforming the wicked among them, and these were the beings who the ancient world denizens into the animal shapes which are still theirs; the descendants of the good among these pristine beings are the Indians of today" [34] Coyote also appears in the traditions of the Jicarilla Apache.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist proposed a structuralist theory that suggests that Coyote and Crow obtained mythic status because they are mediator animals between life and death.
[36] Coyote figures prominently in a number of Indigenous language and cultural and preservation projects in North America.
For example, the Secwepemc people of the Kamloops Indian Band in Kamloops, British Columbia, have named their recently opened elementary school the Sk'elep School of Excellence, while educational websites such as one co-sponsored by the Neskonlith Indian Band of Chase, British Columbia prominently feature stories about Sk'elep.
