Cultures around the world have used stories to help explain ancestry, history, and other cultural developments. These stories, often called Creation Myths, help explain how the world came to be the way it is. Often, these stories address and explain why cultures live where they do, why they speak the way they do, how the earth came into existence, how mankind came to live on the earth, and other essential questions.

Some cultures, like the early Native Americans, passed their stories down from generation to generation through oral tradition. Story-telling was and is an important characteristic of Native American tribes.

Essential Questions

• How does oral tradition affect the art of story-telling?
• What is the significance of archetypes in creation myths?