Cahuilla Mythology
For the Cahuillas, cosmological values and concepts were established when the world was created by Mukat. The Cahuilla creation story tells of the origin of the world, the death of god (Mukat), and the consequences of that death for humans (e.g., the need for death, social roles, and so forth). It also describes the basic concepts of supernatural power and its proper use in the contemporary world.
At the beginning of creation, all creatures were said to be much larger than they were today. These were called nukatem. Over time, the nukatem stopped being active and shrank, turning into natural objects such as mirages, rainbows, earth and other things.
Read more about Cahuilla Mythology: Deities, Creation, Ritual Cremation
Famous quotes containing the word mythology:
“I walk out into a nature such as the old prophets and poets, Menu, Moses, Homer, Chaucer, walked in. You may name it America, but it is not America; neither Americus Vespucius, nor Columbus, nor the rest were the discoverers of it. There is a truer account of it in mythology than in any history of America, so called, that I have seen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)