Weekly Analysis 2-1

Native American myths are a part of popular culture because they are the beliefs and customs of a particular group within society (Browne, 2005). These myths typically involve ordinary people, animals and places. It is the belief of Native Americans that all these things are divine (Livingmyths.com, 2009). Once such myth is titled White Buffalo Woman. According to Livingmyths.com(2009), “This is a major myth in which a culture heroine presents a code by which to live”.

This myth involves two braves that encounter a beautiful woman clothed in white buckskin. One of the braves realizes the woman is sacred but the other does not. When the unknowing brave approaches her, he is engulfed in a white cloud. When the cloud rises, all that remains are bones and snakes (Livingmyths.com, 2009). The woman goes to the brave’s village and presents the villagers with a sacred pipe and instructs them on the pipe ceremony. As the woman leaves the village, she transforms into a red and brown buffalo calf, a white buffalo and finally a black buffalo (Livingmyths.com, 2009).

As Livingmyths.com (2009) describes it, “The death of the brave within this myth represents material desire and the ceremony of the pipe is about the Native American belief that there must be an exchange of energy between humanity and the world of the spirit, and that this is symbolically achieved by the offering of tobacco to the Directions, and to the Great Spirit”. The smoke rises and reaches the spirit world.

References:
Native American myths (2009). Retrieved May 28, 2009, from http://livingmyths.com/Native.htm
Browne, Ray B. (2005). Profiles of popular culture a reader. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.