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North America
Explore myths, traditions and legendary beings grouped under North America.
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Palhik Mana
Palhik Mana is a female katsina of Hopi religious tradition, commonly known in English as the Butterfly Maiden. She is associated with butterflies, beauty, seasonal renewal, young people and, in many modern descriptions,…
Payatamu
Payatamu is a figure associated with Hopi religious tradition, especially with flute playing, music, seasonal growth and the ceremonial renewal of life. The name is also written Paiyatamu and in other variant forms. In m…
Sotuknang
Sotuknang is a powerful being in accounts of Hopi cosmology, where he appears as an agent of the creator Taiowa and an organizer of the universe. He is especially associated with the creation and ordering of the worlds, …
Taiowa
Taiowa is a creator figure associated with Hopi religious tradition in the American Southwest. In published accounts, Taiowa is described as the supreme creative power who existed before the ordered universe and brought …
Asgaya Gigagei
Asgaya Gigagei is a name associated with Cherokee tradition and is usually translated into English as “Red Man.” The expression is sometimes presented in modern reference material as the name of a Cherokee god or spirit,…
Blue Jay
Blue Jay is not securely documented as a single major god, spirit, or culture hero in Cherokee mythology. In Cherokee storytelling, the blue jay is better understood as a bird character whose significance can vary from o…
Dayunsi
Dayunsi is a name commonly used in English-language discussions of a Cherokee creation figure identified in Cherokee tradition as a water beetle. In one important earth-diver narrative, Dayunsi dives beneath the primordi…
Enumclaw
Enumclaw is not generally identified as a figure of Cherokee mythology. The name is associated instead with traditions of the Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest, especially the Puyallup and related communities…
Ew’ah
Ew’ah is a name sometimes presented in modern summaries of Cherokee mythology, but its identity is uncertain. Unlike well-attested figures such as Selu, Kanati, Uktena, Little Deer, or the Raven Mocker, Ew’ah does not ha…
Selu
Selu is a sacred figure in Cherokee traditional narratives, best known as the Corn Mother and the first woman associated with the origin of cultivated corn. Her story explains not only where corn came from, but also why …
Jistu
Jistu is a name used in English-language accounts for the rabbit trickster of Cherokee traditional storytelling. The figure is more accurately understood as Rabbit in Cherokee narratives rather than as a single god with …