CD-ROM Map - The Creation Story

	This screen illustrates Sky World. In the Iroquois Creation Story we are told of a world that exists high above the world we know today. Life in Sky World was much like it is on earth.
Here we see Sky Woman falling to earth from Sky World. Sky Woman was said to be the first human being to touch the earth.
Creation stories are often referred to as myths. "Myth" is a term which has several meanings. Sometimes "myth" is used to simply mean something that is not "true". It is sometimes used in a different sense. A "myth" being a traditional story of unknown authorship, ostensibly with an historical basis, but serving usually to explain some phenomenon of nature, the origin of man, or the customs, institutions and religious rites, of a people.
	This screen shows Sky Woman standing on the giant turtle’s back. This giant turtle provided its back for Sky Woman to rest. Later on it would become Turtle Island, known today as North America. The Haudenosaunee do not refer to their story of creation as a "myth." They believe that it really happened. Their belief in its truth gives it great force in their lives.
The expectations of presenting the Iroquois Creation story is to provide some understanding and insight into how the Iroquois peoples view the world - it's beginnings and their place in it. And from this understanding, others may gain an appreciation of the Iroquois Creation story as a different order of truth from a scientific explanation of how the world began; and to promote an appreciation of all creation stories, in general, as a repository of the values, attitudes, belief, hopes and ideas of a people. Considered in this light, the Iroquois Creation story is "true," even though it is untrue as a scientific account of creation. Just as other cultures believe in the "truth" of their creation stories, so do the Iroquois. The Haudenosaunee do not refer to their story of creation as a "myth," they call it the Creation Story. They believe that it really happened. Their belief in its truth gives it great force in their lives.