For this weeks assignment I chose to read from the stories
of Tejas Legends. If you did not already know, the origin of the name Texas comes
from the Caddo Indian word Tejas, which means “friends” or “friendship.” Texas
is very important to me, not just because I am from there but because it makes
up half of my identity. I am fifth generation Texan, meaning that my family has
been living in Texas, or more specifically the Houston area, for almost three
hundred years! Texan in itself is a nationality. While listening to a radio
talk show with my mother a few years back, I discovered that about 40 percent
of Texans wrote “Texan” as their nationality in the United States census!
Something I know my dad did and a fact that just about kills me laughing every
time I hear it. So I feel that as a born and raised Texan, it was only
appropriate that I were to read the Tejas Legends.
What I love about Native American stories is how much nature
and natural elements are used and discussed. We are of the Earth and should
remember that, yet so many people take nature of granted. However, I love how
the Native Americans use gods of natural elements as explanations for nature.
So many other cultures do this to explain the sun and the moon and the stars,
but the Native Americans use it very much like Greek Mythology. What I mean by
this is that their gods both explain the wind, thunder, lightning, rain,
tornadoes, hurricanes, and more. The only difference between the two is that
the Native American gods also incorporate animals in their use of creating
natural elements; they create nature with the help of nature so to speak. Their
use of gods is their way of explaining natural phenomenons, opposed to our
Westerns ways of math and science. I just find their culture through the explanation
of Texas to wonderfully enjoyable and fascinating. I am so happy that I was
able to read these stories.
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| Texas Bluebonnet (Source) |
Hi Jess, isn't that Tejas book beautiful? I was excited when I found that online! I didn't see your Reading Diary posts... if you don't do those at the same time you do the reading, it will be really difficult to write them up since you would basically have to do the reading again. Did you maybe save the posts and then forget to publish them? You need to do the diary posts first, and then build on that for your storytelling, essay, etc.
ReplyDeleteHi Jess,
ReplyDeleteIt's so interesting to hear that your family has been living in Texas for three-hundred years! I don't think I've ever met anyone who knew something so cool about their family like that. It's funny to me too that Texan is considered a nationality, but after being in Dallas for OU/Tx, I don't doubt at all that Texas is almost it's own country.
I thought your comparison of the Native American myths with the Greek ones was really on point.There are very similar elements like how the stories explain nature and forces like wind and rain.