Skywoman
Every superhero has an origin story and, perhaps, every indigenous culture has creation story. She falls from her home in Skyworld to the earth bringing fruits and seeds and, of course, sweetgrass.
Nanabozho
The Anishinaabe Original Man is Nanabozho. He brings the wisdom of how to be human. He is also charged with one of the most important tasks in any creation story: giving names to all those new things which are formed as part of the process.
The Three Sisters
At this point, characterization moves from the mythic to the symbolic. There have been many famous three sisters in literature, but these may be the oddest: corn, beans, and squash. These three crops are the foundation of many indigenous cultures which are native to North America. This is the case in part because of the almost magical way in which each of the foods so disparate individually manage to be raised as a collective unit almost as if intentionally created to serve that purpose.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Not all the text is devoted to mythic figures associated with the creation myth. The bulk of the narrative is much more grounded in everyday reality which is expressed as memory and knowledge gained and shared by the author herself. Her history includes growing up in upstate New York and a formal education resulting in a doctorate.
