Welcome to the 2022 A to Z Blogging Challenge! My theme this year is Gemstone Folklore. Because I love stories about shiny things. Read the introduction to the project here.
OBSIDIAN
Obsidian is natural volcanic glass, known for its black or dark grey color. Sometimes it comes with small white cristobalite inclusions - then it's called "snowflake obsidian." Due to the way it fractures it can be turned into extremely sharp objects, which made it a favorite material for arrowheads, knives, and other instruments from prehistoric times.
The theft of obsidian
Wintu myth
In this story (animal) people go hunting, with various degrees of success. Adder is the only hunter who kills a deer right away at every attempt: that is because Adder has an obsidian arrowhead. But he keeps it a secret. Whenever he shoots a deer, he runs to it first and retrieves the arrowhead before anyone else can see it.
The other hunters grow suspicious of Adder's success. They agree that the fastest among them - Hummingbird and Fox - should keep an eye out and try to uncover the secret. Finally a man named Puimeminbes manages to get to a deer first, steals the arrowhead, and runs up a mountain. Adder grows furious at the theft, and starts setting the whole world on fire.
Puimeminbes hands the arrowhead over to Ground Squirrel, telling him to run as far as he can. Despite the fact that the obsidian is growing bigger, heavier, and hotter, Ground Squirrel runs and runs and runs, listening to the fading cries of his helper Sandhill Crane. When the cries finally stop, Ground Squirrel drops his burden at a place called Glass Mountain (California), where obsidian can still be found today. From the hot obsidian, Ground Squirrel still carries a black mark on his back.
Sources: Find the story in this book.
Other stories: Obsidian plays an important role in other indigenous traditions as well. Theft of obsidian happens in an Achomawi creation myth. In Pomo mythology, Obsidian Man is Coyote's child (born from an obsidian arrowhead). In a Tlingit myth, Raven fells a dangerous obsidian tree. In Aztec mythology, there were several gods and goddesses who were manifestations of obsidian.
In the Banks Islands of Vanuatu, a story tells about a creator who cuts the night with an obsidian knife to bring the dawn (more info here). There is a Polynesian legend about Maui seeking immortality, and being bitten by a goddess with obsidian teeth. On some versions, those teeth are not in her mouth... Obsidian also figures into Maori mythology (see here, here or here). Read more about obsidian mythology in general here.
Have you ever been to California?
Do you own anything made of obsidian?
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