This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Hero Twins in Native American culture" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Mississippian Hero Twins emerging from a crack in the back of a raccoon-faced Horned Serpent. Redrawn from an engraved whelk shell by artist Herb Roe.
The Hero Twins (or God Boys) are recurring characters from the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The specifics of each myth vary from tribe to tribe, but each story has a pair of twins (usually with magical powers) who were born when their pregnant mother was killed by the tale's antagonist. Twins were considered unnatural in many cultures of this region, with beliefs about them having supernatural abilities.
Sometimes, the twins are separated at birth. Various versions have their mother's killer leaving one where he could be easily be found by his family and the other deep in the wilderness so that one boy grew up civilized and the other wild. Eventually they become reunited and avenge the death of their mother.
The Twin Heroes share many similarities in the mythology of different tribes, but are different in their relationships with other mythological figures, their associations with stars or animal spirits, and the nature of the particular adventures they go on.
In some traditions, the twins personified good and evil: one twin is good while the other is evil, but in others both are benevolent heroes. In some versions of this myth, the evil twin manipulates others into blaming his good brother for his misdeeds. The two brothers coexisted for a while, each making their own changes to the world. In the end, though, the Twin Gods fight each other, and the good brother prevails. In other traditions, the Twin Gods are not considered good or evil but instead represent day and night, summer and winter, and life and death. In some versions of that tradition, one is a trickster rather than a villain, and the brothers' relationship is one of rivalry rather than enmity.
and 24 Related for: Hero Twins in Native American culture information
The HeroTwins (or God Boys) are recurring characters from the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The specifics of each myth vary from...
(200–900 AD). The twins are often portrayed as complementary forces. The Twin motif recurs in many NativeAmerican mythologies; the Maya Twins, in particular...
origins of organized society. In tales which mirror development and organization of NativeAmerican societies, the hero is often humanity itself. Raven...
stories the NativeAmerican trickster is foolish and other times wise. He can be a heroin one tale and a villain in the next. In many NativeAmerican and First...
the NativeAmerican mound cultures practiced their traditional way of life.De la Vega's accounts also include vital details about the NativeAmerican tribes'...
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club...
This is the list of fictional NativeAmericans from notable works of fiction (literatures, films, television shows, video games, etc.). It is organized...
best-known hero myth, included in the Popol Vuh, is about the defeat of a bird demon and of the deities of disease and death by the HeroTwins, Hunahpu...
the evil twin and the sacrifice of the good one. Many NativeAmerican creation myths[which?] likewise provide for the role of dualistic twins. In literature...
Chochenyo (Chocheño) mythology of the San Francisco Bay Area has a strong culturehero figure named Kaknu, coyote's grandson, who is an anthropomorphic and...
ambitious, self-reliant individual to thrust his way to the top." NativeAmericanculture is very much involved with mythology. They used mythology to tell...
of mythology books and sources List of mythological objects List of cultureheroes List of world folk-epics Lists of deities Lists of legendary creatures...
This is an index of lists of deities of the different religions, cultures and mythologies of the world. List of deities by classification Lists of deities...
reliefs at Chichen Itza in two of the ballcourts (the Great Ballcourt and the Monjas Ballcourt). The HeroTwins myth recounted in the Popol Vuh relates...
Alaska Native religion NativeAmerican Religions Swanton, John R. (1905). Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida. New York: American Museum of Natural...
trickster Bedig-wajo (western Abenaki) or Ktaden (eastern Abenaki) - a culturehero Chibaiskweda - marsh gas, supposedly caused by the ghost of an improperly...
images passed down incultures or from one to another, being ascribed new interpretations of the action depicted, as well as new names in various readings...
objects (e.g., the HeroTwins, Howler Monkey Gods, the shooting of Vucub-Caquix and, as many believe, the restoration of the Twins' dead father, Hun Hunahpu)...
bearing a likeness to Mastamho and Kataar, the "herotwins of the creation myth," can be seen near Fort Mojave in Arizona. Some researchers hypothesize that...
of the Bitty Twins line, whose dolls consist of fraternal twins; Logan is the first male character doll and the first male doll inAmerican Girl's mainline...
or serpent, a negative hero, later the image of a giant. Alazhen (Алажен) - a demoness or a wild woman trying to harm women in childbirth. Alamerd (Аламерд)...
great hero, following their journey through trials or simply important events in their life. Stories like these can be found in many different cultures around...
the legend, the mother of the heavenly twins, known as Sun and Moon, was killed by the Celestial Jaguars. The twins were raised by the jaguars until a bird...
Global Information
