Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas#Northern America
{{Short description|none}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2023}}
File:Coyotewithpossuminpersimmontree.png and Opossum appear in the stories of several tribes.]]
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise numerous different cultures. Each has its own mythologies, many of which share certain themes across cultural boundaries. In North American mythologies, common themes include a close relation to nature and animals as well as belief in a Great Spirit that is conceived of in various ways. As anthropologists note, their great creation myths and sacred oral tradition in whole are comparable to the Christian Bible and scriptures of other major religions.{{sfn|Tooker|1979|p=31}}
Northern America
File:Indigenous Americans by county.png, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico as of the 2020 United States Census
There is no single mythology of the Native Americans in the United States, the Indigenous peoples in Canada and other peoples, but numerous different canons of traditional narratives associated with religion, ethics and beliefs.{{sfn|Pearce|2012|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OVtmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 10–]}}{{sfn|Kelley|2005|pp=}} Such stories are deeply based in Nature and are rich with the symbolism of seasons, weather, plants, animals, earth, water, fire, sky, and the heavenly bodies. Common elements are the principle of an all-embracing, universal and omniscient Great Spirit, a connection to the Earth and its landscapes, a belief in a parallel world in the sky (sometimes also underground and/or below the water), diverse creation narratives, visits to the 'land of the dead', and collective memories of ancient sacred ancestors.{{sfn|Kelley|2005|pp=}}
A characteristic of many of the myths is the close relationship between human beings and animals (including birds and reptiles). They often feature shape-shifting between animal and the human form. Marriage between people and different species (particularly bears) is a common theme. In some stories, animals foster human children.
Although most Native North American myths are profound and serious, some use light-hearted humor – often in the form of tricksters – to entertain, as they subtly convey important spiritual and moral messages. The use of allegory is common, exploring issues ranging from love and friendship to domestic violence and mental illness.
Some myths are connected to traditional religious rituals involving dance, music, songs, and trance (e.g. the Sun Dance).
Most of the myths from this region were first transcribed by ethnologists during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These sources were collected from Native American elders who still had strong connections to the traditions of their ancestors. They may be considered the most authentic surviving records of the ancient stories, and thus form the basis of the descriptions below.The sources quoted are available to read online through websites such as [https://archive.org archive.org]{{Better source needed|reason = The reference leaves readers to do the research required to cite this, thus failing to serve as a fully explanatory reference. Replacement with references to specific articles at archive.org should fix this problem.|date=July 2020}}
