Description
The Oneida Creation Story is a unique publication as it represents the first time that the traditional narrative about creation was published in the Oneida (Onyota'aka) language with an English translation. Oneida elder Demus Elm first told the Oneida Creation Story to the renowned linguist Floyd G. Lounsbury in 1971. Lounsbury is the author of Oneida Verb Morphology and other works. The transcription and translation of the story were completed with the assistance of Harvey Antone, a relative of Demus Elm, and Bryan Gick. Gick is an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics and Speech Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Ancient elements of Iroquoian cosmology are the heart of the narrative: Sky-world, the fall of Sky-woman, the creation of Earth upon Turtle's back, and the creation of human beings and early society by the twins. Various versions have been passed down from generation to generation, but the story has never before been published in the Oneida language.