Cherokee DNA when tested has historically tested as Middle Eastern and/or North African. It is said that the Cherokee are considered one of the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” In other words, the Cherokee are more Jewish than your typical American Jew.[1] So would it be so unbelievable to find similarities between Native American tales and the stories we find in the Bible?
For example, the story of “Raven Steals The Light.” There are a few different versions of this story throughout Native America. But this particular story I am sharing with you originates in Alaska, where darkness reigns from November through late January, depending on where you live within the state.
Raven Steals The Light
There
once lived a very powerful and rich chief who had a beautiful young daughter.
Somehow, the chief got the sun and the moon and he hung them up in his house.
Because he had the sun and the moon, it became dark everywhere.
Because
of the darkness, the people could not hunt or fish. When they went out to find
wood to burn in their fires, they had to crawl around in the forest feeling
with their hands until they found something which might be wood. Then they
would bite it to make certain that it was indeed firewood.
Raven
learned that the great chief had taken the sun and moon, so he went to his
house to take it back. He asked the chief if he would return the sun and moon,
but he would not. So the smart black bird devised a plan.
He
saw how the chief's daughter went to a small stream to get water every morning,
so he hid near there and waited for her to return. When he saw her coming down
the trail, he turned himself into a fingerling, a tiny fish, and jumped into
the water. After the girl arrived, she filled a bucket with water. Then she
dipped her drinking cup into the stream and Raven, disguised as a fingerling,
quickly swam into it. She did not see Raven and drank the water.
Inside
her body, Raven turned into a baby and so the girl became pregnant. After a
short time the daughter gave birth to a baby boy which was really Raven. The
baby grew fast and was soon a young boy. The grandfather was very fond of his
grandson and would do anything for him. One day the boy began crying for
something.
The
chief asked him, "What do you want, grandson?"
The
boy pointed to the sun and moon hanging from the ceiling. The chief decided to
let him play with them if it would make him stop crying. So the boy took them
outside and played with them for a while, but then he threw them high into the
air. When the old chief ran out to see what had happened, Raven became himself
again and flew away. Since that time there has been light.
Do you see the similarities between this story and the Jesus and Mary narrative?The four Gospels begin with birth/baptism/water. Jesus was born in the Age of Pisces (the two fish) to the Virgin Mary. The Chief’s daughter had a virgin birth. She didn’t get in the family way by having sex with a man.
In addition, the raven is referred to as a trickster; another word for trickster is magician. Jesus was a magician. He performed miracles.
Furthermore, to stop the suffering of man, God (the Chief) gave his only son (grandson) the light (knowledge) so the humans could see what was hidden in the dark.
Jesus was a teacher. He taught us all we need to survive and rise above this earthly existence; from the cradle to the grave. Jesus even goes as far as to tell us that we can do the same magic he has done. Because Jesus is not only the Sun of God, he’s the Son of Man.
John 14:12-14: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. I will do it.”
Jesus was not the only teacher among us. There are many – Buddha, Muhammad, White Buffalo Woman just to name a few. They all had the hearts of poets and like most poets they taught and inspire love.
You can call them just stories, but regardless of origin or religion they are very similar; just a different perspective of the same scenario.
One God, one people, and one Mother Earth. Peace out!
