Mother Earth

Abstract

This chapter examines a lineage of Western writers who have considered the Mother Earth figure as a native American goddess. From their writing a story of Mother Earth emerges, a story attributed to native Americans but actually created by the writers themselves. The story of Mother Earth begins almost concurrently with the story told by Smohalla in 1885, and a remarkable connection exists between the two. The European-American story of Mother Earth must also be seen in its historical and cultural context. The story of Mother Earth as told by Europeans and Americans is a story of the development of human religiosity and culture. It is a story of the evolution of religious structures and forms, a story enriched by the patterns and categories derived from Western antiquity. Mother Earth arose among Western writers so that native Americans could be understood and somehow likened to European-Americans.