UTAH LORE on Leon's Planet

Leon's Planet is pleased to present a page about Utah Lore.
Note: Leon's Planet is an educational website about the multiverse, but it is based in Utah.
So, Leon decided to do a several pages dedicated to his home base--Utah.
See also: Utah (general information) and Utah's Flowers pages.
Please note that this is a work in progress.

That is a picture by Leon; background and foreground is photo that I took at North Shore of the Great Salt Lake (at the Spiral Jetty) at sunset (2021).
I put a seahorse head on a snake's body and inserted it into the picture.

Skeptics say it was probably a bison that they saw (instead of a sea monster).
But, I don't see how a buffalo could be mistaken for an alligator, do you?

Note: There are many versions and each band of each tribe may have a slightly different version.

Tribe	Creation Story
Shoshone	Coyote was a deity. He had human form, but his name was Coyote. Coyote followed a female home (in one version). In another he was coaxed to go home with the girl having been promised water to drink. There were no humans on Earth, only the girl and her mother (they were humanoid, but not human). Coyote lived with the two women for some time, having many babies that were kept in a large jug. Then the women instructed Coyote to take the babies out to a specified place and "drop them off". Coyote was warned not to open the jug, except a little bit when they asked for water. When they asked for water, Coyote opened the jug a little to much and they escaped, and they became all the tribes of humans. [Source1] [Source2] [Read all the versions here.]
Paiutes	Tabuts (The Wise Wolf) created humans by carving sticks, and storing them in a bag. His plan was to evenly distribute them throughout the world, so that they could live in peace. But, Shinangwav (Coyote and brother to Wise Wolf), opened the bag and all the people fell out at once, in one place; except a few people left in the bag. Wise Wolf put them in the best place. They became the Paiute. This story explains why people are fighting all the time all over the world--over space to live. [Source]
Goshutes	Sinav (meaning unknown; either Wolf or Coyote) saw two women (who were goddesses; not human women for sure), who lived on an island in the Great Salt Lake. (NOTE: this is probably metaphorical or a misunderstanding of oral tradition. The island is probably representing a planet, and the Great Salt Lake is probably representing the vast cosmic sea of space.) The two women had many babies and instructed Sinav to distribute these humans throughout the Earth (probably throughout the galaxy). The last to be "dropped off" were the Goshute. [Source]
Utes	Sinawav (meaning unclear; Wolf?) and Coyote were the first two in existence. Sinawav (Wolf-Creator?) gave Coyote a bag of sticks and told him to take the bag to the sacred grounds (the High places of Utah). Wolf instructed Coyote not to open that bag until he got to the sacred grounds. But, of course, Coyote was curious. He heard noises inside the bag, and the bag moved by whatever was inside. Finally, on his way to the sacred grounds, curiosity got the better of Coyote and he decided that he would just take a peek. When he opened the bag, all these people came rushing out. Coyote got scared. Finally, he mustered up the courage to close the bag. There were still some people in there. He took them to the sacred grounds and let them out. Those became the Ute people. [Source] Another belief of the Utes is that their pre-human ancestors were bears. [Source]
Navajo	Note: There are different versions among the different tribes of the Southwest. This is one of those. The first people came up through three worlds and settled in the fourth world. They had been driven from each successive world because they had quarreled with one another and committed lascivious crimes. In previous worlds they found no other people like themselves, but in the fourth world they found the Kisani or Pueblo people. The surface of the fourth world was mixed black and white, and the sky was mostly blue and black. There were no no sun, no moon, no stars, but there were four great snow-covered peaks on the horizon in each of the cardinal directions. Late in the autumn they heard in the east the distant sound of a great voice calling. They listened and waited, and soon heard the voice nearer and louder than before. Once more they listened and heard it louder still, very near. A moment later four mysterious beings appeared. These were White Body, god of this world; Blue Body, the sprinkler; Yellow Body; and Black Body, the god of fire [Probably had an asbestos suit on. Ha, ha, ha]. Using signs but without speaking, the gods tried to instruct the people, but they were not understood. [This is very interesting, because there is one version of the Chinese creation myth, which says that Pangu created humans with the help of a white tiger, a blueish dragon, yellowish phoenix, and a black tortoise.] When the gods had gone, the people discussed their mysterious visit and tried without success to figure out the signs. The gods appeared on four days in succession and attempted to communicate through signs, but their efforts came to nothing. On the fourth day when the other gods departed, Black Body remained behind and spoke to the people in their own language: "You do not seem to understand our signs, so I must tell you what they mean. We want to make people who look more like us. You have bodies like ours, but you have the teeth, the feet and the claws of beasts and insects. The new humans will have hands and feet like ours. Also, you are unclean; you smell bad. We will come back in twelve days. Be clean when we return." On the morning of the twelfth day the people washed themselves well. Then the women dried their skin with yellow cornmeal, the men with white cornmeal. Soon they heard the distant call, shouted four times, of the approaching gods. When the gods appeared, Blue Body and Black Body each carried a sacred buckskin. White Body carried two ears of corn, one yellow, one white, each covered completely with grains. The gods laid one buckskin on the ground with the head to the west, and on this they placed the two ears of corn with their tips to the east. Under the white ear they put the feather of a white eagle; under the yellow the feather of a yellow eagle. Then they told the people to stand back and allow the wind to enter. Between the skins the wind wind blew from the east and the yellow wind from the west. While the wind was blowing the eight of the gods, the Mirage People, came and walked around the objects on the ground four times. As they walked, the eagle feathers, whose tips protruded from the buckskins, were seen to move. When the Mirage People had finished their walk, the upper buckskin was lifted. The ears of corn had disappeared; a man and a woman lay in their place. The white ear of corn had become the man, the yellow ear the woman, First Man and First Woman. It was the wind that gave them life, and it is the wind that comes out of our mouths now that gives us life. (I don't remember where I found this info. It was from a long time ago.)
Compare w/ Asian traditions	The Mongolian People have a tradition that their ancestors came from the union of a wolf and deer. Very interesting correlation, don't you think?--How the wolf is revered by both the Mongolians and the Indians of Western North America. Learn more about Mongolia on my Mongolian Page (I lived there for 5 years). The Korean People have a tradition that their ancestors came from the union of a male god with a female bear, who produce the first human; Dan Gun <pronounced Dahn Guun>. For the Korean Legend of Dan Gun, click here.