Friday 3 August 2012

Native American Symbols - Animals

The Frog. Water animal, implies renewal, fertility & springtime.


The Bear. Protector. Physical strength & leadership. Frequently mentioned as "first helper" in creation & emergence stories.


The Deer. Hunting prey animal, sacrificial and sometimes mentioned as "first helper" in a few emergence stories, also family protection and of course speed.




The Horned Lizard. Significant in some Navajo stories implying perseverance and keeping past secrets.  An old saying is "they'll steal your eyes if you look at them too much!" They are also found in Coyote stories as the ones who like to annoy Coyotes.


The Tadpole. Immature frogs implying fertility and renewal.  They can change and are considered very powerful because of this.


The Turtle. A water animal. Strength, feminine "power fetish" animal, fertility, long life & perseverance. Considered by many to be able to defy death, also an annoyance to the Coyote.


The Coyote. This trickster is a powerful hunting prey god and fetish. Very keen to find things, often considered as an omen that something not pleasant could happen. Style shown was a popular design of the "Santa Fe style" in the early 1990's. Howling design with a bandanna is a copy of a cottonwood folk-sculpture first created by Santa Fe artist Ricardo Rodriguez.

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