"This is the first publication of monograph length on the Kawaiisu Indians of the area east of Bakersfield in Kern County, CA. This book represents the culmination of nearly four decades of research carried out by three different scholars (two of whom are now deceased) in an important but poorly described area of California. It also provides a history of ethnographic research on the obscure Kawaiisu and comparisons with the mythology of other groups in southern California and the Great Basin. Among the topics explored are the coyote cycle, magical transformations, visits to the underworld, and the natural hierarchy of the plant and animal worlds."--

Popular Hopi kachina dolls and awesome totem poles are but two of the aspects of the sophisticated, seldom-examined network of mythologies explored in this fascinating volume. This revealing work introduces readers to the mythologies of Native Americans from the United States to the Arctic Circle—a rich, complex, and diverse body of lore, which remains less widely known than mythologies of other peoples and places. In thematic chapters and encyclopedia-style entries, Handbook of Native American Mythology examines the characters and deities, rituals, sacred locations and objects, concepts, and stories that define and distinguish mythological cultures of various indigenous peoples. By tracing the traditions as far back as possible and following their evolution from generation to generation, Handbook of Native American Mythology offers a unique perspective on Native American history, culture, and values. It also shows how central these traditions are to contemporary Native American life, including the continuing struggle for land rights, economic parity, and repatriation of cultural property.

This edited volume analyzes the belief in supernatural gamekeepers and/or animal masters of wildlife from a cross-cultural perspective. It documents the antiquity and widespread occurrence of the belief in supernatural gamekeepers at the global level. This interdisciplinary volume documents both the antiquity and the widespread geographical distribution of this belief along with surveying the various manifestations of this cosmology by way of studies from Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Some chapters explore the manifestations of this belief as they appear in petroglyphs/pictographs and other forms of material culture. Others focus on the environmental impacts of these beliefs/rituals and prescribed foraging restrictions by analyzing how they affect game harvests. The internationally recognized scholars in this volume assess the efficacy of this particular form of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and investigate if adherence to the belief in animal masters actually causes hunters to refrain from overharvesting wild game and thereby contributes to sustainable hunting practices. This volume is of interest to anthropologists, archaeologists and other social scientists researching traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), indigenous conservation, biodiversity, and sustainability practices, and animal deities.

Bringing together a medley of stories, myths, and folklore Gary Varner shares a fascination and respect for humankind's early and contemporary cultures and wonders at similarities across the board. Here, he focuses on "Little People" and giants, animals and were-creatures, and the odd, helpful or threatening ways imputed to our earthly companions including dogs and cats, bats and spiders, and the stories people have told each other about them since time immemorial. Gary Varner has performed a valuable service in these books. [Presenting] lore from about the world, a collector's hoard of traditions rich and strange, ... Varner shows there really are obvious and puzzling similarities between widely separated cultures. Gary Varner has pointed the way to some important cross-cultural readings in the ageless themes of stone and water. - Jeremy Harte, Curator of the Bourne Hall Museum, Surrey, England, in Northern Earth magazine, #103, 2005 Menhirs, Dolmen and Circles of Stone is an excellent guide to large-scale magical stones and stone magic. This book is a must for anyone interested in megalithic sites. Most highly recommended. -PanGaia Magazine, United States As with other books by the same author, this is a book based upon broad research into the subject, stretching across the world. What results is a fascinating weave of stories and images, descriptions of sites and associated tales, that leaves a sense of a thousand deities whispering in the air. Because it is so broad a sweep, the positive outcome is an overreaching perspective of the patterns and commonalities held between human communities - our ancestors - all around the world. The book is a sound overview and provocation toresearch more deeply ourselves, to find alternative visions, tales and interpretations, to find out more about the sacred currents, their depths and importance - both to our ancestors and to ourselves. The author's notations are comprehensive, allowing us easily to follow the clues. A valuable piece of work. -The Druid Network, England * Gary R. Varner is a lecturer and writer on folklore and early religions. He is author of several popular books comparing legends and beliefs around the world, including The Mythic Forest, the Green Man & the Spirit of Nature (Algora 2006); Menhirs, Dolmen and Circles of Stone: The Folklore and Magic of Sacred Stone (Algora 2005); and Sacred Wells: A Study in the History, Meaning, and Mythology of Holy Wells. His approach incorporates details from ancient cultures and from Native American, UK and European, Asian, South Pacific and African folklore. Varner is a member of the American Folklore Society.

"Here there be dragons"--this notation was often made on ancient maps to indicate the edges of the known world and what lay beyond. Heroes who ventured there were only as great as the beasts they encountered. This encyclopedia contains more than 2,200 monsters of myth and folklore, who both made life difficult for humans and fought by their side. Entries describe the appearance, behavior, and cultural origin of mythic creatures well-known and obscure, collected from traditions around the world.

Folklorist Gary R. Varner takes a lengthy look at various myths, legends and beliefs of Native Americans in this book. Included are stories and archaeological finds from various lands that suggest cultural contacts between explorers from China, Japan, the Mediterranean and Europe with Native Americans in pre-Columbian times. Native American folklore and myths are examined including the universal legends of the flood and stories of the mysterious god-men such as Quetzalcoatl, Votan and Chinigchinix, who brought the arts, technology and civilization to indigenous cultures. Mysteries of Native American Myth and Religion is a fact-filled, yet fascinating story of the original inhabitants of North and South America. Varner has written several books on folklore and mythology and is a member of the American Folklore Society and the Foundation for Mythological Studies.