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Native American Water Mythology

Water is also used as a clan symbol in some Native American cultures. Tribes with Water Clans include the Hopi tribe (whose Water Clan is named Piikyasngyam,) the Navajo tribe, and the Pueblo tribes.

Native American Water Gods and Spirits

Apotampkin (Maliseet-Passamaquoddy)
Big Water Snake (Blackfoot)
Great Serpent (Anishinabe)
Halfway-People (Mi'kmaq)
*Little Thunders (Seminole)
Lumpeguin (Maliseet)
Newas (Passamaquoddy)
Nibinabe (Ojibway)
Owner of Waters (Arapaho)
Sedna (Inuit)
True Tiger (Miami-Illinois)
*Underwater Panthers (Algonquian tribes)
*Water Babies (Western tribes)

Native American Water Monsters

Horned Serpents
Lake Monsters
Mermaids
Sea Monsters

Native American Legends About Water

The Water Famine:
    The Penobscot culture hero, Gluskabe, teaches that water belongs to all people.
*Ababinili and the Humans:
    Chickasaw myth about the Creator assigning water and other elements roles to play in the lives of the people.
*The Lost Boy:
    Delaware legend about a boy who joined the water spirits.
The Creation of the World:
    Gros Ventre myth about the first springs and streams coming from the Creator's tears.
*The Boy Who Became Strong * The Blind Hunter:
    Cree and Dene legends about magical waters that cure blindness.
*The Mermaid:
    Sekani legend about a man who married a water spirit.
*The Old Woman of the Spring:
    Legend of a water woman who helped the Cheyennes through a famine.
*When Raven Was Killed:
    Athabaskan legend about a drought caused by murdering a trickster Raven.

Recommended Books of Water Stories from Native American Myth and Legend
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Go Home, River:
    Children's book by an Alaska Native author illustrating an Inupiat child learning traditional lessons about the water cycle.
*Sacred Water: The Spiritual Source of Life * The Waters of Life: The Facts and the Fables:
    Two interesting books on the role of water in world mythology and spirituality, including Native North and South America.



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