Iroquois Sky Women and Meme-making Aliens

 My group's myth was the Iroquois Sky Woman myth, which is a creation myth. It was really interesting to have studied a myth that I had no prior knowledge about and learning about creation myths in general was an insightful experience. I loved doing my own research outside the myth book to learn more about the historical and cultural context of the myth and its implications on the values of the Iroquois tribe. I also noticed through my research that because the myth is spread through generations through oral tradition, there were differing details online depending on the source and who was telling the story along with different interpretations. I didn't realize how important it was to keep the knowledge of the myth alive for cultural reasons!

    Compared to my myth, which has a modern setting and explains the modern concept of meme culture, the experience of creating my myth and studying the Sky Woman myth was very different. However, studying the Sky Woman myth definitely made me more thoughtful with the significance of the characters in my myth, as well as how fun it was to see how the Sky Woman myth may have influenced mine in some way. In a sense, my myth does follow the typical myth structure of divine entities coming to earth and creating something for humans. Creating my own myth felt more freeing as I didn't have to worry about focusing on archetypes or symbolism other than what I thought would fit the story, and I wrote it based on meme culture, which I am very familiar with. I used to write short fiction stories, so making a myth felt as though I were picking up my past beloved hobby again. 

I think that the idea of an activity for students to make their own myths would help them show their understanding of certain myths. Especially if they are given the task of making a myth based on a certain concept, such as a Female Divine or Trickster myth to give them a base to work off of. I definitely loved the activities each group had if they were teaching their myth to a certain grade level, and how each group adapted to their target demographic, which is a very useful skill.

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