Coyote (mythology)

Coyote is a mythological character common to many Native American cultures, based on the coyote (Canis latrans) animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic although he may have some coyote-like physical features such as fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes, a tail and claws. The myths and legends which include Coyote vary widely from culture to culture.
Coyote shares many traits with the mythological figure Raven.
==By culture==
Coyote is a figure in the following cultural areas of the Americas, as commonly defined by ethnographers:
===California===
Coyote is featured in the culture of the following groups who live in the area covered by the state of California: the Karuk,Karuk stories the Maidu] of Northern California, the Tongva of Southern California, the Ohlone mythology of Northern California, the Miwok mythology of Northern California, and the Pomo mythology of Northern California.
===Great Plains===
Coyote is seen in the cultural heritage of these people of the Great Plains area: the Crow mythology (Crow Nation), the Ho-Chunk mythology (Ho-Chunk, Winnebago), and the Menominee.
===Plateau===
Myths and stories of Coyote are also found in the cultures of the Plateau area: the Chinookan (including the Wishram people and the Multnomah),Chinookan stories the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation|Flathead,Flathead stories the Nez Perce tribe|Nez Perce,Nez Perce Stories the Nlaka'pamux, the Syilx (Okanagan), the St'at'imc, the Tsilhqot'in, and the Yakama.Other stories from Plateau tribes
==Functional cognates==
Coyote has been compared to both the Scandinavian Loki, and also Prometheus, who shared with Coyote the trick of having stolen fire from the gods as a gift for mankind, and Anansi, a mythological culture hero from Western African mythology. In Eurasia, rather than a coyote, a fox is often featured as a trickster hero, ranging from kitsune (fox) tales in Japan to the Reynard cycle in Western Europe. Similarities can also be drawn with another trickster, the Polynesian demigod Māui, who also stole fire for mankind and introduced death to the world.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist proposed a structuralist theory that suggests that Coyote and Crow obtained mythic status because they are mediator animals between life and death.Lévi-Strauss, Claude. Structural Anthropology. Trans. Claire Jacobson. New York: Basic Books, 1963. (p. 224)
==Coyote in the modern world==
Coyote figures prominently in current efforts to educate young people about Western Native American languages and cultures. For example, the Secwepemc people of the Kamloops Indian Ban] in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, have designated their recently opened native elementary school the Sk'elep (Coyote) School of Excellence, while educational websites such as one co-sponsored by the Neskonlith Indian Band of Chase, British Columbia prominently feature stories about Sk'elep.http://landoftheshuswap.com/msite/legend.php Stseptekwle legends the Mobooks include two collections of contemporary Coyote tales, Elderberry Flute Song and The Other Side of Nowhere, which place Coyote in a number of different hawk Nation.
Coyote also features as a character in the webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court, written by Tom Siddel, where he is portrayed with his trickster characteristics in full force and his status as a god and the implications not left forgotten.
==References==
==External links==
* Native American Trickster Tales
* Coyote, He/She Was Going There: Sex and Gender in Native American Trickster Stories
* Trickster: Shaman of the Liminal
Category:Native American mythology
Category:Creator gods
Category:Animals in religion