Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
The Earth Dragon
Why there is a ridge near the coast
E.W. Gifford (1887–1959)
Then the earth dragon, with its great, long horns, got up and walked down from the north. It traveled underground and the god Nagaicho rode on its head. As it walked along through the ocean depths, the water outside rose to the level of its shoulders. When it came to shallower places it turned its head upward, and because of this there is a ridge near the coast in the north upon which the waves break. When it came to the middle of the world, in the east under the rising sun, it looked up again, which created a large island near the coast. Far away to the south it continued looking up and made a great mountain range. In the south the dragon lay down, and Nagaicho placed its head as it should be and spread gray-colored clay between its eyes and on each horn. He covered the clay with a layer of reeds, then spread another layer of clay. On it he put some small stones, and then set blue grass, brush, and trees in the clay. “I have finished,” he said. “Let there be mountain peaks on the earth’s head. Let the waves of the sea break against it.”
— from “Earth Dragon” in American Indian Myths and Legends (Pantheon 1984), Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz
Nagaicho, or “Great Traveler,” is a companion god to Chenesh, the creator god in the mythology of California indigenous peoples such as the Kato. Often seen as a comedy team in which Chenesh plays the straight man while Nagaicho teases him into acts of creation, the duo is credited with the creation of the world and its inhabitants. In this version, based on a 1930 account by E.W. Gifford (1887–1959), who specialized in the study of California Indian ethnography.
Here's something you might be interested in.
The Earth Dragon
Why there is a ridge near the coast
The Earth Dragon
Why there is a ridge near the coast
E.W. Gifford (1887–1959)
Then the earth dragon, with its great, long horns, got up and walked down from the north. It traveled underground and the god Nagaicho rode on its head. As it walked along through the ocean depths, the water outside rose to the level of its shoulders. When it came to shallower places it turned its head upward, and because of this there is a ridge near the coast in the north upon which the waves break. When it came to the middle of the world, in the east under the rising sun, it looked up again, which created a large island near the coast. Far away to the south it continued looking up and made a great mountain range. In the south the dragon lay down, and Nagaicho placed its head as it should be and spread gray-colored clay between its eyes and on each horn. He covered the clay with a layer of reeds, then spread another layer of clay. On it he put some small stones, and then set blue grass, brush, and trees in the clay. “I have finished,” he said. “Let there be mountain peaks on the earth’s head. Let the waves of the sea break against it.”
— from “Earth Dragon” in American Indian Myths and Legends (Pantheon 1984), Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz
Nagaicho, or “Great Traveler,” is a companion god to Chenesh, the creator god in the mythology of California indigenous peoples such as the Kato. Often seen as a comedy team in which Chenesh plays the straight man while Nagaicho teases him into acts of creation, the duo is credited with the creation of the world and its inhabitants. In this version, based on a 1930 account by E.W. Gifford (1887–1959), who specialized in the study of California Indian ethnography.
Comments