Haudenosaunee TraditionMother of the Twins
Sky Woman's Daughter
Also known as Mother of the Twins
- birth
- the food plants
- the moon (in some tellings)
The daughter born to Sky Woman on the new earth, mother of the twins Sapling and Flint, who dies giving birth to them; in many tellings the food plants grow from her grave.
About Sky Woman's Daughter
Born on Turtle Island
Sky Woman is already pregnant when she falls, or gives birth soon after, and her child is a daughter who grows quickly on the new earth. Most recorded tellings do not give the daughter a personal name, and this site does not supply one. How she conceives the twins is one of the points on which tellers most disagree: in the Seneca retelling Parker summarises she marries Ga'ha', the gentle wind, while other versions recorded by Hewitt name a different visitor, or leave the father mysterious.
The twins' birth
She bears twin sons. The first, Sapling, is born in the ordinary way; the second, Flint, forces his way out, and she dies. In some versions Flint blames his brother, and Sky Woman believes him, which begins the long rivalry between the twins and their grandmother's favour for Flint.
What grows from her
Many tellings, including the Seneca material Parker summarises, say that the plants the people live on grow from her grave: corn, beans, and squash, and in several versions tobacco. Some tellings also make the sun or the moon from her face or body. Tellers differ on which plant grows from which part of her, and this entry does not choose between them.
Worship and cult
Temples, festivals, and practices recorded for Sky Woman's Daughter
No ceremony for this figure is described in the public sources this site draws on.
Family
Sky Woman's Daughter's family at a glance
- Who are Sky Woman's Daughter's parents?
- The atlas's kinship records name one parent of Sky Woman's Daughter: Sky Woman. Ancient accounts do not always agree on divine parentage.
- Who are Sky Woman's Daughter's children?
- Children of Sky Woman's Daughter recorded in the atlas: Sapling and Flint.
- Who were Sky Woman's Daughter's spouses and consorts?
- Spouses and consorts of Sky Woman's Daughter recorded in the atlas: Ga'ha' the Zephyr.
In the atlas
Where Sky Woman's Daughter appears
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Arthur C. Parker, Seneca Myths and Folk Tales
- J.N.B. Hewitt, Iroquoian Cosmology, Bureau of American Ethnology Annual Reports 21 and 43
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Parallels are editorial comparisons across traditions: a shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.
Family relationships come from the atlas's kinship records. Ancient sources often disagree on divine genealogy.
Genealogy
Family tree
Sky Woman's Daughter's parents, consorts, children and rivals, as recorded in the atlas.