THE TEN GRANDMOTHERS

The Grandmothers religion of the Kiowa became one of the most potent religions ever believed in by the plains tribes. The Grandmothers each had their own tipi, their own horse, and their own dedicated guardian Everything in the tribe and the camps centered around the Grandmothers. There was no coming or going without consulting them. They were not idols. The Kiowa do not worship them. They are objects to pray in the presence of. The Kiowa believed in an all-powerful Creator, a person who was known by a word that meant"The Man who created the World".

The Grandmothers are a part of the Creator. When the Kiowa pray in their presence, they are asking the Grandmothers to relay their prayers to the Creator.

The Grandmothers are kept in buffalo hide containers, are blessed and purified by medicine men, and filled with various objects. Willie Maunkee (Kiowa Bill) was the last Keeper of one of the Grandmothers. Those who have Grandmothers now, are only guardians. When Kiowa Bill died, the Grandmother bags were sewed shut, never to be opened again, because he was the last true keeper.

The story of the Grandmothers has been told through the years by the grandparents to the young. There are few written documents on the early history of the Kiowa, Their history is oral passed down the generations by their extraordinary memories. This is the story the grandparents have passed, with clarity, to the younger generations, about Earth Woman.

"There once lived a man and a woman, father and mother to one child, a girl baby. The girl baby never passed from the sight of her parents. Zealously they watched over her day and night.

One day a friend persuaded the mother and father to allow her to take the baby's cradle outside and place it on a cedar branch. The cradle swayed gently in the wind. A cardinal flew down and alighted softly on the branch which held the cradle. Chirping softly to the girl baby, the bird beckoned her to follow him. She crawled out of her cradle and followed the bird.

The girl baby felt herself ascending into the sky as she followed the red bird. Ascending higher into the realms of the clouds, she grew older. The two came to a stop and Earth Woman looked and saw the cardinal was really the Sun, a handsome young man. The Sun told Earth Woman "I have watched you for a long time and I wanted you for my wife. I found a way to bring you to my land."

Sun and Earth Woman were wed. A male child was born to the union. He was named Sun Boy. He was the first Kiowa. The woman and child could partake of any foliage which grew in the land except one. The Sun forbade the tree to the Earth Woman.

Earth Woman and the Sun quarreled one day. He left on a hunting trip. Earth Woman took the child and sought out the forbidden tree. Kneeling she scratched the earth at the tree's roots, the soil fell away. Looking down through the hole, Earth Woman saw far below her the earth and her people. She was lonesome for her people.

Hurriedly she found a vine and twisted it into a rope. Tying Sun Boy to her back, she crawled down the vine which hung earthward. The Sun came home in the evening. He found Earth Woman and the child gone. He became very angry and went to the tree. It was a long way to earth and Earth Woman hung suspended between the land of the Sun and the earth.

The Sun took an iron gaming wheel which he always carried. The Sun instructed the gaming wheel to follow the vine, strike the woman, but spare the boy. The wheel hit Earth woman. Earth Woman and the boy fell. Striking the ground, Earth Woman died, but Sun Boy survived.

Sun Boy was found by Grandmother Spider who took care of him. Sun Boy carried his father's iron gaming wheel. Grandmother Spider told Sun Boy he was never to throw the iron gaming wheel skyward. But, being a boy, Sun Boy had to find out what would happen if the wheel was thrown skyward. Going behind a mountain, Sun Boy hurled the wheel into the air and as it came down, the wheel hit Sun Boy in the very middle of him, cutting him in two. Now Sun Boy had become two.

Grandmother Spider almost cried when she saw the twins approaching the lodging. But, nevertheless she cared for the boys and they grew.

Grandmother Spider died and the twin boys buried her by the lake which was their home. Then the twin boys were punished for disobeying a belief. The twin boys were turned into pillars of salt. The pillars stood by the lake where Grandmother Spider was buried."

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Anthropologists believe the original twin gods were peculiar rock formations in Montana. An earthquake may have caused one to tumble into the other, breaking it. A giant earthquake came one stone pillar fell into the lake never to be seen again, the other fell to the ground, breaking into ten pieces.

Copyright,2000-2003
May, 2000

This information compiled, prepared and submitted to this site from the book Ten Grandmothers by Alice Marriott by Ethel Taylorand remains her copyright>

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