Kiowa Myths and Legends

The Kiowa Indians of southwestern Oklahoma were one of the tribes known as Plains-type tribes. These people were part of the buffalo culture; however, the early research done on these tribes by the anthropologists was mainly done on the men of the culture, so the Kiowa was portrayed very much in a man's light. In many books now, the Kiowa seem to be portrayed as a fighting, buffalo-hunting group of people; indeed, in some of the books I've read, that's all they do! This is not entirely accurate; while they did do those things, they had an amazing culture and lifestyle to go along with it. Children raised in this culture learned things from both parents; women made their homes (and owned them, for that matter!) and darned near everything else (clothing, food, supplies). Men had very specialized skills; weapon-making, tool-making, painting, and the making of ceremonial things was their thing, as well as much of the hunting. But they certainly didn't subsist on just buffalo alone; the women gathered herbs and vegetables and fruit. And the children watched, and listened, and learned...

Here are some stories of the Kiowa. Many of these stories include Saynday, one of the trickster figures. Saynday is the one who brought the sun; brought the buffalo from underground to the Kiowa. But Saynday was also hopelessly vain; also, hopelessly sloppy, no matter in what way. But the Saynday stories are still wonderful; usually pretty wild, too! And they always begin with: Saynday was coming along...

How Saynday Got The Sun