Snot Boy and Copper Woman: blood is a powerful thing....

So yesterday was a fun day of trying out a new skill; for the first time in my life, I was doing blood draws on my classmates. Or rather, I should say, attempting blood draws, because none of the four I attempted where quite successful. At first, I had a bit of trouble finding the vein; my needle would skim along the top of the vein, causing bruising but not any blood in the vaccutainer. Then, once I figured out the angle and how to get the needle in the vein, I had this subconcious reaction to seeing the "flash" as they call it; that initial little bit of blood you see come into the tubing; without even thinking, I would pull back on the needle, causing the needle to come loose and blood to fly everywhere! I think this is probably a normal, primal reaction; naturally we don't want to cause our friends harm, we don't want to stick sharp things into them and cause them to bleed, so my brain was responding in a normal way, but I'll have to retrain myself, at least in this instance, that I do actually want to make my friends bleed....

Before class, I was reading a book that talks a lot about blood as well, moon-blood, women's secrets and the symbolic nature of all of us sharing the same blood, the idea that we all came from an original man and woman; and this man and women where called Copper Woman and Snot Boy...this couple is not your Christian Adam and Eve, that is for sure. The book, by the way, is called Daughters of the Copper Woman, and I think everyone should read it. It is a collection of myths from the dawns of time in the Pacific Northwest; and most of them have a distinctly feminist flavor. The story goes something like this.

The Creator is lonely; he/she (because in this part of the world, the Creator is neither male nor female, but something more, including and combining the two,) so Creator decides to create a being which will have conciousness similar to his/her own; a being with creativity, a two-legged. Creator starts by creating this being out of sticks, this goes well until Stick Woman falls into a fire she builds. Then Creator makes Mud Woman, but she falls apart in a rain storm. Creator makes Moss Woman, but she quickly dries up. At last, Creator makes Copper Woman from a variety of materials; he/she uses shells from the sea to fashion her bones, ocean water to create her blood, mud to make her organs, his/her own skin to make her skin, seaweed for her hair, moss for her pubic hair, and so on. Copper Woman is a conglameration of raw materials; she has some of all the elements in her, and she is beautiful. Unfortunely perhaps for Copper Woman, Creator gives her no tutorial on how to survive; unlike the Adam and Eve story, once Creator makes Copper Woman, he/she plunks her down on the earth and leaves her to survive. Things aren't easy for Copper Woman, but she learns how to hunt and fish and make fire and build shelter and make clothes and so, she survives. But Copper Woman isn't very happy, her life is just about survival and nothing more, she is extremely lonely and longs for companionship. Copper Woman does some magic and calls the supernaturals to her; for a time she is much happier; the supernatural beings hang out on earth for a while with Copper Woman and keep her company. But after a while they have to leave; as they get in their dugouts and start paddling away, Copper Woman becomes very upset and starts to weep. As she weeps, snot starts running out of her noise in coupious amounts. The Supernatural beings yell back to her to collect all the snot coming from her; they tell her to take care of it, and that it will grow into a being that will banish her loneliness. So Copper Woman gathers all the snot up in a shell and holds on to it, and sure enough, it begins to grow and take shape. She covers it with sand, which becomes it's skin, and as the days pass, she has to keep moving the snot-creature to larger and larger shells, until finally, the snot-creature won't fit into any shell, and it moves into bed with her. At this point it has assumed the shape and anatomy of a man, and Snot-Boy as this creature is now known fondles Copper Woman and has sex with her. The story says Snot-Boy makes a little of her loneliness go away; but he is an incomplete human and until she gives birth to her first daughter, Copper Woman is still lonely.

The part I probably love the best is the first time Copper Woman breastfeeds her new daughter (who is, of course, a magic child who later marries the wife of Thunderbird,) it says not only is all of her loneliness completely gone, but the feeling she gets from nursing her baby is like being with the supernaturals again...she experiences nursing like some type of magic (which, of course, it is.) Copper Woman and Snot Boy continue to procreate and from them, all people are decendents.

I love the story on a lot of levels; first, it is awesome that according to this story, it was a woman who was on the earth first and alone she learned how to survive and hunt and fish and do all those things. The fact that she is so independent and the gods do almost nothing for her, besides provide company, is great. Also, I love that the first man is created from her snot, and, as we often see even today, women aren't completely satisfied until their mate gives them a child; a woman's loneliness often isn't gone until she is a mother. The first man is described as this incompetent, needy creature, whereas the first woman is very strong, independent and knows exactly what she wants...(I'm not saying I think all men are incompetent and needy, but I must admit a part of me was excited to know that not every culture in the world says men came first and that they learned all that stuff, etc, etc...)

And I love that the story really impresses upon the reader the importance of treating all humans with respect, since we are all children of the Copper Woman.

Love ya,
Carrot