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From Around The World
A creation myth or creation story is a cultural, traditional or religious myth which describes the earliest beginnings of the present world. Creation myths are the most common form of myth, usually developing first in oral traditions, and are found throughout human culture. A creation myth is usually regarded by those who subscribe to it as conveying profound truths, although not necessarily in a historical or literal sense. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical myths-that is they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness. Every myth that has ever been told or written, varies in the telling. The basic themes are repeated in many of them, but details, even story lines will differ considerably, from village to village, time to time. One needs to understand that the myths have been told for many centuries before being written down, which first occurred about 800 BC.
Many of you are probably familiar
with the Creation story in the Bible; Genesis,
Chapters 1 throuh 3. As many of you are familiar with the Creation story in the Bible; Genesis, Chapters 1 throuh 3; were you aware that there are numerous Creation Stories from around The World? People groups from around the world have their accounts of creation and they affect the way the societies work. People around the world believe in a 'creation' of some sort, and can be broadly categorised into two groups.
Some would say that the universe
was created (creationists) by an intelligent agent of some kind, and
others that the universe created itself (materialistic evolutionists)
and are atheists (from a-"without" theos-"god"). Whether examining the North or South American 'Indian' creation myths, the Australian aboriginal BIAMI Legends, China's creation stories of the Miao people or New Zealand's Maori people, or the Bible's account, accounts of creation abound. Creation by a supernatural creator seems to be a natural way of thinking for most people as they ponder their origins. These creation stories have many common elements, and typically speak of an original paradise, a fall from grace introducing corruption into the world, a global judgment by a flood etc. The obvious design in nature could lead various people groups to believe in a generic "creator", however such similar accounts are hard to explain by chance and more obviously point to a shared history not long ago. Studies have shown that children naturally see the world as "designed", rather than having evolved.
Rather, it is usually through the
intense indoctrination in a state run school system (where often
no other view other than evolution
is offered/allowed) that youth start believing everything just
made itself and that this belief equates with 'science'. (Many of
course never realize that empirical science can only test things in
the present, not the past, making the question of origins in the past
beyond the scope of anyone to prove using scientific experiment.) Different religions believe that the world was created in different ways. There are many creation stories and here are some of them. People did not always live on the surface of the earth. At one time people and animals lived underneath the earth with Kaang (Käng), the Great Master and Lord of All Life. In this place people and animals lived together peacefully. They understood each other. No one ever wanted for anything and it was always light even though there wasn't any sun. During this time of bliss Kaang began to plan the wonders he would put in the world above. First Kaang created a wondrous tree, with branches stretching over the entire country. At the base of the tree he dug a hole that reached all the way down into the world where the people and animals lived. After he had finished furnishing the world as he pleased he led the first man up the hole. He sat down on the edge of the hole and soon the first woman came up out of it. Soon all the people were gathered at the foot of the tree, awed by the world they had just entered. Next, Kaang began helping the animals climb out of the hole. In their eagerness some of the animals found a way to climb up through the tree's roots and come out of the branches. They continued racing out of the world beneath until all of the animals were out. Kaang gathered all the people and animals about him. He instructed them to live together peacefully. Then he turned to the men and women and warned them not to build any fires or a great evil would befall them. They gave their word and Kaang left to where he could watch his world secretly. As evening approached the sun began to sink beneath the horizon. The people and animals stood watching this phenomenon, but when the sun disappeared fear entered the hearts of the people. They could no longer see each other as they lacked the eyes of the animals which were capable of seeing in the dark. They lacked the warm fur of the animals also and soon grew cold. In desperation one man suggested that they build a fire to keep warm. Forgetting Kaang's warning they disobeyed him. They soon grew warm and were once again able to see each other. However the fire frightened the animals. They fled to the caves and mountains and ever since the people broke Kaang's command people have not been able to communicate with animals. Now fear has replaced the seat friendship once held between the two groups. The Bushmen of Africa believe that not only are plants and animals alive, but also rain, thunder, the wind, spring, etc. They claim:
What we see is only the outside form or body. Inside is a living spirit that we cannot see. These spirits can fly out of one body into another. For example, a woman's spirit might sometime fly into a leopard; or a man's spirit fly into a lion's body. (Fahs and Spoerl 6)
This may be part of the reason
that animals play such an important role in their myth.
Ainu Creation Myth Japanese Earth diver myth The Ainu creation myths are the traditional creation accounts of the Ainu peoples of Japan. Their stories share common characteristics with Japanese creation myths and earth diver creation stories commonly found in Central Asian and Native American cultures. In one version the creator deity sends down a water wagtail to create habitable land in the watery world below. The little bird fluttered over the waters, splashing water aside and then he packed patches of the earth firm by stomping them with his feet and beating them with his tail. In this way islands where the Ainu were later to live were raised to float upon the ocean.
Because Ainu tend to be somewhat
hirsute, at least in comparison to other East Asian populations, many
Ainu stories maintain that their first ancestor was a bear. However,
an alternative version tells of Kamuy sending a heavenly couple to
earth called Okikurumi and Turesh. This couple had a son, whom some
consider the first Ainu, and he is believed to have given the people
the necessary skills to survive. Aja-tiva-da is the fundamental philosophical doctrine of the Advaita Vedanta philosopher Gaudapada. It is one of the three creation theories of Advaita. According to Gaudapada, the Absolute is not subject to birth, change and death. The Absolute is aja, the unborn eternal. The empirical world of appearances is considered unreal, and not absolutely existent. Gaudapada, who was strongly influenced by Buddhism, borrowed the concept of "aja-ta" from Nagajurna's Madhyamaka philosophy of Buddhism. The Buddhist tradition usually uses the term "anutpa-da" for the absence of an origin or sunyata. In Advaita, there are three creation theories:
Atrahasis ("exceedingly wise") is the protagonist of an 18th century BC Akkadian epic recorded in various versions on clay tablets. The Atrahasis tablets include both a creation myth and a flood account, which is one of three surviving Babylonian deluge stories. The name "Atrahasis" also appears on one of the Sumerian king lists as king of Shuruppak in the times before a flood. The oldest known copy of the epic tradition concerning Atrahasis can be dated by colophon (scribal identification) to the reign of Hammurabi’s great-grandson, Ammi-Saduqa (1646–1626 BC), but various Old Babylonian fragments exist; it continued to be copied into the first millennium BC. The Atrahasis story also exists in a later fragmentary Assyrian version, having been first rediscovered in the library of Ashurbanipal, but, because of the fragmentary condition of the tablets and ambiguous words, translations had been uncertain. Its fragments were assembled and translated first by George Smith as The Chaldean Account of Genesis; the name of its hero was corrected to Atrahasis by Heinrich Zimmern in 1899. In 1965 W. G. Lambert and A. R. Millard published many additional texts belonging to the epic, including an Old Babylonian copy (written around 1650 BC) which is our most complete surviving recension of the tale. These new texts greatly increased knowledge of the epic and were the basis for Lambert and Millard’s first English translation of the Atrahasis epic in something approaching entirety. A further fragment has been recovered in Ugarit. Walter Burkert traces the model drawn from Atrahasis to a corresponding passage, the division by lots of the air, underworld and sea among Zeus, Hades and Poseidon in the Iliad, in which “a resetting through which the foreign framework still shows”. In its most complete surviving version, the Atrahasis epic is written on three tablets in Akkadian, the language of ancient Babylon. Tablet I contains a creation myth about the Sumerian gods Anu, Enlil, and Enki, gods of sky, wind, and water, “when gods were in the ways of men” according to its incipit. Following the Cleromancy (casting of lots), sky is ruled by Anu, earth by Enlil, and the freshwater sea by Enki. Enlil assigned junior divines to do farm labor and maintain the rivers and canals, but after forty years the lesser gods or dingirs rebelled and refused to do strenuous labor. Instead of punishing the rebels, Enki, who is also the kind, wise counselor of the gods, suggested that humans be created to do the work. The mother goddess Mami is assigned the task of creating humans by shaping clay figurines mixed with the flesh and blood of the slain god Geshtu-E, “a god who had intelligence” (his name means “ear” or “wisdom”). All the gods in turn spit upon the clay. After ten months, a specially made womb breaks open and humans are born. Tablet I continues with legends about overpopulation and plagues. Atrahasis is mentioned at the end of Tablet I. Tablet II begins with more overpopulation of humans and the god Enlil sending first famine and drought at formulaic intervals of 1200 years to reduce the population. In this epic Enlil is depicted as a nasty capricious god while Enki is depicted as a kind helpful god, perhaps because priests of Enki were writing and copying the story. Tablet II is mostly damaged, but ends with Enlil's decision to destroy humankind with a flood and Enki bound by an oath to keep the plan secret. Tablet III of the Atrahasis Epic contains the flood story. This is the part that was adapted in the Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet XI. Tablet III of Atrahasis tells how the god Enki warns the hero Atrahasis (“Extremely Wise”) of Shuruppak, speaking through a reed wall (suggestive of an oracle) to dismantle his house (perhaps to provide a construction site) and build a boat to escape the flood planned by the god Enlil to destroy humankind. The boat is to have a roof “like Apsu” (a subterranean, fresh water realm presided over by the god Enki), upper and lower decks, and to be sealed with bitumen. Atrahasis boards the boat with his family and animals and seals the door. The storm and flood begin. Even the gods are afraid. After seven days the flood ends and Atrahasis offers sacrifices to the gods. Enlil is furious with Enki for violating his oath. But Enki denies violating his oath and argues: “I made sure life was preserved.” Enki and Enlil agree on other means for controlling the human population. A few general histories can be attributed to the Mesopotamian Atrahasis by ancient sources; these should generally be considered mythology but they do give an insight into the possible origins of the character. The Epic of Gilgamesh labels Atrahasis as the son of Ubara-Tutu, king of Shuruppak, on tablet XI, ‘Gilgamesh spoke to Utnapishtim (Atrahasis), the Faraway&ldots; O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubara-Tutu’. The Instructions of Shuruppak instead label Atrahasis (under the name Ziusudra) as the son of the eponymous Shuruppak, who himself is labelled as the son of Ubara-Tutu. At this point we are left with two possible fathers: Ubara-Tutu or Shuruppak. Many available tablets comprising The Sumerian King Lists support The Epic of Gilgamesh by omitting Shuruppak as a ruler of Shuruppak. These lists imply an immediate flood after or during the rule of Ubara-Tutu. These lists also make no mention of Atrahasis under any name. However WB-62 lists a different and rather interesting chronology – here Atrahasis is listed as a ruler of Shuruppak and gudug priest, preceded by his father Shuruppak who is in turn preceded by his father Ubara-Tutu. WB-62 would therefore lend support to The Instructions of Shuruppak and is peculiar in that it mentions both Shuruppak and Atrahasis. In any event it seems that Atrahasis was of royal blood; whether he himself ruled and in what way this would affect the chronology is debatable.
The Epic of Atrahasis provides additional information on the flood and flood hero that is omitted in Gilgamesh XI and other versions of the Ancient Near East flood story. According to Atrahasis III ii.40–47 the flood hero was at a banquet when the storm and flood began: “He invited his people&ldots;to a banquet&ldots; He sent his family on board. They ate and they drank. But he (Atrahasis) was in and out. He could not sit, could not crouch, for his heart was broken and he was vomiting gall.” The flood story in the standard edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Chapter XI may have been paraphrased or copied verbatim from a non-extant, intermediate version the Epic of Atrahasis. But editorial changes were made, some of which had long-term consequences. The sentence quoted above from Atrahasis III iv, lines 6–7: “Like dragonflies they have filled the river.” was changed in Gilgamesh XI line 123 to: “Like the spawn of fishes, they fill the sea.” However, see comments above. Other editorial changes were made to the Atrahasis text. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, anthropomorphic descriptions of the gods are weakened. For example, Atrahasis OB III, 30–31 “The Anunnaki (the senior gods) [were sitt]ing in thirst and hunger.” was changed in Gilgamesh XI, 113 to “The gods feared the deluge.” Sentences in Atrahasis III iv were omitted in Gilgamesh, e.g. “She was surfeited with grief and thirsted for beer” and “From hunger they were suffering cramp.”
Read Atrahasis here Ancient Egyptian creation myths are the ancient Egyptian accounts of the creation of the world. The Pyramid Texts, tomb wall decorations and writings, dating back to the Old Kingdom (2780 – 2250 B.C.E) have given us most of our information regarding early Egyptian creation myths. These myths also form the earliest religious compilations in the world. The ancient Egyptians had many creator gods and associated legends. Thus the world or more specifically Egypt was created in diverse ways according to different parts of the country. In all of these myths, the world was said to have emerged from an infinite, lifeless sea when the sun rose for the first time, in a distant period known as zp tpj (sometimes transcribed as Zep Tepi), "the first occasion". Different myths attributed the creation to different gods: the set of eight primordial deities called the Ogdoad, the self-engendered god Atum and his offspring, the contemplative deity Ptah, and the mysterious, transcendent god Amun. While these differing cosmogonies competed to some extent, in other ways they were complementary, as different aspects of the Egyptian understanding of creation.
Common elements The different creation myths had some elements in common. They all held that the world had arisen out of the lifeless waters of chaos, called Nu. They also included a pyramid-shaped mound, called the benben, which was the first thing to emerge from the waters. These elements were likely inspired by the flooding of the Nile River each year; the receding floodwaters left fertile soil in their wake, and the Egyptians may have equated this with the emergence of life from the primeval chaos. The imagery of the pyramidal mound derived from the highest mounds of earth emerging as the river receded. The sun was also closely associated with creation, and it was said to have first risen from the mound, as the general sun-god Ra or as the god Khepri, who represented the newly-risen sun. There were many versions of the sun's emergence, and it was said to have emerged directly from the mound or from a lotus flower that grew from the mound, in the form of a heron, falcon, scarab beetle, or human child Another common element of Egyptian cosmogonies is the familiar figure of the cosmic egg, a substitute for the primeval waters or the primeval mound. One variant of the cosmic egg version teaches that the sun god, as primeval power, emerged from the primeval mound, which itself stood in the chaos of the primeval sea.
Cosmogonies
The different creation accounts
were each associated with the cult of a particular god in one of the
major cities of Egypt: Hermopolis, Heliopolis,
Memphis, and Thebes. To
some degree these myths represent competing theologies, but they also
represent different aspects of the process of creation.
The creation myth promulgated in
the city of Hermopolis focused on the nature of the universe before
the creation of the world. The inherent qualities of the primeval
waters were represented by a set of eight gods, called the Ogdoad.
The god Nu and his female counterpart Naunet represented the inert
primeval water itself; Huh and his counterpart Hauhet represented the
water's infinite extent; Kuk and Kauket personified the darkness
present within it; and Amun and Amaunet represented its hidden and
unknowable nature, in contrast to the tangible world of the living.
The primeval waters were themselves part of the creation process,
therefore, the deities representing them could be seen as creator
gods. According to the myth, the eight gods were originally divided
into male and female groups. They were symbolically depicted as
aquatic creatures because they dwelt within the water: the males were
represented as frogs, and the females were represented as snakes.
These two groups eventually converged, resulting in a great upheaval,
which produced the pyramidal mound. From it emerged the sun, which
rose into the sky to light the world.
In Heliopolis, the creation was
attributed to Atum, a deity closely associated with Ra, who was said
to have existed in the waters of Nu as an inert potential being. Atum
was a self-engendered god, the source of all the elements and forces
in the world, and the Heliopolitan myth described the process by
which he "evolved" from a single being into this
multiplicity of elements. The process began when Atum appeared on the
mound and gave rise to the air god Shu and his sister Tefnut, whose
existence represented the emergence of an empty space amid the
waters. To explain how Atum did this, the myth uses the metaphor of
masturbation, with the hand he used in this act representing the
female principle inherent within him. He is also said to have
"sneezed" and"spat" to produce Shu and Tefnut, a
metaphor that arose from puns on their names. Next, Shu and Tefnut
coupled to produce the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut, who
defined the limits of the world. Geb and Nut in turn gave rise to
four children, who represented the forces of life: Osiris, god of
fertility and regeneration; Isis, goddess of motherhood; Set, the god
of male sexuality; and Nephthys, the female complement of Set. The
myth thus represented the process by which life was made possible.
These nine gods were grouped together theologically as the Ennead,
but the eight lesser gods, and all other things in the world, were
ultimately seen as extensions of Atum. The Memphite version of creation centered on Ptah, who was the patron god of craftsmen. As such, he represented the craftsman's ability to envision a finished product, and shape raw materials to create that product. The Memphite theology said that Ptah created the world in a similar way. This, unlike the other Egyptian creations, was not a physical but an intellectual creation by the Word and the Mind of God. The ideas developed within Ptah's heart (regarded by the Egyptians as the seat of human thought) were given form when he named them with his tongue. By speaking these names, Ptah produced the gods and all other things.
The Memphite creation myth
coexisted with that of Heliopolis, as Ptah's creative thought and
speech were believed to have caused the formation of Atum and the
Ennead. Ptah was also associated with Tatjenen, the god who
personified the pyramidal mound. Theban theology claimed that Amun was not merely a member of the Ogdoad, but the hidden force behind all things. There is a conflation of all notions of creation into the personality of Amun, a synthesis which emphasizes how Amun transcends all other deities in his being “beyond the sky and deeper than the underworld”. One Theban myth likened Amun's act of creation to the call of a goose, which broke the stillness of the primeval waters and caused the Ogdoad and Ennead to form. Amun was separate from the world, his true nature was concealed even from the other gods. At the same time, however, because he was the ultimate source of creation, all the gods, including the other creators, were in fact merely aspects of Amun. Amun eventually became the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon because of this belief. Amun is synonymous with the growth of Thebes as a major religious capital. But it is the columned halls, obelisks, colossal statues, wall-reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Theban temples that we look to gain the true impression of Amun’s superiority. Thebes was thought of as the location of the emergence of the primeval mound at the beginning of time. Anishinaabeg Creation Stories
See Chippewa
Creation Story Mesoamerican creation myths are the collection of creation myths attributed to, or documented for, the various cultures and civilizations of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The Maya gods included Kukulkan (also known by the K'iche' name Gukumatz and the Aztec name Quetzalcoatl) and Tepeu. The two were referred to as the Creators, the Forefathers or the Makers. According to the story, the two gods decided to preserve their legacy by creating an Earth-bound species looking like them. The first attempt was man made from mud, but Tepeu and Kukulkan found that the mud crumbled. The two gods summoned the other gods, and together they decided to make man from wood. However, since these men had no soul and soon lost loyalty to the creators, the gods destroyed them by rain. Finally, man was constructed from maize, the Mayans staple and sacred food. The deity Itzamna is credited as being the creator of the calendar along with creating writing. Quetzalcoatl, the light one, and Tezcatlipoca, the dark one, looked down from their place in the sky and saw only water below. A gigantic goddess floated upon the waters, eating everything with her many mouths. The two gods saw that whatever they created was eaten by this monster. They knew they must stop her, so they transformed themselves into two huge serpents and descended into the water. One of them grabbed the goddess by the arms while the other grabbed her around the legs, and before she could resist they pulled until she broke apart. Her head and shoulders became the earth and the lower part of her body the sky. The other gods were angry at what the two had done and decided, as compensation for her dismemberment, to allow her to provide the necessities for people to survive; so from her hair they created trees, grass, and flowers; caves, fountains, and wells from her eyes; rivers from her mouth; hills and valleys from her nose; and mountains from her shoulders. Still the goddess was often unhappy and the people could hear her crying in the night. They knew she wept because of her thirst for human blood, and that she would not provide food from the soil until she drank. So the gift of human hearts is given her. She who provides sustenance for human lives demands human lives for her own sustenance. So it has always been; so it will ever be. The mother of the Aztec creation story was called Coatlique the Lady of the Skirt of Snakes Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan (also transcribed Teteo Inan) ("The Mother of Gods"), is the Aztec goddess who gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war. She is also known as Toci, ("Our Grandmother"), and Cihuacoatl, ("The Lady of the serpent"), the patron of women who die in childbirth. The word "Coatlicue" is Nahuatl for "the one with the skirt of serpents". She is referred to by the epithets "Mother Goddess of the Earth who gives birth to all celestial things", "Goddess of Fire and Fertility", "Goddess of Life, Death and Rebirth" and "Mother of the Southern Stars". She is represented as a woman wearing a skirt of writhing snakes and a necklace made of human hearts, hands and skulls. Her feet and hands are adorned with claws (for digging graves) and her breasts are depicted as hanging flaccid from nursing. Coatlicue keeps on her chest the hands, hearts and skulls of her children so they can be purified in their mother's chest. Almost all representation of this goddess depict her deadly side, because Earth, as well as loving mother, is the insatiable monster that consumes everything that lives. She represents the devouring mother, in whom both the womb and the grave exist. According to the legend, she was magically impregnated while still a virgin by a ball of feathers that fell on her while she was sweeping a temple. She gave birth to Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl. In a fit of wrath her four hundred children, who were encouraged by Coyolxauhqui (her daughter), decapitated her. The god Huitzilopochtli afterward emerged from Coatlicue's womb fully grown and girded for battle and killed many of his brothers and sisters, including decapitating Coyolxauhqui and throwing her head into the sky to become the Moon. In a variation of this legend, Huitzilopochtli himself is conceived by the ball-of-feathers incident and emerges from the womb in time to save his mother from harm. A massive sculpture known as the Coatlicue Stone was discovered by the astronomer Antonio de Leon y Gama in August of 1790 after an urban redevelopment program uncovered artifacts. Six months later, the team discovered the massive Aztec sun stone. De Leon y Gama's account of the discoveries was the first archeological work on Pre-Columbian Mexico. Coatlicue was created in the image of the unknown, decorated with skulls, snakes, and lacerated hands. There are no cracks in her body and she is a perfect monolith (a totality of intensity and self-containment, yet her features were sqaure and decapitated). Coatlique was first impregnated by an obsidian knife and gave birth to Coyolxanuhqui, goddess of the moon, and to a group of male offspring, who became the stars. Then one day Coatlique found a ball of feathers, which she tucked into her bosom. Whe she looked for it later, it was gone, at which time she realized that she was again pregnant. Her children, the moon and stars did not believe her story. Ashamed of their mother, they resolved to kill her. A goddess could only give birth once, to the original litter of divinity and no more. During the time that they were plotting her demise, Coatlicue gave birth to the fiery god of war, Huitzilopochtli. With the help of a fire serpent, he destroyed his brothers and sister, murdering them in a rage. He beheaded Coyolxauhqui and threw her body into a deep gorge in a mountain, where it lies dismembered forever. The natural cosmos of the Indians was born of catastrophe. The heavens literally crumbled to pieces. The earth mother fell and was fertilized, while her children were torn apart by fratricide and them scattered and disjointed throughout the universe.
Ometecuhlti and his wife
Omecihuatl created all life in the world. Their children were:
Âu Co Âu Co was an immortal mountain fairy who married La Long Quân (literally: "Dragon Lord of Lac"), and bore an egg sac that hatched a hundred children known collectively as Bach Viet, ancestors to the Vietnamese people, according to the creation myth of the Vietnamese people. Âu Co is often honored as the mother of Vietnamese civilization. Âu Co was a young, beautiful fairy who lived high in the mountains. She traveled to heal those who suffered because she was skillful in medicine and had a sympathetic heart. One day, a monster frightened her, so she turned into a crane to fly away. Lac Long Quân, a dragon king from the sea, saw her in danger, so he grabbed a rock and killed the monster. When Au Co stopped to see who helped her, she turned back into a fairy and fell instantly in love with her benefactor. She bore an egg sac from which hatched 100 children. However, despite their love, she desired to be in the mountains again and he yearned for the sea. They separated, each taking 50 children. Au Co settled in mountainous northern Vietnam where she raised 50 young, intelligent, strong leaders, later known as the Hùng Vuong, Hùng kings.
The books Ðai Viet su ký
toàn thu (from the 15th century) and Linh Nam
chích quái (Wonders plucked from the dust of
Linh-nam, from the 14th century) mention the legend. In Ðai
Viet su ký toàn thu Âu Co is the daughter
of Ðe Lai, while in Linh Nam chích quái she is the
wife of Ðe Lai. The story of Âu Co and Lac Long Quân
is taught widely in Vietnamese schools. The Barton Cylinder is a Sumerian creation myth, written on a clay cylinder in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC, which is now in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Joan Goodrick Westenholz suggests it dates to around 2400 BC. The cylinder is inscribed with a Sumerian cuneiform mythological text, found at the site of Nippur in 1889 during excavations conducted by the University of Pennsylvania. The cylinder takes its name from George Barton, who was the first to publish a transcription and translation of the text in 1918 in "Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions". Barton Cylinder Content The most recent edition was published by Bendt Alster and Aage Westenholz in 1994. Jeremy Black calls the work "a beautiful example of Early Dynastic calligraphy" and discussed the text "where primeval cosmic events are imagined." Along with Peeter Espak, he notes that Nippur is pre-existing before creation when heaven and earth separated. Nippur, he suggests is transfigured by the mythological events into both a "scene of a mythic drama" and a real place, indicating "the location becomes a metaphor." Black details the beginning of the myth: "Those days were indeed faraway days. Those nights were indeed faraway nights. Those years were indeed faraway years. The storm roared, the lights flashed. In the sacred area of Nibru (Nippur), the storm roared, the lights flashed. Heaven talked with Earth, Earth talked with Heaven." The content of the text deals with Ninhursag, described by Bendt and Westenholz as the "older sister of Enlil." The first part of the myth deals with the description of the sanctuary of Nippur, detailing a sacred marriage between An and Ninhursag during which heaven and earth touch. Piotr Michalowski says that in the second part of the text "we learn that someone, perhaps Enki, made love to the mother goddess, Ninhursag, the sister of Enlil and planted the seed of seven (twins of) deities in her midst." The Alster and Westenholz translation reads: "Enlil's older sister / with Ninhursag / he had intercourse / he kissed her / the semen of seven twins / he planted in her womb" Peeter Espak clarifies the text gives no proof of Enki's involvement, however he notes "the motive described here seems to be similar enough to the intercourse conducted by Enki in the later myth "Enki and Ninhursag" for suggesting the same parties acting also in the Old-Sumerian myth." Barton's original translation and commentary suggested a primitive sense of religion where "chief among these spirits were gods, who, however capricious, were the givers of vegetation and life." He discusses the text as a series of entreatments and appeals to the various provider and protector gods and goddesses, such as Enlil, in lines such as "O divine lord, protect the little habitation." Barton suggests that several concepts within the text were later recycled in the much later biblical Book of Genesis. He describes Ninhursag in terms of a snake goddess who creates enchantments, incantations, and oils, to protect from demons, saying: "Her counsels strengthen the wise divinity of An", a statement which reveals a point of view similar to that of Genesis 3, (Genesis 3:1) 'Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field." Barton also finds reference to the tree of life in the text, from which he claimed: "As it stands the passage seems to imply a knowledge on the part of the Babylonians of a story kindred to that of Genesis (Genesis 2:9). However in the absence of context one cannot build on this." Finding yet another parallel with Genesis, Barton mentions that "The Tigris and Euphrates are twice spoken of as holy rivers – and the 'mighty abyss' (or 'well of the mighty abyss') is appealed-to for protection."
His translation reads: "The
holy Tigris, the holy Euphrates / the holy sceptre of Enlil /
establish Kharsag." The Cheonjiwang Bonpuli is a Korean creation myth, traditionally retold by shamans in the small island of Jeju Island. It is one of the best-known Creation myths in the Korean peninsula, and many key elements in the Cheonjiwang Bonpuli can be found in the creation myths of the mainland. Plot Unlike its title, the supreme deity Cheonjiwang, whose name literally means 'King of the Heavens and the Earth', serves mainly as a secondary character. The protagonists of the myth are instead the two sons of Cheonjiwang, Daebyeol and Sobyeol. The myth starts with the creation of the world, when the sky and the earth were one (This concept can be found in most other creation myths). As there were no sky nor earth, as a result, there was only an empty void. However, one day, a gap formed in the void. All that was lighter than the gap headed upwards and formed the sky. All that was heavier than the gap fell down to become the earth. From the sky fell a clear blue drop of dew, and from the earth rose a dark black drop of dew. As these two drops mixed, all that existed, except the sun, moon, and the stars, came to be. From these two drops came humans and even the gods. The leader of the gods, Cheonjiwang, awoke to the cry of the three roosters; the Cheonhwangdag (Hangul: 'Rooster Emperor of the Sky'), the Jihwangdag (Hangul: 'Rooster Emperor of the Earth'), and the Inhwangdag (Hangul: 'Rooster Emperor of the Humans') (according to some scolars, the cry of the roosters signify time). Cheonjiwang knew that the three roosters were crowing because there was no sun. To appease the roosters, Cheonjiwang crafted two suns and two moons, and made the two suns rise and fall every day and the two moons rise and fall every night. Meanwhile, the king of the mortal human world (Korean: Iseung, This World) was Sumyeong Jangja, the first human to tame the beasts. He ruled atop the humans with his nine horses, nine bulls, and nine bloodhounds, taking most of the crop away and leaving just enough to prevent starvation. Sumyeong Jangja, riding on his chariot pulled by his horses and surrounded by his fierce dogs, was invincible. One day, Sumyeong Jangja cried "Who dare subdue me!", looking up at the sky. His boast reached the ears of Cheonjiwang. The infuriated Cheonjiwang invaded Sumyeong Jangja's kingdom. He rode on his own golden chariot, pulled by his five dragons. He ordered his lieutenants, the deities Beongae Janggun (Hangul: 'General of Lightning'), Byeorak Janggun (Hangul: 'General of Thunder'), Hwadeok Jingun (Hangul: 'General of Fire'), and Pungu Dosa (Hangul: 'Master of the Winds and the Rains'), to accompany him to Sumyeong Jangja's realm. The four generals themselves led an army of 10,000 soldiers. When Cheonjiwang's army reached Sumyeong Jangja's palace, Cheonjiwang climbed up a willow tree near the palace and cried out; "Foolish human, kneel before me!" Sumyeong Jangja sent out all of his 27 beasts (9 horses, 9 bulls, and 9 hounds) at Cheonjiwang, but with a wave of Cheonjiwang's hands, all the beasts suddenly found themselves atop the roof of Sumyeong Jangja's palace. With another wave of Cheonjiwang's hands, the iron pots in Sumyeong Jangja's kitchen launched themselves into Sumyeong Jangja's garden. Sumyeong Jangja fought fiercely against the soldiers of Cheonjiwang, but he was finally forced to kneel before Cheonjiwang. Cheonjiwang put an iron ring on Sumyeong Jangja's head, and Sumyeong Jangja experienced extreme pain, as if his head was exploding. Whatever he did, the iron ring did not get off Sumyeong Jangja's head. Finally, in despair, Sumyeong Jangja ordered a slave to ease his pain by decapitating him. The surprised Cheonjiwang murmured "Amazing." and took the iron ring off Sumyeong Jangja's head. He then continued on his way. Cheonjiwang did not return to the sky immediately, but spent the night in Baekju Halmeom ( 'Grandmother Baekju')'s cottage. The bright-eared Cheonjiwang heard someone brushing her hair with a jade comb in the next room, and asked Baekju Halmeom who she was. Baekju Halmeom answered that it was her only daughter, Chongmyeong Agi. (Hangul: 'Wise Girl'). Chongmyeong Agi was fairer than the Seonnyeo, the heavenly fairies. Cheonjiwang asked both Chongmyeong Agi and Baekju Halmeom if he could have sexual intercourse with Chongmyeong Agi, and both decided to accept. Thus, that night, Chongmyeong Agi became Chongmyeong Buin (Hangul: 'Wise Wife'), as she had experienced love. Cheonjiwang stayed with his new wife for four days, then left. He gave Chongmyeong Buin two gourd seeds, and advised her to name their children Daebyeol (Hangul: 'Large Star') and Sobyeol (Hangul: 'Small Star'). Cheonjiwang then flew away on his golden, dragon-led chariot. Chongmyeong Buin gave birth to two identical twin boys, who she named Daebyeol and Sobyeol. One day, when the twins matured, Daebyeol and Sobyeol asked Chongmyeong Buin; "Who is our father?" (a child abandoned by their parents is one of the most common theme in Korean mythology) Chongmyeong Buin answered that their father was Cheonjiwang, the supreme god. Daebyeol and Sobyeol planted the two gourd seeds. Gourd vines instantly sprouted from the seeds, and the vines finally grasped on the left armrest of Cheonjiwang's throne. Daebyeol and Sobyeol climbed up the vines until they reached the Haneul Gungjeon, the Palace of the Heavens, the abode of Cheonjiwang. But because of the combined weight of the two brothers, the left armrest of Cheonjiwang's throne had been broken. From that day, all thrones had no left armrest. When Cheonjiwang found his sons, he admitted that they were his sons after a glance at them. Cheonjiwang informed them that he found it difficult to rule the heavens, the earth, the mortal world, and the netherworld all at the same time, and told Daebyeol and Sobyeol to try a contest between each other in order to aid him. The first contest was riddles. Daebyeol would ask two riddles to Sobyeol, and Sobyeol would answer it. If Sobyeol gave the right answers, Sobyeol would rule the mortal world, and Daebyeol would rule the netherworld. However, if Sobyeol gave the wrong answers, Daebyeol would rule the mortal world, and Sobyeol would rule the netherworld. Daebyeol's first question was "Why do the leaves of some trees fall, while the leaves of other trees do not?" Sobyeol answered that the leaves of trees that were hollow fell, while the leaves of trees that were full did not fall. However, Daebyeol gave an example of a hollow tree that did not shed its leaves; the reed. Thus, Daebyeol won. Daebyeol's next question was whether the plants in the high regions or the low regions grew better. Sobyeol answered that plants in the low areas grew better. However, Daebyeol refuted Sobyeol by saying that human hair on the high areas (the head) grew better than on the low areas (the feet). Thus, Daebyeol won again and could rule the mortal world, but Sobyeol, who did not want to rule the netherworld, pleaded to have a new contest. The soft-hearted and kind Daebyeol agreed, and Cheonjiwang thought of a new competition. The next contest was growing flowers for a hundred days. A hundred days later, the person with the better flower would rule the mortal world, and the person with the worse flower would rule the netherworld. Cheonjiwang gave them two flowerpots and two seeds, and let them grow their own flowers. As time passed, the victor was obvious. Daebyeol's flower was full of life, while Sobyeol's flower was dried up. But in the ninety-ninth night, Sobyeol pretended to be asleep, and then switched the flowers, planting his flower in Daebyeol's pot and planting Daebyeol's flower in his own pot. The next day, Sobyeol proudly cried out that he was the victor. Thus, Daebyeol was forced to rule the netherworld, and Sobyeol went to rule the mortal world. The first thing Sobyeol did when he came to the mortal world was to kill Sumyeong Jangja. Sobyeol defeated all of Sumyeong Jangja's beasts, and personally captured him, forcing Sumyeong Jangja to kneel before himself. Sobyeol ordered his soldiers to rip Sumyeong Jangja apart into four pieces, and to throw his flesh and bones into the air. Sumyeong Jangja's cadaver turned into swarms of flies, mosquitoes, and bedbugs, which still plague the mortal world. Sobyeol exterminated Sumyeong Jangja's children as well. Sumyeong Jangja's daughter turned into a bean weevil, and his son turned into a kite. Finally, Sobyeol burned down Sumyeong Jangja's palace. But after the execution of Sumyeong Jangja and his family, Sobyeol came to be shocked at the mortal world's chaotic state. Grass, trees, fish, birds, beasts, and humans all had the power of speech, making the mortal world extremely loud. Humans could not converse with each other because whenever a human tried to talk to another person, it was not a fellow human but a ghost who answered it. Moreover, there were two suns and two moons in the sky. Every day, many people burned away, and every night, many people froze to death. Finally, humans were extremely aggressive, promiscuous, and injust, and were great liars and tricksters. Sobyeol pleaded to his brother, Daebyeol, to rid the mortal world of this chaos, and the twins headed to Sobyeol's realm. Daebyeol prepared the Cheongeunsal, his two arrows, and five sacks of pine dust. Each of the Cheongeunsal weighed 600 kilograms, and were made purely of iron. With the first Cheongeunsal, Daebyeol shot down one of the two suns. The remains of the destroyed sun became the stars of the east sky. Next night, Daebyeol shot down one of the two moons. The remains of the destroyed moon became the stars of the west sky. Only since then were there one sun, one moon, and countless stars in the sky. Daebyeol then sprayed his sacks of pine dust upon the world. Whenever the pine dust touched a grass, tree, fish, bird, or beast, it rendered these plants and animals incapable of speech. Finally, Daebyeol sorted out the ghosts and humans. The lighter beings became ghosts, and the heavier beings became humans. Daebyeol then returned to the netherworld. However, Sobyeol forgot to tell Daebyeol about the chaotic habits of the humans. Thus, humans remained aggressive, promiscuous, and injust, and were still liars and tricksters, and Sobyeol could not prevent this chaos because his power was lesser than Daebyeol's. Meanwhile, Chongmyeong Buin was given the title of Bajiwang, the earth goddess, and thus, the four realms of the heavens, the mortal world, the netherworld, and the earth each came to have a ruler. Comparison with Other Myths The Cheonjiwang Bonpuli has many integral themes that are common in Korean mythology of the mainland (the Cheonjiwang Bonpuli myth is retold only in the large island of Jeju). In the Changsega myth of the Hamheung region, the creator, Mireuk, destroys each of the two suns and moons, and creates the stars with the destroyed sun and moon. However, it is not shown how Mireuk destroyed the sun and the moon Also in the Changsega, Mireuk and the evil deity Seokga has three contests to win the world. The last contest is also growing flowers; in this case, magnolia flowers. If the magnolia flower grew towards Mireuk, Mireuk would win, and vice versa. The flower grew towards Mireuk, but Seokga broke the stem of the plant and put it in his own lap. Looking at what Seokga had done, Mireuk cursed both the magnolia and the mortal world, leading the mortal world to be imperfect and causing the magnolia to die quickly. In the Shirumal myth of the Seoul region, the Seonmun and Humun brothers destroy each of the two suns and moons. Finally, in the Dosolsa myth, written in the history book Samguk Yusa, the protagonist also destroys the sun and the moon.
Thus, it is generally believed
that the Cheonjiwang Bonpuli myth is a branch of the ancestral Korean
creation myth, which held such themes as the destruction of each of
the two suns and a flower-growing contest between good and evil
deities. These themes are still represented in many Korean creation
myths, including the Cheonjiwang Bonpuli. The Spiritual beliefs of the Cherokee, Native Americans indigenous to the Appalachias, and today are enrolled in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation, and United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians. The Cherokee creation belief describes the earth as a great floating island surrounded by seawater. It hangs from the sky by cords attached at the four cardinal points. The story tells that the first earth came to be when Dâyuni'sï (Beaver's Grandchild), the little Water beetle came from Gälûñ'lätï, the sky realm, to see what was below the water. He scurried over the surface of the water, but found no solid place to rest. He dived to the bottom of the water and brought up some soft mud. This mud expanded in every direction and became the earth. According to the account recorded in 1900 by the Bureau of American Ethnology. The other animals in Gälûñ'lätï were eager to come down to the new earth, and first birds were sent to see if the mud was dry. Buzzard was sent ahead to make preparations for the others, but the earth was still soft. When he grew tired, his wings dipped very low and brushed the soft mud, gouging mountains and valleys in the smooth surface, and the animals were forced to wait again. When it was finally dry they all came down. It was dark, so they took the sun and set it in a track to run east to west, at first setting it too low and the red crawfish was scorched. They elevated the sun several times in order to reduce its heat. The story also tells how plants and animals acquired certain characteristics, and is related one of their medicine rituals. They all were told to stay awake for seven nights, but only a few animals such as owl and panther succeeded and they were given the power to see and prey upon the others at night. Only a few trees succeeded as well, cedar, pine, spruce and laurel, so the rest were forced to shed their leaves in the winter. The first people were a brother and sister. Once the brother hit his sister with a fish and told her to multiply. Following this, she gave birth to a child every seven days and soon there were too many people, so women were then forced to have just one child every year. The Cherokee revered the Great Spirit,simply referred to as Unetlanvhi or "the Apportioner," who presided over all things and created the Earth. Great Spirit is said to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Often called Apportioner and Creator, and was said to have made the earth to provide for her children. The Wahnenauhi Manuscript says that God is Unahlahnauhi, meaning "maker of all things" and Kalvlvtiahi, meaning "The one who lives above"
The Cherokee held that signs,
visions, dreams, and powers were all gifts of the spirits, and that
their world was intertwined with and presided over by the spirit world. Chinese creation myths are symbolic narratives about the origins of the universe, earth, and life. In Chinese mythology, the term "cosmogonic myth" or "origin myth" is more accurate than "creation myth", since very few stories involve a creator deity or divine will. Chinese creation myths fundamentally differ from monolithic traditions with one authorized version, such as the Judeo-Christian Genesis creation myth; Chinese classics record numerous, sometimes contradictory, origin myths. Some Chinese cosmogonic myths have familiar themes in comparative mythology. For examples, creation from: chaos (Chinese Hundun and Hawaiian Kumulipo), dismembered corpse of a primordial being (Pangu and Mesopotamian Tiamat), world parent siblings (Fuxi and Nüwa and Japanese Izanagi and Izanami), and dualistic cosmology (yin and yang and Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu). In contrast, other mythic themes are uniquely Chinese. While the mythologies of Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia believed primeval water was the single element that existed "in the beginning", the basic element of Chinese cosmology was qi "vapor; gas; life force". Anne Birrell (1993:23) explains that qi "was believed to embody cosmic energy governing matter, time, and space. This energy, according to Chinese mythic narratives, undergoes a transformation at the moment of creation, so that the nebulous element of vapor becomes differentiated into dual elements of male and female, Yin and Yang, hard and soft matter, and other binary elements." Chinese Cosmogonic mythologie
Chuci The (c. 4th century BC) Tianwen "Heavenly Questions" section of the Chuci " Songs of Chu" begins by asking catechistic questions about creation myths. Birrell (1993:26) calls it "the most valuable document in Chinese mythography", and surmises a pre-4th-century date, "since it clearly draws on a preexisting fund of myths." Who passed down the story of the far-off, ancient beginning of things? How can we be sure what it was like before the sky above and the earth below had taken shape? Since none could penetrate that murk when darkness and light were yet undivided, how do we know about the chaos of insubstantial forms? What manner of things are the darkness and light? How did Yin and Yang come together, and how did they originate and transform all things that are by their commingling? Whose compass measured out the ninefold heavens? Whose work was this, and how did he accomplish it? Where were the circling cords fastened, and where was the sky's pole fixed? Where did the Eight Pillars meet the sky, and why were they too short for it in the south-east? Where do the nine fields of heaven extend to and where do they join each other? The ins and outs of their edges must be very many: who knows their number? How does heaven coordinate its motions? Where are the Twelve Houses divided? How do the sun and the moon hold to their courses and the fixed stars keep their places? (tr. Hawkes 1985:127) Birrell (1993:27) describes this Heavenly Questions creation narrative as a "vivid world picture. It mentions no prime cause, no first creator. From the "formless expanse" the primeval element of misty vapor emerges spontaneously as a creative force, which is organically constructed as a set of binary forces in opposition to each other-upper and lower spheres, darkness and light, Yin and Yang—whose mysterious transformations bring about the ordering of the universe."
Daodejing The (before 4th century BC) Daodejing suggests a less mythical Chinese cosmogony and has some of the earliest allusions to creation. There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth; Silent – amorphous – it stood alone and unchanging. We may regard it as the mother of heaven and earth. Not knowing its name, I style it the "Way." (tr. Mair 1990:90) The Way gave birth to unity, Unity gave birth to duality, Duality gave birth to trinity, Trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures. The myriad creatures bear yin on their back and embrace yang in their bosoms. They neutralize these vapors and thereby achieve harmony. (tr. Mair 1990:9) Later Daoists interpreted this sequence to mean the Dao "Way", formless Wuji "Without Ultimate", unitary Taiji "Great Ultimate", and binary yin and yang or Heaven and Earth. Girardot (1976:300) reasons that Daodejing evocations of the Dao as "a cosmic principle of the beginnings would seem to make little sense without seeing the possibility that it was rooted in the symbolic remembrance of archaic mythological, especially cosmogonic, themes."
Taiyi shengshui The (ca. 4th-3rd centuries BC) Taiyi Shengshui "Great One gave birth to water", a Daoist text recently excavated in the Guodian Chu Slips, offers an alternate creation myth, but analysis remains uncertain.
Daoyuan The Daoyuan "Dao's Origins" is one of the Huangdi Sijing manuscripts discovered in 1973 among the Mawangdui Silk Texts excavated from a tomb dated at 168 BC. Like the Chuci above, this text is believed to date from the fourth century BC and from the same southern state of Chu. This Daoist cosmogonic myth describes the creation of the universe and humans out of formless misty vapor, and Birrell (1993:28) notes the striking resemblance between its ancient "all was one" concept of unity before creation and the modern cosmogonic concept of gravitational singularity. At the beginning of eternal past all things penetrated and were identical with great vacuity, Vacuous and identical with the One, rest at the One eternally. Unsettled and confusing, there was no distinction of dark and light. Though Tao is undifferentiated, it is autonomous: "It has no cause since ancient times", yet "the ten thousand things are caused by it without any exception". Tao is great and universal on the one hand, but also formless and nameless. (tr. Jan 1977:75)
Huainanzi The (139 BC) Huainanzi, which is an eclectic text compiled by Han prince Liu An, contains two cosmogonic myths that develop the dualistic concept of Yin and Yang. When Heaven and Earth were yet unformed, all was ascending and flying, diving and delving. Thus it was called the Grand Inception. The Grand Inception produced the Nebulous Void. The Nebulous Void produced space-time, space-time produced the original qi. A boundary [divided] the original qi. That which was pure and bright spread out to form Heaven; that which was heavy and turbid congealed to form Earth. It is easy for that which is pure and subtle to converge but difficult for the heavy and turbid to congeal. Therefore, Heaven was completed first; Earth was fixed afterward. The conjoined essences of Heaven and Earth produced yin and yang. The supersessive essences of yin and yang caused the four seasons. The scattered essences of the four seasons created the myriad things. The hot qi of accumulated yang produced the essence of fiery qi became the sun. The cold qi of accumulated yin produced water; the essence of watery qi became the moon. The overflowing qi of the essences of the sun and the moon made the stars and planets. To Heaven belong the sun, moon, stars, and planets; to Earth belong waters and floods, dust and soil. (3.1, tr. Major et al. 2010:114-115) Of old, in the time before there was Heaven and Earth: There were only images and no forms. All was obscure and dark, vague and unclear, shapeless and formless, and no one knows its gateway. There were two spirits, born in murkiness, one that established Heaven and the other that constructed Earth. So vast! No one knows where they ultimately end. So broad! No one knows where they finally stop. Thereupon they differentiated into the yin and the yang and separated into the eight cardinal directions. The firm and the yielding formed each other; the myriad things thereupon took shape. The turbid vital energy became creatures; the refined vital energy became humans. (7.1, tr. Major et al. 2010:240-241) Birrell (1993:29) suggests this abstract Yin-Yang dualism between the two primeval spirits or gods may be the "vestige of a much older mythological paradigm that was then rationalized and diminished", comparable to the Akkadian Enûma Eliš creation myth of Abzu and Tiamat, male sweet water and female salt water.
Lingxian The (ca. 120 CE) Lingxian, by the polymath Zhang Heng, thoroughly accounts for the creation of Heaven and Earth. Before the Great Plainness (or Great Basis, Taisu ) came to be, there was dark limpidity and mysterious quiescence, dim and dark. No image of it can be formed. Its midst was void; its exterior was non-existence. Things remained thus for long ages; this is called obscurity (mingxing). It was the root of the Dao. . . . When the stem of the Dao had been grown, creatures came into being and shapes were formed. At this stage, the original qi split and divided, hard and soft first divided, pure and turbid took up different positions. Heaven formed on the outside, and Earth became fixed within. Heaven took it body from the Yang, so it was round and in motion; Earth took its body from the Yin, so it was flat and quiescent. Through motion there was action and giving forth; through quiescence there was conjoining and transformation. Through binding together there was fertilization, and in time all the kinds of things were brought to growth. This is called the Great Origin (Taiyuan). It was the fruition of the Dao. (tr. Cullen 2008:47) Later texts The Neo-Confucianist philosopher Zhou Dunyi provided a multifaceted cosmology in his Taiji tushuo "Diagram Explaining the Supreme Ultimate", which integrated the Yijing with Daoism and Chinese Buddhism. Chinese Creation Mythologies
In contrast to the above Chinese
cosmogonic myths about the world and humans originating spontaneously
without a creator (e.g., from "refined vital energy" in the
Huainanzi), two later origin myths for humans involve divinities. The
female Nüwa fashioned people from yellow earth and mud (in early
myths) or from procreating with her brother/husband Fuxi (in later
versions). Myths about the male Pangu say that
people derived from mites on his corpse. In Chinese mythology, the goddess Nüwa or Nügua repaired the fallen pillars holding up heaven and later created human beings. The ancient Chinese believed in a square earth and round domelike sky or heavens, which was supported by four or eight giant pillars (cf. Axis mundi), or four mountains reaching from earth to sky. The (c. 4th century BC) Heavenly Questions of the Chuci (tr. Hawkes 1985:130) first refers to Nüwa: "By what law was Nü Wa raised up to become high lord? By what means did she fashion the different creatures?" Two Huainanzi chapters record Nüwa mythology two centuries later. Going back to more ancient times, the four pillars were broken; the nine provinces were in tatters. Heaven did not completely cover [the earth]; Earth did not hold up [Heaven] all the way around [its circumference]. Fires blazed out of control and could not be extinguished; water flooded in great expanses and would not recede. Ferocious animals ate blameless people; predatory birds snatched the elderly and the weak. Thereupon, Nüwa smelted together five-colored stones in order to patch up the azure sky, cut off the legs of the great turtle to set them up as the four pillars, killed the black dragon to provide relief for Ji Province, and piled up reeds and cinders to stop the surging waters. The azure sky was patched; the four pillars were set up; the surging waters were drained; the province of Ji was tranquil; crafty vermin died off; blameless people [preserved their] lives. Bearing the square [nine] provinces on her back and embracing Heaven, [Fuxi and Nüwa established] the harmony of spring and the yang of summer, the slaughtering of autumn and the restraint of winter. (6, tr. Major et al. 2010:224-225) The Yellow Emperor produced yin and yang. Shang Pian produced ears and eyes; Sang Lin produced shoulders and arms. Nüwa used these to carry out the seventy transformations (17, tr. Major et al. 2010:674) Shang Pian and Sang Lin are obscure mythic divinities. The (c. 100 CE) commentary of Xu Shen says "seventy transformations" refers to Nuwa's power to create everything in the world. Ying Shao's (c. 195 CE) Fengsu Tongyi "Common Meanings in Customs" describes Han-era beliefs about the primeval goddess. People say that when Heaven and earth opened and unfolded, humankind did not yet exist, Nü Kua kneaded yellow earth and fashioned human beings. Though she worked feverishly, she did not have enough strength to finish her task, so she drew her cord in a furrow through the mud and lifted it out to make human beings. That is why rich aristocrats are the human beings made from yellow earth, while ordinary poor commoners are the human beings made from the cord's furrow. (Feng su f'ung-yi, CFCE 1.83, tr. Birrell 1993:35) Birrell (1993:34) identifies two worldwide mythic motifs in Ying Shao's account. Myths commonly say the first humans were created from clay, dirt, soil, or bone; Nügua used mud and yellow earth. Myths widely refer to social stratification; Nügua created the rich from yellow earth and the poor from mud. In contrast, the builder's cord motif is uniquely Chinese, and iconographic of the Goddess. In Han iconography, Nüwa sometimes holds a builder's compass. The (9th century CE) Duyi zhi "A Treatise on Extraordinary Things" by Li Rong records a later tradition that Nügua and her brother Fuxi were the first humans. In this version, says Anne Birrell (1993:34), the goddess has been demoted from "primal creatrix to a mortal subservient to God in Heaven" (Tian), and a "lowly female subservient to the male, in the traditional manner of marital relations." Long ago, when the world first began, there were two people, Nü Kua and her older brother. They lived on Mount K'un-lun. And there were not yet any ordinary people in the world. They talked about becoming husband and wife, but they felt ashamed. So the brother at once went with his sister up Mount K'un-lun and made this prayer: "Oh Heaven, if Thou wouldst send us two forth as man and wife, then make all the misty vapor gather. If not, then make all the misty vapor disperse." At this, the misty vapor immediately gathered. When the sister became intimate with her brother, they plaited some grass to make a fan to screen their faces. Even today, when a man takes a wife, they hold a fan, which is a symbol of what happened long ago. (tr. Birrell 1993:35)
Birrell (1993:35) contrasts these
three Nügua narratives to demonstrate how an "arcane primal
myth develops into a specific theme, from creative power (Huainanzi),
to the act of creation (Fengsu tongyi), and then further evolves, or
degenerates, into a myth that contradicts the original intent and
meaning of the early mythic expression" (Duyi zhi). One of the most popular creation myths in Chinese mythology describes the firstborn semidivine human Pangu "Coiled Antiquity" separating the world egg-like Hundun "primordial chaos" into Heaven and Earth. However, none of the ancient Chinese classics mentions the Pangu myth, which was first recorded in the (3rd century CE) Sanwu liji "Historical Records of the Three Sovereign Divinities and the Five Gods", attributed to the Three Kingdoms period Daoist author Xu Zheng. Thus, in classical Chinese mythology, Nüwa predates Pangu by six centuries. Heaven and earth were in chaos like a chicken's egg, and P'an Ku was born in the middle of it. In eighteen thousand years Heaven and earth opened and unfolded. The limpid that was Yang became the heavens, the turbid that was Yin became the earth. P'an Ku lived within them, and in one day he went through nine transformations, becoming more divine than Heaven and wiser than earth. Each day the heavens rose ten feet higher, each day the earth grew ten feet thicker, and each day P'an Ku grew ten feet taller. And so it was that in eighteen thousand years the heavens reached their fullest height, earth reached its lowest depth, and P'an Ku became fully grown. Afterward, there were the Three Sovereign Divinities. Numbers began with one, were established with three, perfected by five, multiplied with seven, and fixed with nine. That is why Heaven is ninety thousand leagues from earth. (tr. Birrell 1993:32-33) Like the Sanwu liji, the Wuyun linian ji "A Chronicle of the Five Cycles of Time" is another 3rd-century text attributed to Xu Zheng. This version details the cosmological metamorphosis of Pangu's microcosmic body into the macrocosm of the physical world. When the firstborn, P'an Ku, was approaching death, his body was transformed. His breath became the wind and clouds; his voice became peals of thunder. His left eye became the sun; his right eye became the moon. His four limbs and five extremities became the four cardinal points and the five peaks. His blood and semen became water and rivers. His muscles and veins became the earth's arteries; his flesh became fields and land. His hair and beard became the stars; his bodily hair became plants and trees. His teeth and bones became metal and rock; his vital marrow became pearls and jade. His sweat and bodily fluids became streaming rain. All the mites on his body were touched by the wind and were turned into the black-haired people. (tr. Birrell 1993:33)
Bruce Lincoln (1968:5-20) found
parallels between Pangu and the Indo-European world parent myth, such
as the primeval being's flesh becoming earth and hair becoming plants. Chippewa is actually an Anglo mispronunciation of the word “Ojibwa,” which may have referred to the puckered seams in people’s moccasins. In their language, the Chippewa call themselves “Anishinaabe,” which means the original people. The Anishinaabe have their own creation story which was recorded on birch bark scrolls and was passed down orally through the generations. In heir origin story, their central figure is Gitche Manito, or the Great Mystery (also called the Good Spirit), who first created Mother Earth. Gitche Manito used Mother Earth and her elements to make the animals, the plants, and then the Anishinaabe. Gitche Manito sent birds to spread the seeds of life to all of the four directions and to the land above and the land below. The Great Mystery made plants with the ability to heal, feed animals, and provide beauty. Lastly, he took the four elements of rock, water, fire, and wind to mold the Anishinaabe and blew the breath of life into Anishinaabe through a sacred shell called megis (cowrie shell). Gitche Manito then lowered the original (first) Anishinaabe to Earth. Men and women were the last life forms created. Therefore, the Anishinaabeg (plural) feel that the plants and animals are elders, having lived on Mother Earth longer. The Great Mystery then felt pity for the Anishinaabeg, because they experienced hunger and sickness, and did not know how to make the best use of the natural world around them. So Gitche Manito sent his messenger Nanaboozhoo to help them use food and plants to live long lives and overcome suffering. “Nanapush,” which appears as a tribal surname in Love Medicine, is an alternate spelling for Nanaboozhoo. He was both a trickster and a teacher, exemplifying the wrong and right ways to live. The otter brought the teachings of the Four Sacred Directions to the Anishinaabeg, as well as being a teacher for sacred ceremonies used to cure the sick.
The Anishinaabeg who followed
these teachings were called the Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society.
Both men and women could become members (called Mide),
although it was thought that initiates into the group must already
have the gift of healing, which was bestowed by the Creator and could
not be taught. Midewiwin societies are still in existence and very
active today. First version The Choctaw who remain in Mississippi tell this story as an explanation of how they came to the land where they live now and of how Nanih Waiya Mound came to be. Two brothers, Chata and Chicksah led the original people from a land in the far west that had ceased to prosper. The people traveled for a long time, guided by a magical pole. Each night, when the people stopped to camp, the pole was placed in the ground and in the morning the people would travel in the direction in which the pole leaned. After traveling for an extremely long time, they finally came to a place where the pole remained upright. In this place, they laid to rest the bones of their ancestors, which they had carried in buffalo sacks from the original land in the west. The mound grew out of that great burial. After the burial, the brothers discovered that the land could not support all the people. Chicksah took half the people and departed to the North and eventually became the Chickasaw tribe. Chatah and the others remained near the mound and are now known as the Choctaw. Second version
At the beginning there was a great
mound. It was called Nanih Waiya. It was from this mound that the
creator fashioned the first of the people. These people crawled
through a long, dark cave into daylight and became the first Choctaw.
Creek Creation Myth The Creek believe that the world was originally entirely underwater. The only land was a hill, called Nunne Chaha, and on the hill was a house, wherein lived Esaugetuh Emissee ("master of breath"). He created humanity from the clay on the hill. The Creek also venerated the Horned Serpent Sint Holo, who appeared to suitably wise young men. In the underworld, there was only chaos and odd creatures. Master of Breath created Brother Moon and Sister Sun, as well as the four directions to hold up the world. The first people were the offspring of Sister Sun and the Horned Serpent. These first two Creeks were Lucky Hunter and Corn Woman, denoting their respective roles in Creek Society.
Hisagita-imisi (meaning
"preserver of breath"; also Hisakitaimisi) was the
supreme god, a solar deity. He is also called Ibofanga ("the
one who is sitting above (us)").
According to the Dangun creation
myth, Hwanung yearned to live on the earth among the valleys and the
mountains. Hwanin permitted Hwanung and 3000 followers to depart and
they descended from heaven to a sandalwood tree on Baekdu Mountain,
then called Taebaek Mountain. There Hwanung founded Sinsi
The tiger and the bear agreed and
went back to the cave, but tiger was too hungry and impatient to
wait, leaving the cave before the 100 days were done. But the bear
remained, and on the 21st day was transformed into a beautiful woman,
who gratefully honored Hwanung with offerings. With time the woman
grew lonely, and prayed to Hwanung that she might have a child. So
Hwanung made her his wife and gave her a son called Dangun, a name
which has two meanings: "Altar Prince" and sandalwood.
Dangun eventually founded Gojoseon. The Debate between sheep and grain or Myth of cattle and grain is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.
Compilation The first sixty-one lines of the myth were discovered on the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology catalogue of the Babylonian section, tablet number 14,005 from their excavations at the temple library at Nippur. This was translated by George Aaron Barton in 1918 and first published as "Sumerian religious texts" in "Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions", number eight, entitled "A New Creation Myth". The tablet is 5 by 2.6 by 1.25 inches (13 by 6.6 by 3.2 cm) at its thickest point. Barton describes the text as an "elaborate statement of the non-existence of many things once upon a time" and considered it a "statement that mankind was brought into existence through the physical union of a god and a goddess." Another tablet from the same collection, number 6893 (part of which was destroyed) was translated by Edward Chiera in 1924 increasing the text to seventy lines in "Sumerian religious texts". Chiera compiled his translation using further tablets translated by Hugo Radau published in "Miscellaneous Sumerian Texts" in 1909. Stephen Langdon also translated further parts of the text and discusses the myth saying, "One of the most remarkable tablets in the Museum is number 14005, a didactic poem in 61 lines on the period of pre-culture and institution of paradise by the earth god and the water god in Dilmun". It was then increased to two hundred lines and the myth called cattle and grain by Samuel Noah Kramer in 1959; he called it the "second myth significant for the Sumerian concept of the creation of man". He added the translation of a tablet by Hermann Hilprecht and included translations of museum tablet numbers 7344, 7916, 15161 and 29.15.973. He also included translations from tablets in the Nippur collection of the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul, catalogue numbers 2308, 4036 and 4094. Other translations were taken from Edward Chiera's "Sumerian Epics and Myths" numbers 38, 54, 55, 56 and 57. In total, seventeen pieces were found by Kramer to belong to the myth. Later work has added to this and modern translation has removed the deification of Lahar and Ashnan, naming them simply "grain" and "sheep" (also known as cattle).
Story The story opens with a location "the hill of heaven and earth" which is discussed by Chiera as "not a poetical name for the earth, but the dwelling place of the gods, situated at the point where the heavens rest upon the earth. It is there that mankind had their first habitat, and there the Babylonian Garden of Eden is to be placed." The Sumerian word Edin, means "steppe" or "plain", so modern scholarship has abandoned the use of the phrase "Babylonian Garden of Eden" as it has become clear the "Garden of Eden" was a later concept. Jeremy Black suggests this area was restricted for gods, noting that field plans from the Third dynasty of Ur use the term hursag ("hill") to describe the hilly parts of fields that are hard to cultivate due to the presence of prehistoric tell mounds (ruined habitations). Kramer discusses the story of the god An creating the cattle-goddess, Lahar, and the grain goddess, Ashnan, to feed and clothe the Annunaki, who in turn made man. Lahar and Ashnan are created in the "duku" or "pure place" and the story further describes how the Annunaki create a sheepfold with plants and herbs for Lahar and a house, plough and yoke for Ashnan, describing the introduction of animal husbandry and agriculture. The story continues with a quarrel between the two goddesses over their gifts which eventually resolves with Enki and Enlil intervening to declare Ashnan the victor.
Discussion
Samuel Noah Kramer has noted the
parallels and variations between the story and the later one of Cain
and Abel in the Bible Book of Genesis (Genesis
4:1-16). Ewa Wasilewska mentions, "this text is not
very clear, allowing for the interpretation that humankind was
already present before Lahar and Ashnan were created and it was them,
not the Anunnakû, who were not able to provide for themselves
and for the deities until they were given divine 'breath' (Lyczkowska
and Szarzynska 1981). However, it seems that Kramer's
translation is more appropriate concerning the Sumerian realm in
which each and every creation must have had its clearly described
purpose". Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat noted the use of measuring rods
in the tale as being linked to the history of writing, which
developed in order to keep count of animals and produce. Jeremy Black
suggests that the victory of grain perhaps implies that man can live
without domestic animals, but cannot survive without bread. He goes
on to point out that the debates on both sides are roughly equal. Diné Bahane', the Navajo creation myth, describes the prehistoric emergence of the Navajos, and centers on the area known as the Dinétah, the traditional homeland of the Navajo people. This story forms the basis for the traditional Navajo way of life. The basic outline of Diné Bahane' begins with the Nilch'i Diyin (Holy Wind) being created, the mists of lights which arose through the darkness to animate and bring purpose to the myriad Diyin Dine'é (Holy People), supernatural and sacred in the different three lower worlds. All these things were spiritually created in the time before the earth existed and the physical aspect of humans did not exist yet, but the spiritual did. The First World was small and centered on an island floating in a the middle of four seas. The inhabitants of the first world were Diyin Dine'é, Coyote, mist beings and various insect people. The supernatural beings First Woman and First Man came into existence here and met for the first time after seeing each other's fire. The various beings started fighting with one another and departed by flying out an opening in the east. They journeyed to the Second World, Ni' Hodootl'izh, which was inhabited by various blue-gray furred mammals and various birds, including blue swallows. The beings from the First World offended Swallow Chief, Táshchózhii, and they were asked to leave. First Man created a wand of jet and other materials to allow the people to walk upon it up into the next world through an opening in the south. In the Third World, Ni' Haltsooí, there were two rivers that formed a cross and the Sacred Mountains but there was still no sun. More animal people lived here too. This time it was not discord among the people that drove them away but a great flood caused by Tééhooltsódii when Coyote stole her child. When the people arrived in The Fourth World, Ni' Hodisxos, it was covered in water and there were monsters (naayéé) living here. The Sacred Mountains were re-formed from soil taken from the original mountains in the Second World. First Man, First Woman, and the Holy People created the sun, moon, seasons, and stars. It was here that true death came into existence via Coyote tossing a stone into a lake and declaring that if it sank then the dead would go back to the previous world.
The first human born in the Fourth
World is Asdzaa Nádleehé who, in turn, gives birth to
the Hero Twins called Naayéé Neizghání
and Tóbájíshchíní. The twins have
many adventures in which they helped to rid the world of various
monsters. Multiple batches of modern humans were created a number of
times in the Fourth World and the Diyin Dine'é gave them
ceremonies which are still practiced today.
Egyptian Creation Myths There are five distinct creation myths recorded by the Egyptians. Each is linked with a different god and each is linked with a different city.
Khnum created the universe on his potter's wheel. He modeled the other gods as well as all the many peoples of the earth.
He created animals, birds, fish,
reptitles and plants on his wheel. Then to guarantee the continuance
of the human race he watches over all conceptions and births and
creates each person and his ka.
Enûma Eliš (Babylonian creation myth)
Both a The Enûma Eliš (Akkadian Cuneiform:) is the Babylonian creation mythos (named after its opening words), texts that were not unlike the Genesis creation in the Bible. It was recovered by Austen Henry Layard in 1849 (in fragmentary form) in the ruined Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (Mosul, Iraq), and published by George Smith in 1876. The Enûma Eliš has about a thousand lines and is recorded in Old Babylonian on seven clay tablets, each holding between 115 and 170 lines of text. Most of Tablet V has never been recovered, but aside from this lacuna, the text is almost complete. A duplicate copy of Tablet V has been found in Sultantepe, ancient Huzirina, located near the modern town in Turkey. This epic is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview, centered on the supremacy of Marduk and the creation of humankind for the service of the gods. Its primary original purpose, however, is not an exposition of theology or theogony but the elevation of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, above other Mesopotamian gods. The Enûma Eliš exists in various copies from Babylon and Assyria. The version from Ashurbanipal's library dates to the 7th century BC. The composition of the text probably dates to the Bronze Age, to the time of Hammurabi or perhaps the early Kassite era (roughly 18th to 16th centuries BC), although some scholars favour a later date of ca. 1100 BC. When the seven tablets that contain this were first discovered, evidence indicated that it was used as a "ritual", meaning it was recited during a ceremony or celebration. That celebration is now thought to be the Akitu festival, or Babylonian new year. This tells of the creation of the world, and of Marduk's triumph over Tiamat, and how it relates to him becoming king of the gods. This is then followed by an invocation to Marduk by his fifty names. The title, meaning "when on high", is the incipit. The first tablet begins:
When the sky above was not named, The epic names two primeval gods: Apsû (or Abzu) who represents fresh water, and Tiamat representing oceanic waters. Several other gods are created (Ea and his brothers) who reside in Tiamat's vast body. They make so much noise that the babel or noise annoys Tiamat and Apsû greatly. Apsû wishes to kill the young gods, but Tiamat disagrees. The vizier, Mummu, agrees with Apsû's plan to destroy them. Tiamat, in order to stop this from occurring, warns Ea (Nudimmud), the most powerful of the gods. Ea uses magic to put Apsû into a coma, then kills him, and shuts Mummu out. Ea then becomes the chief god, and along with his consort Damkina, has a son, Marduk, greater still than himself. Marduk is given wind to play with and he uses the wind to make dust storms and tornadoes. This disrupts Tiamat's great body and causes the gods still residing inside her to be unable to sleep. They persuade Tiamat to take revenge for the death of her husband, Apsû. Her power grows, and some of the gods join her. She creates 11 monsters (Bašmu, Ušumgallu, Mušmah(h(u-, Ugallu, Umu- dabru-tu, Kulullû, Kusarikku, Scorpion man) to help her win the battle and elevates Kingu, her new husband, to "supreme dominion." A lengthy description of the other gods' inability to deal with the threat follows. Marduk offers to save the gods if he is appointed as their leader and allowed to remain so even after the threat passes. When the gods agree to Marduk's conditions he is selected as their champion against Tiamat, and becomes very powerful. Marduk challenges Tiamat to combat and destroys her. He then rips her corpse into two halves with which he fashions the earth and the skies. Marduk then creates the calendar, organizes the planets and stars, and regulates the moon, the sun, and weather. The gods who have pledged their allegiance to Tiamat are initially forced into labor in the service of the gods who sided with Marduk. But they are freed from these labors when Marduk then destroys Tiamat's husband, Kingu and uses his blood to create humankind to do the work for the gods.Most noteworthy is Marduk's symbolic elevation over Enlil, who was seen by earlier Mesopotamian civilizations as the king of the gods. The Enûma Eliš Relationship with the Bible The Enûma Eliš was recognized as being related to the Jewish Genesis creation mythos from its first publication (Smith 1876), and it was an important step in the recognition of the roots of the account found in the Bible and in other Ancient Near Eastern (Canaanite and Mesopotamian) myths. In one interpretation, Genesis 1:1-3 can be taken as describing the state of chaos immediately prior to God's act of creation: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. "The Enûma Eliš and Genesis, however, have different aims according to some researchers. To address these similarities within a Christian framework, Conrad Hyers of the Princeton Theological Seminary for example stated that the Genesis mythos polemically addressed earlier Babylonian and other pagan creation myths to "repudiate the divinization of nature and the attendant myths of divine origins, divine conflict, and divine ascent," thus rejecting the idea that Genesis borrowed from or appropriated the form of the Enûma Eliš. According to this theory, the Enûma Eliš was comfortable using connections between the divine and inert matter, while the aim of Genesis was supposedly to trumpet the superiority of the Israelite Elohim over all creation (and subsequent deities). Reconstruction of the broken Enûma Eliš tablet seems to define the rarely attested Sapattum or Sabattum as the full moon. This word is cognate or merged with Hebrew Shabbat (cf. Genesis 2:2-3), but is monthly rather than weekly; it is regarded as a form of Sumerian sa-bat ("mid-rest"), attested in Akkadian as um nuh libbi ("day of mid-repose"). This conclusion is a contextual restoration of the damaged tablet, which is read as: "[Sa]bbath shalt thou then encounter, mid[month]ly."
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Enûma Eliš (Babylonian
creation myth) here
Fon Creation Myth The Fon creation myth is the traditional creation story of the Fon peoples of West Africa. Various versions of the creation story are told. In most the creator is either Mawu, the moon being and mother of all the gods and humanity, or Mawu-Lisa, the sun/moon being who is both male and female. In others, Nana Buluku is the ultimate creator, an androgynous deity who gave birth to the female Mawu and the male Lisa and passed the power over creation to them. Many of the creation accounts tell of Mawu creating everything as she was carried from place to place on the back or in the mouth of Aido Hwedo, the rainbow serpent. The earth was created first, its curves, slopes and rises shaped by the winding, snaking motions of Aido Hwedo. Mountains formed from Aido Hwedo's excrement wherever they stopped to rest, leaving precious minerals inside. When Mawu finished, all of the mountains, trees, elephants and other creations left world too heavy, so she asked Aido Hwedo to coil, to encircle the earth and rest underneath to support its weight.
Aido Hwedo holds his own tail in his mouth to hold
fast to the earth, and rests in the cool of the seas which Mawu made
for him to protect him from the heat. Mawu's son, Agbe, now commands
them. Whenever Aido Hwedo shifts or readjusts his position, he causes
an earthquake or tidal wave. The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity. It is made up of two parts, roughly equivalent to the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis. In the first part, Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 2:3, Elohim, the generic Hebrew word for God, creates the world in six days, then rests on, blesses and sanctifies the seventh day. God creates by spoken command ("Let there be . . . "), suggesting a comparison with a king, who has only to speak for things to happen, and names the elements of the cosmos as he creates them, in keeping with the common ancient concept that things did not really exist until they had been named. In the second, Genesis 2:4–24 God, referred to by the personal name "Yahweh", shapes the first man from dust, places him in the Garden of Eden, and breathes his own breath into the man who thus becomes nephesh, a living being; man shares nephesh with all creatures, but only of man is this life-giving act of God described. The man names the animals, signifying his authority within God's creation, and God forms the first woman, whom the man names "Eve", from the man's body by taking one of the man's ribs. A common hypothesis among biblical scholars is that the first major comprehensive draft of the Pentateuch (the series of five books which begins with Genesis and ends with Deuteronomy) was composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BC (the Yahwist source) and that this was later expanded by other authors (the Priestly source) into a work very like the one we have today. (In the creation narrative the two sources appear in reverse order: Genesis 1:1–2:3 is Priestly and Genesis 2:4–24 is Yahwistic). Borrowing themes from Mesopotamian mythology, but adapting them to Israel's belief in one God, the combined narrative is a critique of the Mesopotamian theology of creation: Genesis affirms monotheism and denies polytheism. Robert Alter described the combined narrative as "compelling in its archetypal character, its adaptation of myth to monotheistic ends".
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The Book of Genesis here
Greek
Cosmogonical Myth Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an attempt to throw light on the religious and political institutions of Ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself "Myths of origin" or "creation myths" represent an attempt to explain the existence of the universe in human language, in order to explain the origin of the world. The most widely accepted version at the time, although a philosophical account of the beginning of things, is reported by Hesiod, in his Theogony. He begins with Chaos, a yawning nothingness. Out of the void emerged Gaia (the Earth) and some other primary divine beings: Eros (Love), the Abyss (the Tartarus), and the Erebus. Without male assistance, Gaia gave birth to Uranus (the Sky) who then fertilized her. From that union were born first the Titans—six males: Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Oceanus; and six females: Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, and Tethys. After Cronus was born, Gaia and Uranus decreed no more Titans were to be born. They were followed by the one-eyed Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires or Hundred-Handed Ones, who were both thrown into Tartarus by Uranus. This made Gaia furious. Cronus ("the wily, youngest and most terrible of Gaia's children"), was convinced by Gaia to castrate his father. He did this, and became the ruler of the Titans with his sister-wife Rhea as his consort, and the other Titans became his court. A motif of father-against-son conflict was repeated when Cronus was confronted by his son, Zeus. Because Cronus had betrayed his father, he feared that his offspring would do the same, and so each time Rhea gave birth, he snatched up the child and ate it. Rhea hated this and tricked him by hiding Zeus and wrapping a stone in a baby's blanket, which Cronus ate. When Zeus was full grown, he fed Cronus a drugged drink which caused him to vomit, throwing up Rhea's other children and the stone, which had been sitting in Cronus's stomach all along. Zeus then challenged Cronus to war for the kingship of the gods. At last, with the help of the Cyclopes (whom Zeus freed from Tartarus), Zeus and his siblings were victorious, while Cronus and the Titans were hurled down to imprisonment in Tartarus. Zeus was plagued by the same concern and, after a prophecy that the offspring of his first wife, Metis, would give birth to a god "greater than he"—Zeus swallowed her. She was already pregnant with Athena, however, and she burst forth from his head—fully-grown and dressed for war. The earliest Greek thought about poetry considered the theogonies to be the prototypical poetic genre—the prototypical mythos—and imputed almost magical powers to it. Orpheus, the archetypal poet, also was the archetypal singer of theogonies, which he uses to calm seas and storms in Apollonius' Argonautica, and to move the stony hearts of the underworld gods in his descent to Hades. When Hermes invents the lyre in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, the first thing he does is sing about the birth of the gods. Hesiod's Theogony is not only the fullest surviving account of the gods, but also the fullest surviving account of the archaic poet's function, with its long preliminary invocation to the Muses. Theogony also was the subject of many lost poems, including those attributed to Orpheus, Musaeus, Epimenides, Abaris, and other legendary seers, which were used in private ritual purifications and mystery-rites. There are indications that Plato was familiar with some version of the Orphic theogony. A silence would have been expected about religious rites and beliefs, however, and that nature of the culture would not have been reported by members of the society while the beliefs were held. After they ceased to become religious beliefs, few would have known the rites and rituals. Allusions often existed, however, to aspects that were quite public. Images existed on pottery and religious artwork that were interpreted and more likely, misinterpreted in many diverse myths and tales. A few fragments of these works survive in quotations by Neoplatonist philosophers and recently unearthed papyrus scraps. One of these scraps, the Derveni Papyrus now proves that at least in the fifth century BC a theogonic-cosmogonic poem of Orpheus was in existence. The first philosophical cosmologists reacted against, or sometimes built upon, popular mythical conceptions that had existed in the Greek world for some time. Some of these popular conceptions can be gleaned from the poetry of Homer and Hesiod. In Homer, the Earth was viewed as a flat disk afloat on the river of Oceanus and overlooked by a hemispherical sky with sun, moon, and stars. The Sun (Helios) traversed the heavens as a charioteer and sailed around the Earth in a golden bowl at night. Sun, earth, heaven, rivers, and winds could be addressed in prayers and called to witness oaths. Natural fissures were popularly regarded as entrances to the subterranean house of Hades and his predecessors, home of the dead. Influences from other cultures always afforded new themes.
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Cosmogonical Myth text here
See Heliopolis
Creation Myth here
See Hermopolis Magna Creation
Myth here
Both a Matsya Pura-n.a (2.25-30) gives an account of initial creation. After Maha-pra-laya, the great dissolution of the Universe, there was darkness everywhere. Everything was in a state of sleep. There was nothing, either moving or static. Then Svayambhu, Self-manifested Being arose, which is a form beyond senses. It created the primordial waters first and established the seed of creation into it. The seed turned into a golden womb, Hiran.yagarbha. Then Svayambhu entered in the egg. The Na-ra-yan.a Su-kta exclaims that everything that is, visible or invisible, all this is pervaded by Na-ra-yan.a within and without. The I-s'vara Upanis.ad says that the universe is pervaded by I-s'vara (God), who is both within and without it. He is the moving and the unmoving, He is far and near, He is within all these and without all these. The Veda-nta Su-tra further states that Brahman is That from Whom this Universe proceeds, in Whom it subsists, and to Whom, in the end, it returns. The Sam.khya school holds that there are only two primary principles, Purus.a and Pra-kr.ti, and creation is only a manifestation or evolution of the constituents of Pra-kr.ti due to the action of Purus.a's Consciousness. The Bhagavata states that Na-ra-yan.a alone was in the beginning, who was the pious of principles of creation, sustenance, and dissolution (also known as the Hindu Trinity of Brahma-, Vis.n.u and S'iva) - the Supreme Hari, multi-headed, multi-eyed, multi-footed, multi-armed, multi-limbed. This was the Supreme Seed of all creation, subtler than the subtlest, greater than the greatest, larger than the largest, and more magnificent than even the best of all things, more powerful, than even the wind and all the gods, more resplendent than the Sun and the Moon, and more internal than even the mind and the intellect. He is the Creator, the Father Supreme. The Manu Smriti says: In the beginning, all this existence was one undifferentiated, unmanifested, indefinable, unarguable and unknown in every way. From this condition arose the Universe of 'name and form' (Sanskrit: na-maru-pa), through the medium of the Self-existent Creator, Svayambhu. Hopi Creation Myth
See The Four Creations Islam shares the creation myth of Judaism and Christianity, spaced out over six periods. The Islamic creation account, like the Hebrew one, involves Adam and Eve as the first parents, living in paradise. As in the Hebrew story, God warns Adam and Eve not to eat fruit from a certain tree, but they do anyway, earning expulsion from Paradise. This narrative is further developed in many verses in the Qur'an. According to the Qur'an, the skies and the earth were joined together as one "unit of creation", after which they were "cloven asunder". After the parting of both, they simultaneously came into their present shape after going through a phase when they were smoke-like. Some parts of the Qur'an state that the process of creation took 6 days. While other parts claim that the process took 8 days: 2 days to create the Earth, 4 days to create the mountains, to bless the Earth and to measure its sustenance, and then 2 more days to create the heavens and the stars. However, the consensus among Muslim scholars is that the process of creation took 6 days, not 8; They claim that the 4 days for creating the mountains, blessing the Earth and measuring its sustenance implicitly include the 2 days for creating the Earth. In light of modern scientific knowledge about the origins of the earth and the universe, many modern interpretations particularly by apologists, prefer to view the word "day" as used in the Qur'an to mean an arbitrary period of time or epoch; They justify this view by explaining that the usage of the word "day" to mean an arbitrary period of time is not uncommon. The Qur'an states that God created the world and the cosmos, made all the creatures that walk, swim, crawl, and fly on the face of the earth from water. He made the angels, and the sun, moon and the stars to dwell in the universe. He poured down the rain in torrents, and broke up the soil to bring forth the corn, the grapes and other vegetation; the olive and the palm, the fruit trees and the grass. God molded clay, earth, sand and water into a model of a man. He breathed life and power into it, and it immediately sprang to life. And this first man was called Adam. God took Adam to live in Paradise. God taught Adam the names of all the creatures, and then commanded all the angels to bow down before Adam. All of them bowed but Iblis (Lucifer) refused to obey. God placed the couple in a beautiful garden in Paradise, telling them that they could eat whatever they wanted except the fruit of a forbidden tree. But Iblis (the Serpent) tempted them to disobey God, and eat the fruit. When God knew that Adam and Eve had disobeyed him, he cast them out of Paradise and sent them to the earth.
Islam breaks somewhat with Judaism
and Christianity in explaining why Adam and Eve ate the forbidden
fruit. In the actual Hebrew account in Genesis, a snake tempts them
to eat the fruit. Extra-biblical Christian mythology identifies the
snake with Satan, but the actual text of the Biblical story does not
explicitly make this identification. In contrast, the Quran states
explicitly that Shaitan (Satan) tempted Adam and Eve to eat
the fruit. In contrast with Judeo-Christian traditions, which sees
Satan as a rebelling angel, Islamic tradition identifies Shaitan with
a being called Iblis, who is a jinni, a spirit of fire. In Islamic
tradition, angels consist of light and never disobey God since they
do not have free will. Thus, it is said that angels are incapable of
sin. In contrast, God created jinn with free will and they may choose
to obey Him or not, similar to the case of the human being. He told
them to bow before Adam, but Iblis refused, claiming that his fiery
nature was superior to Adam's flesh, which consisted of clay. God
cast Iblis out of his paradise, and Iblis vowed to tempt Adam and
Eve's generations to corruption and to disobey God. In tradition and folklore, Jamshid is described as the fourth and greatest king of the epigraphically unattested Pishdadian Dynasty (before Kayanian dynasty). This role is already alluded to in Zoroastrian scripture (e.g. Yasht 19, Vendidad 2), where the figure appears as Avestan language Yima(-Kshaeta) "(radiant) Yima," and from which the name 'Jamshid' is derived. Jamshid remains a common Iranian and Zoroastrian male name. Edward FitzGerald transliterated the name as Jamshyd. In the eastern regions of Greater Iran, Central Asia, and by the Zoroastrians of the Indian subcontinent it is rendered as Jamshed. In scripture Quotations in the following section are from James Darmesteter's translation of the Vendidad , as published in the 1898 American edition of Max Müller's Sacred Books of the East In the second chapter of the Vendidad of the Avesta, the omniscient Creator Ahura Mazda asks Yima, a good shepherd, to receive his law and bring it to men. However, Yima refuses, and so Ahura Mazda charges him with a different mission: to rule over and nourish the earth, to see that the living things prosper. This Yima accepts, and Ahura Mazda presents him with a golden seal and a dagger inlaid with gold. Yima rules as king for three hundred years, and soon the earth was full of men, flocks of birds and herds of animals. He deprived the daevas, who were demonic servants of the evil Ahriman, of wealth, herds and reputation during his reign. Good men, however, lived lives of plenty, and were neither sick nor aged. Father and son walked together, each appearing no older than fifteen. Ahura Mazda visits him once more, warning him of this overpopulation. Yima, shining with light, faced southwards and pressed the golden seal against the earth and boring into it with the poniard, says "O Spenta Armaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men." The earth swells and Yima rules for another six hundred years before the same problem occurred once more. Once again he pressed the seal and dagger to the earth and asked the ground to swell up to bear more men and beasts, and the earth swells again. Nine hundred years later, the earth was full again. The same solution is employed, the earth swelling again. The next part of the story tells of a meeting of Ahura Mazda and the Yazatas in Airyanem Vaejah, the first of the "perfect lands". Yima attends with a group of "the best of mortals", where Ahura Mazda warns him of an upcoming catastrophe: "O fair Yima, son of Vivanhat! Upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall bring the fierce, deadly frost; upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an aredvi deep on the highest tops of mountains." Ahura Mazda advises Yima to construct a Vara (Avestan: enclosure) in the form of a multi-level cavern underground, two miles (3 km) long and two miles (3 km) wide. This he is to populate with the fittest of men and women; and with two of every animal, bird and plant; and supply with food and water gathered the previous summer. Yima creates the Vara by crushing the earth with a stamp of his foot, and kneading it into shape as a potter does to clay. He creates streets and buildings, and brings nearly two thousand people to live therein. He creates artificial light, and finally seals the Vara with a golden ring.
In tradition and folklore Over time, the Avestan hero Yima Xšaeta became the world-ruling Shah Jamshid of Persian legend and mythology. According to the Shahnama of the poet Firdausi, Jamshid was the fourth king of the world. He had command over all the angels and demons of the world, and was both king and high priest of Hormozd (middle Persian for Ahura Mazda). He was responsible for a great many inventions that made life more secure for his people: the manufacture of armor and weapons, the weaving and dyeing of clothes of linen, silk and wool, the building of houses of brick, the mining of jewels and precious metals, the making of perfumes and wine, the navigation of the waters of the world in sailing ships. The sudreh and kushti of the Zoroastrianism are also attributed to Jamshid. From the skin-clad followers of Keyumars, humanity had risen to a great civilization in Jamshid's time. Jamshid also divided the people into four groups: "The priests, who conducted the worship of Hormozd "The warriors, who protected the people by the might of their arms "The farmers, who grew the grain that fed the people "The artisans, who produced goods for the ease and enjoyment of the people Jamshid had now become the greatest monarch the world had ever known. He was endowed with the royal farr (Avestan: khvarena), a radiant splendor that burned about him by divine favor. One day he sat upon a jewel-studded throne and the divs who served him raised his throne up into the air and he flew through the sky. His subjects, all the peoples of the world, marvelled and praised him. On this day, which was the first of the month of Farvardin, they first celebrated the holiday of Nawroz ("new day"). In the variant of the Zoroastrian calendar followed by the Zoroastrians of India, the first day of the month of Farvardin is still called Jamshed-i Nawroz. Jamshid was said to have had a magical seven-ringed cup, the Jam-e Jam which was filled with the elixir of immortality and allowed him to observe the universe. Jamshid's capital was erroneously believed to be at the site of the ruins of Persepolis, which for centuries (down to 1620 CE) was called Takht-i Jamshed, the "Throne of Jamshid". However, Persepolis was actually the capital of the Achaemenid kings and was destroyed by Alexander. Similarly, the sculptured tombs of the Achaemenids and Sasanians near Persepolis were believed to be images of the legendary hero Rostam, and so were called Naqsh-e Rustam. The city of Jamkaran is named after Jamshid. Jamshid ruled well for three hundred years. During this time longevity increased, sicknesses were banished, and peace and prosperity reigned. But Jamshid's pride grew with his power, and he began to forget that all the blessings of his reign were due to God. He boasted to his people that all of the good things they had came from him alone, and demanded that he should be accorded divine honors, as if he were the Creator.
From this time the farr departed
from Jamshid, and the people began to murmur and rebel against him.
Jamshid repented in his heart, but his glory never returned to him.
The vassal ruler of Arabia, Zahhak, under the influence of Ahriman,
made war upon Jamshid, and he was welcomed by many of Jamshid's
dissatisfied subjects. Jamshid fled from his capital halfway across
the world, but he was finally trapped by Zahhak and brutally
murdered. After a reign of seven hundred years, humanity descended
from the heights of civilization back into a Dark Age. In Japanese mythology, the Japanese creation myth (Tenchikaibyaku lit. "creation of heaven and earth"), is the story that describes the legendary birth of the celestial and earthly world, the birth of the first gods and the birth of the Japanese archipelago. This story is described first hand at the beginning of the Kojiki, the first book written in Japan (712), and in the Nihon Shoki (720). Both form the literary basis of Japanese mythology and Shinto; however, the story differs in some aspects between these works, with the most accepted for the Japanese being the one of the Kojiki. At the beginning the universe was immersed in a beaten and shapeless kind of matter (chaos), sunk in silence. Later there were sounds indicating the movement of particles. With this movement, the light and the lightest particles rose but the particles were not as fast as the light and could not go higher. Thus, the light was at the top of the Universe, and below it, the particles formed first the clouds and then Heaven, which was to be called Takamagahara ("High Plain of Heaven"). The rest of the particles that had not risen formed a huge mass, dense and dark, to be called Earth. When Takamagahara was formed, the first three gods of Japanese mythology appeared:
Subsequently two gods emerged in Takamagahara from an object similar to a reed-shoot:
These five deities are known as Kotoamatsukami appeared spontaneously, did not have a definite sex, did not have a partner (hitorigami) and went into hiding after their emergence. These gods are not mentioned in the rest of the mythology. Kamiyonanayo Then two other gods arose: Kuni-no-toko-tachi-no-kami and Toyo-kumo-no-no-kami These gods also emerged spontaneously, did not have a defined sex and nor partner and hid at birth. Then, five pairs of gods were born (total of ten deities), each pair consisting of a male deity and a female deity: U-hiji-ni and his younger sister (and wife) Su-hiji-ni, Tsunu-guhi and his younger sister (and wife) Iku-guhi, O--to-no-ji and his younger sister (and wife) O--to-no-be, Omo-daru and his younger sister (and wife) Aya-kashiko-ne and Izanagi and his younger sister (and wife) Izanami All deities from Kuni-no-koto-tachi to Izanami, are collectively called as Kamiyonanayo ("Seven Divine Generations"). Following the creation of Heaven and Earth and the appearance of these primordial gods, Izanagi and Izanami went on to create the Japanese archipelago (Kuniumi) and gave birth to a large number of gods (Kamiumi).
Kaang Creation Story
See African
Bushmen Creation Myth The Baluba creation story makes a connection between God's invisibility or unavailability, and the endowment of humans with a soul or divine component longing for God. In the creation story, Kabezya-Mpungu decides to become invisible after creating the world and the first humans who did not yet have a heart. After balancing the rain, sun, moon, and darkness, he leaves. To replace the visible god, he sends the people Mutshima ("heart"), the life-giving or divine part of humans. . . . I don't want that humans will see me any more. I return into myself and send Mutshima . . . Then Kabeza-Mpungu disappeared. Thereafter, the heart appeared, in a small, hand-sized vessel. The heart cried and turned towards Sun, Moon, Darkness and Rain: "Kabezya-Mpungu, our father, where is he!" "Father is gone, we don't know the way he went". "Oh how much I am longing to see him" the heart replied, "to talk to him. Since I cannot find him, I will enter into this man. So I will wander from generation to generation". Since then all humans have been endowed with Mutshima, the heart.
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The
Creation of the World A Myth of Uganda here In the distant past, Kintu was the only person on earth, living alone with his cow. Ggulu, the creator of all things, lived up in heaven with his many children, who occasionally came down to earth to play. On one such occasion, Ggulu's daughter Nambi and some of her brothers encountered Kintu and his cow in Buganda. Nambi instantly took a liking to Kintu and decided to stay and marry him. Her brothers pleaded with her, eventually convincing her to return to heaven with Kintu, to ask for her father's permission for the marriage. Ggulu was not pleased. In spite of himself, and only on Nambi's persistence and insistence did he bless the marriage. Ggulu advised Kintu and Nambi to leave heaven secretly, so that Walumbe, one of Nambi's brothers would not find out about the marriage until they had left. It was feared that Walumbe (which means "that which causes sickness and death") would insist on going with them and bring them misery. Kintu and Nambi set out for earth the next morning, taking with them the few things that Nambi packed, and her chicken. While they were descending, Nambi remembered that she had forgotten to bring the millet that her chicken would feed on. Kintu tried to persuade her not to return to fetch the millet, but she left him and returned to fetch the millet. On the way back from fetching the millet, she met Walumbe. She did not tell him where she was going, but filled with curiosity, Walumbe insisted on going with her. Kintu and Nambi were therefore forced to go to earth together with Walumbe. Walumbe's presence on earth caused suffering and conflicts. That, according to the legend, is how sickness and death started.
The area where Walumbe is
traditionally thought to have fallen to earth and to have hidden from
Ggulu is the Tanda Pits, west of Kampala on the south side of the
road to the town of Mityana.
Both a In ancient Hawaiian mythology, the Kumulipo is a chant in the Hawaiian language telling a creation story. It also includes a genealogy of the members of Hawaiian royalty. He Kumulipo means "A source of darkness or origin". In some cultures, children are brought up thinking that the dark is a bad place, one to avoid. Ancient Hawaiians thought of it as a place of creation. In the Kumulipo the world was created over a cosmic night. This is not just one night, but many nights over time. The ancient Hawaiian kahunas and priests of the Hawaiian religion would recite the Kumulipo during the makahiki season, honoring the god Lono. In 1779, Captain James Cook arrived in Kealakekua Bay on the island of Hawai-ii during the season and was greeted by the Hawaiians reciting the Kumulipo. Some stories say Cook was mistaken for Lono, because of the type of sails on his ship and his pale skintone. In 1889, King Kala-kaua printed a sixty page pamphlet of the Kumulipo. Attached to the pamphlet was a 2 page paper which on how the chant was originally composed and recited. Years later Queen Liliuokalani described the chant as a prayer of the development of the universe and the ancestry of the Hawaiians. Liliuokalani translated the chant under house arrest in Iolani Palace. The translation was published in 1897, then republished by Pueo Press in 1978. The Kumulipo is a total of 2012 lines long, in honor of Lonoikamakahiki, who created peace for all when he was born. There was a lot of fighting between his I and Keawe family, who were cousins so his birth stopped the two from feuding. The Kumulipo is a cosmogonic genealogy, which means that it relates to the stars and the moon. Out of the 2102 lines, it has 16 "wa-" which means era or age. In each wa-, something is born whether it is a human, plant, or creature. The Kumulipo is divided into sixteen wa-, sections. The first eight wa- fall under the section of po- (darkness), the age of spirit. The Earth may or may not exist, but the events described do not take place in a physical universe. The words show the development of life as it goes through similar stages as a human child. All plants and animals of sea and land, earth and sky, male and female are created. Eventually, it leads to early mammals. The births in each age include:
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Kumulipo Translated
by Queen Liliuokalani here Kuterastan is the creator in a creation myth of the Kiowa Apache from the southern plains of North America. His name means One Who Lives Above. The story of his creation tells that in the beginning, before there were earth or sky there was only darkness. Into it came a small and thin disc with yellow and white on its alternate sides, and inside it sat Kuterastan, a small bearded man no larger than a frog. Kuterastan is described as awakening and rubbing his eyes. When he peers above him into the darkness it filled with light and illuminated the darkness below. When he looked east the light became tinged with the yellow of dawn, and when he looked west the light was shaded with the amber tones of dusk. As he glanced about himself clouds in different colors appeared. Then again Kuterastan rubbed his eyes and face, and as he flung the sweat from his hands another cloud appeared with a tiny little girl Stenatliha sitting on top. Stenatliha's name translates as the Woman Without Parents. Kuterastan and Stenatliha were puzzled where the other had come from, and where were the Earth and Sky. After thinking for some time, Kuterastan again rubbed his eyes and face, then his hands together, and from the sweat flying as he opened hands first Chuganaai, the Sun, and then Hadintin Skhin, or Pollen Boy, appeared. After the four sat a long time in silence on a single cloud, Kuterastan finally broke the silence to say, "What shall we do?" and started the creation.
The story describes the sequence,
with Nacholecho, the Tarantula, the first to be created. Kuterastan
followed by making the Big Dipper, the wind, lightning, and thunder,
each given their characteristic tasks. Finding the cloud a poor home,
he then turned his attention to making the earth. With the sweat of
the four gods mixed together in Kuterastan's palms there emerged a
small brown ball no bigger than a bean. This was expanded as the gods
kicked the small brown ball. Then the wind went inside the ball and
to inflate it. Tarantula attached to the ball a spun black cord and
stretched it far to the east. Tarantula also attached one cord each
of blue, yellow and white to the ball pulling one far to the south,
another west, and the last to the north. When Tarantula was finished,
the earth was vast expanse of smooth brown plain. Poles were placed
at each corner to hold the earth in place. And at this Kuterastan
sang a repeating refrain, "The world is now made and it sits still." The Legend of Trentren Vilu and Caicai Vilu is the "legend of the geography and origin of the Chiloean archipelago, and mountains of southern Chile", which was caused by a fierce battle between two mythical snakes, Trentren Vilu (trentren="related with the earth", vilu="snake") and Caicai Vilu (Caicai="related with the water", vilu="snake"). Legend The Trentren Vilu is the god of Earth, and is a generous spirit and protecter of all earth's life. Caicai Vilu is the god of Water and the origin of all that inhabits it, and rules the seas. According to this myth, thousands of years ago, what is now the Chiloé Province was once one contiguous landmass with continental Chile. One day a monstrous serpent appeared and inundated the lowlands, valleys, and mountains, submerging all the flora and fauna. Without delay, Trentren Vilu appeared to start a confrontation with his enemy, elevating the land and protecting it from disaster. The battle persisted a long time. Trentren Vilu reached a costly victory, he won the battle, but was unable to restore the land to its primeval state leaving it in the dismembered form it still has today. At the end of the hostilities, Caicai Vilu left as representative and owner of all the seas, the king Millalobo (Millalonco), who was conceived during the invasion when a beautiful woman fell in love with a sea lion.
This legend describes the new
region formed of water and earth and delineates the marine life style
of Chiloé. The Mandé creation myth is the traditional creation myth of the Mandé peoples of southern Mali. The story begins when Mangala, the creator god, tries making a balaza seed but it failed. Then he made two eleusine seeds of different kinds, which the people of Keita call "the egg of the world in two twin parts which were to procreate". Then Mangala made three more pairs of seeds, and each pair became the four elements, the four directions, as corners in the framework of the world's creation. This he folded into a hibiscus seed. The twin pairs of seeds, which are seen as having opposite sex, are referred to as the egg or placenta of the world. This egg held an additional two pairs of twins, one male and one female, who were the archetype of people. Among them was Pemba who wished to dominate and so he left the egg early, ripping a piece of his placenta. Pemba fell through space and his torn placenta became the earth. Because he left the egg prematurely the earth formed from this piece was arid and barren and of no use to Pemba. So Pemba tried to return to the egg, to rejoin his twin and his place in the rest of the placenta. But it was not to be found-Mangala had changed the remaining placenta into the sun. So Pemba stole male seeds from Mangala's clavicle, and took them to the barren earth and planted them there. Only one of them could germinate in the dry earth, a male eleusine seed which grew in the blood of the placenta. But because Pemba had stolen the seed and it germinated in Pemba's own placenta, the earth became impure and the eleusine seed turned red. Faro, the other male twin, who had assumed the form of twin fish, was sacrificed to atone for Pemba and purify the earth. Faro was cut into sixty pieces which fell to the earth where they became trees. Mangala restored Faro to life giving him now the form of a human, and sent him down to earth in an ark made from his placenta. With him came four pairs of male and four pairs of female twins who became the original ancestors of mankind, all made from Faro's placenta. The ark also held all the animals and plants, which also carried the male and female life force. Sourakata followed with the first sacred drum made of the sacrificed Faro's skull which he played to bring rain. When the rain did not come, the ancestral smith came to earth and with his hammer, he struck a rock and then the rain came.
Faro created all the world that
mankind has come to know from the descendants of Mangala's original
egg seeds. He caused the land to flood to wash away the impure seed
of his brother, Pemba. From this flood, only the good were saved,
sheltered by Faro's ark. The Maori creation myth tells how heaven and earth were once joined as Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, lay together in a tight embrace. They had many children who lived in the darkness between them. The children wished to live in the light and so separated their unwilling parents. Ranginui and Papatuanuku continue to grieve for each other to this day. Rangi's tears fall as rain towards Papatuanuku to show how much he loves her. When mist rises from the forests, these are Papa's sighs as the warmth of her body yearns for him and continues to nurture mankind. In Maori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatuanuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world. Union and Separation Rangi and Papa are the primordial parents, the sky father and the earth mother, who lie locked together in a tight embrace. They have many children, all of which are male, who are forced to live in the cramped darkness between them. These children grow and discuss amongst themselves what it would be like to live in the light. Tumatauenga, the fiercest of the children, proposes that the best solution to their predicament is to kill their parents (Grey 1956:2). But his brother Tane disagrees, suggesting that it is better to push them apart, to let Rangi be as a stranger to them in the sky above, while Papa will remain below to nurture them. The others put their plans into action: Rongo, the god of cultivated food tries to push his parents apart, then Tangaroa the god of the sea and his sibling Haumia-tiketike, the god of wild food, join him. In spite of their joint efforts, Rangi and Papa remain close together in their loving embrace. After many attempts, Tane, god of forests and birds, forces his parents apart. Instead of standing upright and pushing with his hands as his brothers have done, he lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs. Stretching every sinew, Tane pushes and pushes until with cries of grief and surprise, Ranginui and Papatuanuku are prised apart. War in Heaven and Earth And so the children of Rangi and Papa see light and have space to move for the first time. While the other children have agreed to the separation, Tawhirimatea the god of storms and winds is angered that the parents have been torn apart. He cannot not bear to hear the cries of his parents, nor see the tears of the Rangi as they are parted, so he promises his siblings that from henceforth, they will have to deal with his anger. He flies off to join Rangi, and there carefully fosters his own many offspring, who include the winds, one of whom is sent to each quarter of the compass. To fight his brothers, Tawhirimatea gathers an army of his children, winds and clouds of different kinds including fierce squalls, whirlwinds, gloomy thick clouds, fiery clouds, hurricane clouds and thunderstorm clouds, and rain, mists and fog. As these winds show their might the dust flies, and the great forest trees of Tane are smashed under the attack and fall to the ground, food for decay and for insects. Then Tawhirimatea attacks the oceans, and huge waves rise, whirlpools form, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, flees in panic. Punga, a son of Tangaroa, has two children, Ikatere, father of fish and Tu-te-wehiwehi (or Tu-te-wanawana), the ancestor of reptiles. Terrified by Tawhirimatea's onslaught, the fish seek shelter in the sea, and the reptiles in the forests. Ever since, Tangaroa has been angry with Tane for giving refuge to his runaway children. So it is that Tane supplies the descendants of Tumatauenga with canoes, fishhooks, and nets to catch the descendants of Tangaroa. Tangaroa retaliates by swamping canoes and sweeping away houses, land and trees that are washed out to sea in floods. Tawhirimatea next attacks his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike, the gods of cultivated and uncultivated foods. Rongo and Haumia are in great fear of Tawhirimatea, but as he attacks them, Papa determines to keep these for her other children, and hides them so well that Tawhirimatea cannot find them. So Tawhirimatea turns on his brother Tumatauenga. He uses all his strength, but Tu stands fast, and Tawhiri cannot prevail against him. Tu (or humankind) stands fast, and at last the anger of the gods subsided and peace prevailed. Tu thought about the actions of Tane in separating their parents, and made snares to catch the birds, the children of Tane, who could no longer fly free. He then makes nets from forest plants and casts them in the sea, so that the children of Tangaroa soon lie in heaps on the shore. He made hoes to dig the ground, capturing his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike where they have hidden from Tawhirimatea in the bosom of the earth mother, and recognising them by their long hair which remains above the surface of the earth, he drags them forth and heaps them into baskets to be eaten. So Tu-the-man eats all of his brothers to repay them for their cowardice; the only brother that Tu does not subdue is Tawhirimatea, whose storms and hurricanes attack humankind to this day. Tane searched for heavenly bodies as lights so that his father would be appropriately dressed. He obtained the stars and threw them up, along with the moon and the sun. At last Rangi looked handsome. Rangi and Papa continue to grieve for each other to this day. Ranginui's tears fall towards Papatuanuku to show how much he loves her. Sometimes Papatuanuku heaves and strains and almost breaks herself apart to reach her beloved partner again but it is to no avail. When mist rises from the forests, these are Papatuanuku's sighs as the warmth of her body yearns for Ranginui and continues to nurture mankind People of Rekohu (Chatham Islands) The Maoris, the indigenous people of New Zealand, tell the following story, or creation myth, to explain how the world was created: Heaven and Earth were once joined as Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, lay together in a tight embrace. They had many children who lived in the darkness between them. These children grew and discussed amongst themselves what it would be like to live in the light. Tu-matauenga, the fiercest of the children said: 'Let us kill our parents and then we can live always in light.' But Tane Mahuta his brother disagreed: 'No, there is no need to kill them, we can just push them apart, then our Father the Sky can be above us to watch over us and our Mother can be below to nurture us.' All the other children agreed to this except Tawhiri-matea, the Son who was in charge of Storm and Wind; he was sad at the idea that the parents would be torn apart. The others put their plans into action: Rongo-ma-tane, the god of cultivated crops and food tried to push his parents apart, then Tangaroa the god of the sea and his sibling Haumia-tikitiki, the god of food which grows without being cultivated, joined him. In spite of their joint efforts, Rangi and Papa remained close together in a loving embrace. Finally, Tane Mahuta, the god of forests and insects tried, but instead of standing upright and pushing with his hands as his brothers had done, he lay on his back and pushed with strong feet. Stretching every sinew, Tane pushed and pushed until with cries of grief and surprise, Ranginui and Papatuanuku were prised apart. Tawhiri-matea could not bear to hear the cries of his parents, nor see the tears of the Sky Father at the parting, so he created great storms and winds and promised his siblings that from henceforth, they would have to contend with his wrath. He joined his father in the sky from where he periodically punishes the earth and sea with his violent storms.
Rangi and Papa continue to grieve
for each other to this day. Ranginui's tears fall towards Papatuanuku
to show how much he loves her. Sometimes Papatuanuku heaves and
strains and almost breaks herself apart to reach her beloved partner
again but it is to no avail.When mist rises from the forests, these
are Papatuanuku's sighs as the warmth of her body yearns for Ranginui
and continues to nurture mankind.
See Memphis
Creation Myth here Mbombo, also called Bumba, is the creator god in the religion and mythology of the Kuba of Central Africa. In the Mbombo creation myth, Mbombo was a giant in form and white in color. The story of Mbombo's creation tells that in the beginning, Mbombo was alone, and darkness and water covered the all earth. It would happen that Mbombo came to feel an intense pain in his stomach, and then Mbombo vomited the sun, the moon, and stars. The heat and light from the sun evaporated the water covering the earth, creating clouds, and after time, the dry hills emerged from the water. Then Mbombo vomited once more, bringing forth nine animals: the leopard, called Koy Bumba; the eagle, Ponga Bumba; the crocodile, Ganda Bumba; the fish, Yo Bumba; the tortoise, Kono Bumba; a black leopard-like animal, Tsetse Bumba; a white heron, Nyanyi Bumba; a scarab; and a goat named Budi. Mbombo also vomited many men, one of them was called Loko Yima. These nine animals went on to create all the world's creatures. The heron created all flying birds but one, the kite, and the crocodile created snakes and the iguana. The goat, Budi, brought forth all the horned animals, the scarab all insects, and Yo Bumba, all fish. Three of Mbombo's sons then said they would finish creating the world. The first to try, Nyonye Ngana, vomited white ants, but died after. To honor him, the ants went deep in the earth for dark soil to bury him and transformed the barren sands at the earth's surface. The second, Chonganda, created the first plant, which in turn gave rise to all trees, grasses and flowers. And Chedi Bumba, the third son, made the last bird, the kite.
Tsetse Bumba caused trouble on the
earth so Mbombo chased him into the sky where he became the
thunderbolt. This left people without fire, so Mbombo showed them how
to make it from trees. Once the creation was complete and peaceful,
Mbombo delivered it to mankind and retreated into the heavens,
leaving Loko Yima to serve as "god upon the earth". The
woman of the waters, Nchienge, lived in the East, and her son, Woto,
became the first king of the Kuba. Maya creation of the world myth Mesoamerican creation myths are the collection of creation myths attributed to, or documented for, the various cultures and civilizations of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The Maya gods included Kukulkán (also known by the K'iche' name Gukumatz and the Aztec name Quetzalcoatl) and Tepeu. The two were referred to as the Creators, the Forefathers or the Makers. According to the story, the two gods decided to preserve their legacy by creating an Earth-bound species looking like them. The first attempt was man made from mud, but Tepeu and Kukulkán found that the mud crumbled. The two gods summoned the other gods, and together they decided to make man from wood. However, since these men had no soul and soon lost loyalty to the creators, the gods destroyed them by rain. Finally, man was constructed from maize, the Mayans staple and sacred food. The deity Itzamna is credited as being the creator of the calendar along with creating writing.
This tale and The
Mesoamerican Flood Myth have similarities to that of The Book
of Genesis found in The Bible. Long time ago, the Mongolian creation myth says, Father Heaven had two sons, Ulgen Tenger and Erieg Khan, the first one became the lord of the upper world and the second one of the under world. At that time the earth was covered with just water. One day Ulgen Tenger asked the loon to bring up mud from under the water for him to create some dry land. When he could not do this, was punished by having his legs broken so he would not be able to walk anymore, and the next one to try to create the land was goldeneye duck. The duck created just a small piece of land just enough for Ulgen to lay on. Seeing that his brother felt asleep, Erleg Khan tried to pull the land down from him, but instead the land stretched out in all directions. The next task that Ulgen Tenger decided to take, was to create animals and humans using the mud to live in the land. Then he craeted the dog to watch over the new bodies while he was gone. Erleg Khan was not happy at all to see all the new creations, and decided to see the new bodies. The dog did not let him get any close to the bodies, at first the dog could talk, but had no fur. It was cold and snowing , so Erleg Khan, promised him a beautiful fur coat, the dog agreed and was given a shiny beautiful coat.
Erleg Khan then spat on the new
bodies do they would have diseases and could die. When Ulgen
returned, noticed that the dog had new fur and that the bodies were
damaged, so as punishment made the dog's coat smell bad, took away
his voice and made the dog to follow humans to get his food.
Anishinaabeg
creation stories This article is about the African religious concept. For information on the ethnic group in Vietnam, see Ngái. For information on the Chinese family name, see Ngai (surname). For Ma-ori tribal names starting Ngai, see Iwi. Ngai (Enkai, En-kai, Engai, Eng-ai, Mweai, Mwiai) is the supreme God in the religions of the Kamba, Kikuyu and Maasai nationalities of Kenya. According to the Kikuyu beliefs, he lives on the holy mountain Kirinyaga (Mount Kenya). According to the Kamba, he lives somewhere in a hiding place and no one knows where. The Maasai of Kenya in their creation narrative recount the origin of humanity to be fashioned by the Creator Enkai from a single tree or leg which split into three pieces. To the first father of the Maasai, he gave a stick. To the first father of the Kikuyu, he gave a hoe. To the first father of the Kamba, he gave a bow and arrow. Each son survived in the wild. The first father of the Maasai used his stick to herd animals. The first father of the Kikuyu used his hoe to cultivate the ground. The first father of the Kamba used his bow and arrow to hunt.
Although Maasai people have also
converted to Christianity, many still practice their traditional
religion. The Maasai believe that he is the god of the sun, love and
was the creator of the world; in another one of their traditions,
this god married Olapa (the goddess of the moon).
See Pangu here Graves' imaginatively reconstructed "Pelasgian creation myth" features a supreme creatrix, Eurynome, "The Goddess of All Things", who arose naked from Chaos to part sea from sky so that she could dance upon the waves. Catching the north wind at her back and, rubbing it between her hands, she warms the pneuma and spontaneously generates the serpent Ophion, who mates with her. In the form of a dove upon the waves, she lays the Cosmic Egg and bids Ophion to incubate it by coiling seven times around until it splits in two and hatches "all things that exist . . . sun, moon, planets, stars, the earth with its mountains and rivers, its trees, herbs, and living creatures".
In the soil of Arcadia, the
Pelasgians would spring up from Ophion's teeth, scattered under the
heel of Eurynome who kicked the serpent from their home on Mount
Olympus for his boasts of creating all things. Thereafter, Eurynome,
whose name was "wide wandering" set male and female Titans
for each wandering planet: Theia and Hyperion for the Sun; Phoebe and
Atlas for the Moon; Metis and Coeus for Mercury; Tethys and Oceanus
for Venus; Dione and Crius for Mars; Themis and Eurymedon for
Jupiter; and Rhea and Cronus for Saturn.
Ex
nihilo Creation Myths As with other texts (e.g., the Chilam Balam), a great deal of Popol Vuh's significance lies in the scarcity of early accounts dealing with Mesoamerican mythologies. Popol Vuh's fortuitous survival is attributable to the Spanish 18th century Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez. The Creation myth Chapters 1-3 contain Popol Vuh's creation myth. There are four deities, three in a celestial realm collectively called Tepeu and Heart of Heaven and another on the terrestrial plane called Gucumatz. "This is the first account, the first narrative. There was neither man, nor animal, birds, fishes, crabs, trees, stones, caves, ravines, grasses, nor forests; there was only the sky. The surface of the earth had not appeared. There was only the calm sea and the great expanse of the sky. There was nothing brought together, nothing which could make a noise, nor anything which might move, or tremble, or could make noise in the sky. There was nothing standing; only the calm water, the placid sea, alone and tranquil. Nothing existed. There was only immobility and silence in the darkness, in the night. Only the creator, the Maker, Tepeu, Gucumatz, the Forefathers, were in the water surrounded with light. [ . . . ] Then Tepeu and Gucumatz came together; then they conferred about life and light, what they would do so that there would be light and dawn, who it would be who would provide food and sustenance. Thus let it be done! Let the emptiness be filled! Let the water recede and make a void, let the earth appear and become solid; let it be done. Thus they spoke. Let there be light, let there be dawn in the sky and on the earth! There shall be neither glory nor grandeur in our creation and formation until the human being is made, man is formed. [ . . . ] First the earth was formed, the mountains and the valleys; the currents of water were divided, the rivulets were running freely between the hills, and the water was separated when the high mountains appeared. Thus was the earth created, when it was formed by the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of Earth, as they are called who first made it fruitful, when the sky was in suspense, and the earth was submerged in the water." Together, gods attempted to create living beings so that they may be praised and venerated by their creation. Their first attempts (animals, mud man, and wooden man) proved unsuccessful because they lacked speech, souls, and intellect. "This the Forefathers did, Tepeu and Gucumatz, as they were called. After that they began to talk about the creation and the making of our first mother and father; of yellow corn and of white corn they made their flesh; of cornmeal dough they made the arms and the legs of man. Only dough of corn meal went into the flesh of our first fathers, the four men, who were created. [ . . . ] And as they had the appearance of men, they were men; they talked, conversed, saw and heard, walked, grasped things; they were good and handsome men, and their figure was the figure of a man."
Women were created later while the
first four men slept. Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers is a book written by Claude Vorilhon (Rael), the founder of the Raelian movement. The book was originally titled The Message Given to me by Extraterrestrials, but was republished in 2006 under the current name. In it he explains his interaction with aliens. In it, Rael argues for an alternative to the two most widely held explanations for the origin of life, creationism and evolution. He explains that the world and all life was created by a highly advanced group of aliens.
Raven in Creation Myth The Raven in Creation is the trickster and creator in the traditional creation stories of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One version One version of the Raven creation story begins when Raven was taught by his father, Kit-ka'ositiyi-qa to be a creator, but Raven was unsatisfied with the product. Raven created the world but was unable to give it light or water. On hearing that light could be found hidden in a far off land, Raven decided he would travel there and steal it. When he discovered that dwelling in the house of light was a young woman who lived there with her father, he played the first of many tricks. He turned himself into a small speck of dirt and slipped into her drinking water and was swallowed. This made the daughter pregnant, and she gave birth to an unusual and fussy child who cried demanding to touch one of the bundles which had been stored hanging from the walls. The child was given one of the bags to quiet him, but when tired of playing with it he let it go, and it floated away from him and disappeared through the smoke hole. Once it reached the sky the bundle came undone and scattered stars across the sky. When the child cried to have it back again he was given the second bundle to play with, and he let it to float away through the hole in the ceiling, and it released the moon. This would happen again with the third and last bundle, which flew away and became sunlight. After Raven's tricks succeeded in bringing all the light to the world, he flew away through the smoke hole. Other versions Raven continued using such trickery to bring water and stamp people, animals and other features in the world with certain characteristics. Many versions of Raven's theft of water are told but all center on Raven's trickery against the owner of water. In one version Raven leads its owner to believe he has soiled his bed in his sleep and threatens to shame him unless he shares his water with Raven. In another version Raven puts ash on his tongue to fool the owner to believe his extreme thirst is unquenched. Instead of drinking the water Raven collects it in a seal's bladder hidden under his clothes and flees with all of it. Other accounts Various myths are told of how people were created and Raven is often thought more as their reconstructor than a creator. In one myth Raven mated with a sea shell and nine months later heard voices coming from it. When he opened the shell to investigate he discovered he had fathered tiny human beings living inside. A variant account describes Raven as a passerby who freed the scared and timid beings inside the shell who were first men of the world. When he bored of them, he considered returning them to their shell, but opted instead to find female counterparts of these male beings. The raven found some female humans trapped in a chiton, freed them, and was entertained as the two sexes met and began to interact. The raven felt responsible and very protective of them, thus many Haida myths and legends often suggest the raven as a provider to mankind. In another recorded version of Raven creation, when an earlier people were all killed by a flood he created new ones from leaves.
Read
Raven in Creation here African
Ancient
Egyptian creation myths American
Arctic American Mid North American
Anishinaabeg
creation stories South American
Legend of
Trentren Vilu and Caicai Vilu (Chilean) Asian Central Asian East Asian
Ainu creation myth (Japan) South Asian
Hiranyagarbha
creation (India) Southeast Asian European
Greek
cosmogonical myth Middle Eastern
Debate
between sheep and grain Pacific Islander/Oceanic
Kumulipo (Hawaiian) Before humans existed, there were three stages in the creation of the Universe and each of these steps followed a consistent order. The first phase was the first three elements : air, earth and water. The myhical words of Roog (or Kooh) found in A nax, led to the formation of the heavens, earth and the sea. The second phase of the creation was the primordial trees (i.e. Somb, Nqaul, Nqu, etc.,). The third phase was the creation of the animal world : the jackal and "Mbocor" (which means : "The Mother") - mother of all animals except the jackal. In each of these phases, and before the creation of the first human couple, the supreme deity did not directly create each species, but only the primogenitors who then went on to populate the world with all the species of plant and animal life. AFTER LIFE There is no heaven or hell in the Serer religion, just like in Judaism. Acceptance by the ancestors who have the ability to intercede with the Divine is as close to heaven after one passes over. Rejection by the ancestors and becoming a lost and wondering soul is as close to hell in Serer Religion. The Serer creation myth is the traditional creation myth of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. Many Serers who adhere to the tenets of the Serer religion believe these narratives to be sacred. Some aspects of Serer religious and Ndut traditions are included in the narratives contained herein but are not limited to them. The Serer people have many gods, goddesses and Pangool (the Serer saints and ancestral spirits represented by snakes), but one supreme deity and creator called Roog (or Koox in the Cangin languages). Serer creation myth developed from Serer oral traditions, Serer religion, legends, cosmogonies. The specifics of the myth are also found in two main Serer sources: A nax and A leep. The former is a short narrative for a short myth or proverbial expression, whilst the later is for a more developed myth. Broadly, they are equivalent to verbs and logos respectively, especially when communicating fundamental religious education such as the supreme being and the creation of the Universe. In addition to being fixed-Serer sources, they set the structure of the myth.
The creation myth of the Serer
people is intricately linked to the first trees created on Planet
Earth by Roog. Earth's formation began with a swamp. The Earth was
not formed until long after the creation of the first three worlds:
the waters of the underworld; the air which included the higher world (i.e.
the sun, the moon and the stars) and earth. Roog is the creator
and fashioner of the Universe and everything in it. The creation is
based on a mythical cosmic egg and the principles of chaos. The Sumerian Tablets Long before the Bible, There were the Sumerian Tablets. The Sumerians were possibly the earliest society to emerge in the world, in Southern Mesopotamia more than 5000 years ago. The earliest record of the Sumerian creation and flood is found on a single fragmentary tablet excavated in Nippur, sometimes called the Eridu Genesis. It is written in the Sumerian language and dated to around 1600 BC during the first Babylonian dynasty, where the language of writing and administration was still Sumerian. Other Sumerian creation myths from around this date are called the Barton Cylinder, the Debate between sheep and grain and the Debate between Winter and Summer, also found at Nippur. It’s hard to come across evidence that is conclusive about how life really was back then, but suffice to say that Sumeria has always been a place of fascination, especially when it comes to the finding of this evidence. With that being said, archaeologists have unearthed Sumerian Tablets dating to over 4 Millennium ago. To imagine there was a civilization back then that had a schematic way of recording information on Tablets is simply astounding. Were they influenced by other beings? Where the tablet picks up, the gods An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursanga create the black-headed people and create comfortable conditions for the animals to live and procreate. Then kingship descends from heaven and the first cities are founded: Eridu, Bad-tibira, Larsa, Sippar, and Shuruppak. After a missing section in the tablet, we learn that the gods have decided not to save mankind from an impending flood. Zi-ud-sura, the king and gudug priest, learns of this. In the later Akkadian version, Ea, or Enki in Sumerian, the god of the waters, warns the hero (Atra-hasis in this case) and gives him instructions for the ark. This is missing in the Sumerian fragment, but a mention of Enki taking counsel with himself suggests that this is Enki's role in the Sumerian version as well. When the tablet resumes it is describing the flood. A terrible storm rocks the huge boat for seven days and seven nights, then Utu (the Sun god) appears and Zi-ud-sura creates an opening in the boat, prostrates himself, and sacrifices oxen and sheep. After another break the text resumes: the flood is apparently over, the animals disembark and Zi-ud-sura prostrates himself before An (sky-god) and Enlil (chief of the gods), who give him eternal life and take him to dwell in Dilmun for "preserving the animals and the seed of mankind". The remainder of the poem is lost. Two flood myths with many similarities to the Sumerian story are the Utnapishtim episode in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Genesis flood narrative found in the Bible. The ancient Greeks have two very similar myths: The Deucalion and Zeus' flooding of the world in Book I of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Ziusudra and Xisuthros Zi-ud-sura is known to us from the following sources:
In both of the late-dated king lists cited above, the name Zi-ud-sura was inserted immediately before a flood event included in all versions of the Sumerian king list, apparently creating a connection between the ancient Flood myth and a historic flood mentioned in the king list. However, no other king list mentions Zi-ud-sura. See also
Atra-Hasis Sureq Galigo or La Galigo is an epic creation myth of the Bugis from South Sulawesi, written down in manuscript form between the 18th and 20th century in the Indonesian language Bugis, based on an earlier oral tradition. It has become known to a wider audience mostly through the theatrical adaptation I La Galigo by Robert Wilson. The poem is composed in pentameters and relates the story of humanity's origins but serves also as practical everyday almanac. It evolved mostly through oral tradition and is still sung on important occasions. The earliest preserved written versions date back to the 18th century, earlier ones have been lost due to insects, climate or destruction. Consequently, there is no complete or definite version of Galigo but the preserved parts amount to 6,000 pages or 300,000 lines of text, making it one of the largest works of literature. The original Buginese, in which also the production is sung, is now only understood by less than 100 people but so far only parts of it have been translated into Indonesian and no complete English language version exists either. The majority of La Galigo manuscripts still extant can be found in Indonesia and the Netherlands. Leiden University Library keeps one of the most valuable manuscripts. The Leiden manuscript consists of twelve volumes and relates the first part of the long Buginese epic. This largest coherent La Galigo fragment in the world was written in Makassar at the request of the theologian and scholar B.F. Matthes (1818–1908). In 1947 Matthes entered the service of the Netherlands Bible Society to study Buginese and Makassarese with the purpose of translation the Bible in those languages. The text was written by Colliq Pujié (Arung Pancana Toa), Queen-mother of Tanete, a small kingdom in South Sulawesi. The manuscript is now part of the collection Indonesian manuscripts of the Netherlands Bible Society, given on permanent loan to the Leiden University Library since the years 1905-1915. In 2012, together with another La Galigo manuscript, held in Makassar, the Leiden manuscript is now included in UNESCO's Memory of the World (MOW) Register as the second document from Indonesia after Negarakertagama in 2008 to earn the acknowledgement.
Thebes
See Thebes Creation Myth here This story comes from the Hopi people of northern Arizona. "Hopi" means "People of Peace". The stories here were recorded in the 1950s by Oswald White Bear Fredericks and his wife Naomi from the storytelling of older Hopi at the village of Oraibi, which tree-ring dating indicates has been inhabited by the Hopi since at least 1150 AD. The world at first was endless space in which existed only the Creator, Taiowa. This world had no time, no shape, and no life, except in the mind of the Creator. Eventually the infinite creator created the finite in Sotuknang, whom he called his nephew and whom he created as his agent to establish nine universes. Sotuknang gathered together matter from the endless space to make the nine solid worlds. Then the Creator instructed him to gather together the waters from the endless space and place them on these worlds to make land and sea. When Sotuknang had done that, the Creator instructed him to gather together air to make winds and breezes on these worlds. The fourth act of creation with which the Creator charged Sotuknang was the creation of life. Sotuknang went to the world that was to first host life and there he created Spider Woman, and he gave her the power to create life. First Spider Woman took some earth and mixed it with saliva to make two beings. Over them she sang the Creation Song, and they came to life. She instructed one of them, Poqanghoya, to go across the earth and solidify it. She instructed the other, Palongawhoya, to send out sound to resonate through the earth, so that the earth vibrated with the energy of the Creator. Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya were despatched to the poles of the earth to keep it rotating. Then Spider Woman made all the plants, the flowers, the bushes, and the trees. Likewise she made the birds and animals, again using earth and singing the Creation Song. When all this was done, she made human beings, using yellow, red, white, and black earth mixed with her saliva. Singing the Creation Song, she made four men, and then in her own form she made four women. At first they had a soft spot in their foreheads, and although it solidified, it left a space through which they could hear the voice of Sotuknang and their Creator. Because these people could not speak, Spider Woman called on Sotuknang, who gave them four languages. His only instructions were for them to respect their Creator and to live in harmony with him. These people spread across the earth and multiplied. Despite their four languages, in those days they could understand each other's thoughts anyway, and for many years they and the animals lived together as one. Eventually, however, they began to divide, both the people from the animals and the people from each other, as they focused on their differences rather than their similarities. As division and suspicion became more widespread, only a few people from each of the four groups still remembered their Creator. Sotuknang appeared before these few and told them that he and the Creator would have to destroy this world, and that these few who remembered the Creator must travel across the land, following a cloud and a star, to find refuge. These people began their treks from the places where they lived, and when they finally converged Sotuknang appeared again. He opened a huge ant mound and told these people to go down in it to live with the ants while he destroyed the world with fire, and he told them to learn from the ants while they were there. The people went down and lived with the ants, who had storerooms of food that they had gathered in the summer, as well as chambers in which the people could live. This went on for quite a while, because after Sotuknang cleansed the world with fire it took a long time for the world to cool off. As the ants' food ran low, the people refused the food, but the ants kept feeding them and only tightened their own belts, which is why ants have such tiny waists today. Finally Sotuknang was done making the second world, which was not quite as beautiful as the first. Again he admonished the people to remember their Creator as they and the ants that had hosted them spread across the earth. The people multiplied rapidly and soon covered the entire earth. They did not live with the animals, however, because the animals in this second world were wild and unfriendly. Instead the people lived in villages and built roads between these, so that trade sprang up. They stored goods and traded those for goods from elsewhere, and soon they were trading for things they did not need. As their desire to have more and more grew, they began to forget their Creator, and soon wars over resources and trade were breaking out between villages. Finally Sotuknang appeared before the few people who still remembered the Creator, and again he sent them to live with the ants while he destroyed this corrupt world. This time he ordered Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya to abandon their posts at the poles, and soon the world spun out of control and rolled over. Mountains slid and fell, and lakes and rivers splashed across the land as the earth tumbled, and finally the earth froze over into nothing but ice. This went on for years, and again the people lived with the ants. Finally Sotuknang sent Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya back to the poles to resume the normal rotation of the earth, and soon the ice melted and life returned. Sotuknang called the people up from their refuge, and he introduced them to the third world that he had made. Again he admonished the people to remember their Creator as they spread across the land. As they did so, they multiplied quickly, even more quickly than before, and soon they were living in large cities and developing into separate nations. With so many people and so many nations, soon there was war, and some of the nations made huge shields on which they could fly, and from these flying shields they attacked other cities. When Sotuknang saw all this war and destruction, he resolved to destroy this world quickly before it corrupted the few people who still remembered the Creator. He called on Spider Woman to gather those few and, along the shore, she placed each person with a little food in the hollow stem of a reed. When she had done this, Sotuknang let loose a flood that destroyed the warring cities and the world on which they lived. Once the rocking of the waves ceased, Spider Woman unsealed the reeds so the people could see. They floated on the water for many days, looking for land, until finally they drifted to an island. On the island they built little reed boats and set sail again to the east. After drifting many days, they came to a larger island, and after many more days to an even larger island. They hoped that this would be the fourth world that Sótuknang had made for them, but Spider Woman assured them that they still had a long and hard journey ahead. They walked across this island and built rafts on the far side, and set sail to the east again. They came to a fourth and still larger island, but again they had to cross it on foot and then build more rafts to continue east. From this island, Spider Woman sent them on alone, and after many days they encountered a vast land. Its shores were so high that they could not find a place to land, and only by opening the doors in their heads did they know where to go to land.
When they finally got
ashore, Sotuknang was there waiting for them. As they watched to the
west, he made the islands that they had used like stepping stones
disappear into the sea. He welcomed them to the fourth world, but he
warned them that it was not as beautiful as the previous ones, and
that life here would be harder, with heat and cold, and tall
mountains and deep valleys. He sent them on their way to migrate
across the wild new land in search of the homes for their respective
clans. The clans were to migrate across the land to learn its ways,
although some grew weak and stopped in the warm climates or rich
lands along the way. The Hopi trekked and far and wide, and went
through the cold and icy country to the north before finally settling
in the arid lands between the Colorado River and Rio Grande River.
They chose that place so that the hardship of their life would always
remind them of their dependence on, and link to, their Creator. The Tungusic creation myths are traditional stories of the creation of the world belonging to the Tungusic peoples of Siberia. In one well known version the story begins when nothing exists but a vast primordial ocean. Buga, their central deity, set fire to this water, and following a long struggle the flames consumed much of the water, exposing dry, hard land. Then Buga created the light and separated it from darkness, and descended to the newly created land. There he confronted Buninka, the devil, and a dispute arose between them over who had created the world. Buninka was spiteful and tried to injure Buga's creation. He broke Buga's twelve-stringed lyre, and Buga angrily challenged Buninka to make a fir tree and raise it to stand fast and firm in the middle of the sea. Buga agreed he would bow to Buninka's powers if he could do so, but if he failed then Buga would subject himself to the same challenge. If Buga were then to succeed, Buninka must concede to Buga that he was the most powerful creator. Buninka agreed to the challenge and commanded a fir tree to rise from the sea. The tree grew, but it was weak and bobbed to and fro. Buga then created a second tree but it thrived and grew into a stately tree. Buninka was forced to acknowledge Buga's greater power and bowed in homage. Buga put his hand to Buninka's head and turned it to iron. This caused so much pain in Buninka that he begged Buga for release, and Buga relented—Buninka was then allowed to roam the earth.
Buga collected materials to make
mankind. From the east he gathered iron; from the south fire; the
west, water; and from the north, earth. From the earth he made flesh
and bone; from the iron he made heart; from the water he made blood;
and from the fire he gave them vitality, and thus he made two beings,
a man and a woman. Buninka was strictly forbidden to do mankind any
injury, but after they had increased in numbers, he wanted to claim
half as his own. Buga refused to give him any of the living but
Buninka was granted the vicious men and women after they had died,
Buga keeping the virtuous to himself. So after death, the evil join
Buninka in hell, which is in the center of the earth, where they are punished. Also known as UNKUL Africa Unkulunkulu is the creator god in the language of the Zulu people. In the isiZulu language, the name means "the very great/high one". Literally, ‘chief’. The Zulu, once the most warlike nation in southern Africa, conceive of their sky god's omnipotence in political terms. He is uGuqabadele, ‘the irresistible’; uGobungqongqo, ‘he who bends down even majesties’; and uMabonga-kutuk-izizwe-zonke, ‘he who roars so that all nations are struck with terror’. Like their armies of old, the sky god tolerates no physical opposition. Unkulunkulu—sometimes called uKqili, ‘the wise one’—is a self-originating deity. The Zulu describe him as uZivelele, ‘he who is of himself’. Having ‘come into being, he gave being to man’, whom he raised ‘out of beds of grass’. Unkulunkulu is a creator god whose ways are incomprehensible and mysterious. Man knows ‘nothing of his mode of life, nor of the principles of his government. His smiting is the only thing we know.’ For Unkulunkulu controls lightning as uDumakade, ‘he who thunders from far-off times’. The maker of all things, he was also indirectly responsible for the coming of death to the earth.
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Unkulunkulu Text Here The Inca people of the Andean region of South America had a complete creation myth which involved Viracocha, their Creator God. According to legend, Viracocha emerged from Lake Titicaca and created all of the things in the world, including man, before sailing off into the Pacific Ocean. The Inca Culture: The Inca culture of western South America was one of the most culturally rich and complex societies encountered by the Spanish during the Age of Conquest (1500-1550). The Inca ruled a mighty empire that stretched from present-day Colombia to Chile. They had complicated society ruled by the emperor in the city of Cuzco. Their religion centered on a small pantheon of gods including Viracocha, the Creator, Inti, the Sun, and Chuqui Illa, the Thunder. The constellations in the night sky were revered as special celestial animals. They also worshiped huacas: places and things that were somehow extraordinary, like a cave, a waterfall, a river or even a rock that had an interesting shape. Inca Record Keeping and the Spanish Chroniclers: It is important to note that although the Inca did not have writing, they had a sophisticated record-keeping system. They had a whole class of individuals whose duty it was to remember oral histories, passed down from generation to generation. They also had quipus, sets of knotted strings which were remarkably accurate, especially when dealing with numbers. It was by these means that the Inca creation myth was perpetuated. After the conquest, several Spanish chroniclers wrote down the creation myths they heard. Although they represent a valuable source, the Spanish were far from impartial: they thought they were hearing dangerous heresy and judged the information accordingly. Therefore, several different versions of the Inca creation myth exist: what follows is a compilation of sorts of the major points on which the chroniclers agree. Viracocha Creates the World: In the beginning, all was darkness and nothing existed. Viracocha the Creator came forth from the waters of Lake Titicaca and created the land and the sky before returning to the lake. He also created a race of people - in some versions of the story they were giants. These people and their leaders displeased Viracocha, so he came out of the lake again and flooded the world to destroy them. He also turned some of the men into stones. Then Viracocha created the Sun, Moon and stars. People are Made and Come Forth: Then Viracocha made men to populate the different areas and regions of the world. He created people, but left them inside the Earth. The Inca referred to the first men as Vari Viracocharuna. Viracocha then created another group of men, also called viracochas. He spoke to these viracochas and made them remember the different characteristics of the peoples that would populate the world. Then he sent all of the viracochas forth except for two. These viracochas went to the caves, streams, rivers and waterfalls of the land - every place where Viracocha had determined that people would come forth from the Earth. The viracochas spoke to the people in these places, telling them the time had come for them to come out of the Earth. The people came forth and populated the land. Viracocha and the Canas People: Viracocha then spoke to the two that had remained. He sent one to the east to the region called Andesuyo and the other to the west to Condesuyo. Their mission, like the other viracochas, was to awaken the people and tell them their stories. Viracocha himself set out in the direction of the city of Cuzco. As he went along, he awoke those people who were in his path but who had not yet been awakened. Along the way to Cuzco, he went to the province of Cacha and awoke the Canas people, who emerged from the Earth but did not recognize Viracocha. They attacked him and he made it rain fire upon a nearby mountain. The Canas threw themselves at his feet and he forgave them. Viracocha Founds Cuzco and Walks Over the Sea: Viracocha continued to Urcos, where he sat on the high mountain and gave the people a special statue. Then Viracocha founded the city of Cuzco. There, he called forth from the Earth the Orejones: these "big-ears" (they placed large golden discs in their earlobes) would become the lords and ruling class of Cuzco. Viracocha also gave Cuzco its name. Once that was done, he walked to the sea, awakening people as he went. When he reached the ocean, the other viracochas were waiting for him. Together they walked off across the ocean after giving his people one last word of advice: beware of false men who would come and claim that they were the returned viracochas. Variations of the Myth: Because of the number of conquered cultures, the means of keeping the story and the unreliable Spaniards who first wrote it down, there are several variations of the myth. For example, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532-1592) tells a legend from the Cañari people (who lived south of Quito) in which two brothers escaped Viracocha’s destructive flood by climbing a mountain. After the waters went down, they made a hut. One day they came home to find food and drink there for them. This happened several times, so one day they hid and saw two Cañari women bring the food. The brothers came out of hiding but the women ran away. The men then prayed to Viracocha, asking him to send the women back. Viracocha granted their wish and the women came back: the legend says that all the Cañari are descended from these four people. Father Bernabé Cobo (1582-1657) tells the same story in greater detail. Importance of the Inca Creation Myth: This creation myth was very important to the Inca people. The places where the people emerged from the Earth, such as waterfalls, caves and springs, were venerated as huacas - special places inhabited by a sort of semi-divine spirit. At the place in Cacha where Viracocha allegedly called fire down upon the belligerent Canas people, the Inca built a shrine and revered it as a huaca. At Urcos, where Viracocha had sat and given the people a statue, they built a shrine as well. They made a massive bench made of gold to hold the statue. Francisco Pizarro would later claim the bench as part of his share of the loot from Cuzco. The nature of Inca religion was inclusive when it came to conquered cultures: when they conquered and subjugated a rival tribe, they incorporated that tribe's beliefs in their religion (although in a lesser position to their own gods and beliefs). This inclusive philosophy is in stark contrast to the Spanish, who imposed Christianity on the conquered Inca while attempting to stamp out all vestiges of native religion. Because the Inca people allowed their vassals to keep their religious culture (to an extent) there were several creation stories at the time of the conquest, as Father Bernabé Cobo points out: "With regard to who these people may have been and where they escaped from that great inundation, they tell a thousand absurd stories. Each nation claims for itself the honor of having been the first people and that everyone else came from them." (Cobo, 11)
Nevertheless, the different origin
legends have a few elements in common and Viracocha was universally
revered in Inca lands as the creator. Nowadays, the traditional
Quechua people of South America - the descendants of the Inca - know
this legend and others, but most have converted to Christianity and
no longer believe in these legends in a religious sense. Poetic Edda The Wise-Woman's Prophecy Völuspá (Prophecy of the Seeress) is the first and best known poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a völva or seeress addressing Odin. It is one of the most important primary sources for the study of Norse mythology.
The prophecy commences with an
address to Odin. The seeress then starts relating the story of the
creation of the world in an abridged form. She explains how she came
by her knowledge and that she understands the source of Odin's
omniscience, and other secrets of the gods of Asgard. She deals with
present and future happenings, touching on many of the Norse myths,
such as the death of Baldr and the binding of Loki. Ultimately the
seeress tells of the end of the world, Ragnarök, and its second coming.
Coatlicue The Yorùbá regard Olódùmarè as the principal agent of creation. In another telling of the creation myth, Olódùmarè (also called Olòrún) is the creator.
In the beginning there is only
water. Olódùmarè sends
Obàtálá to bring forth land.
Obàtálá descended from above on a long chain,
bringing with him a rooster, some earth, and some iron. He stacked
the iron in the water, the earth on the iron, and the chicken atop
the earth. The chicken kicked and scattered the earth, creating land.
Some of the other divinities descended upon it to live with
Obàtálá. One of them, Chameleon, came first to
judge if the earth was dry. When he said that it was,
Olódùmarè called the land Ife for
"wide". Obàtálá then created humans
out of earth and called Olódùmarè to blow life
into them. Some say Obàtálá was jealous and
wished to be the only giver of life, but
Olódùmarè put him to sleep as he worked.
Conversely, it is also said by others that it is
Obàtálá who shapes life while it is still in the womb. In a version of the Zuni creation story told to anthropologist Ruth Benedict, people initially dwelt crowded tightly together in total darkness in a place deep in the earth known as the fourth world. The daylight world then had hills and streams but no people to live there or to present prayer sticks to Awonawilona, the Sun and creator. Awonawilona took pity on the people and his two sons were stirred to lead them to the daylight world. The sons, who have human features, located the opening to the fourth world in the southwest, but they were forced to pass through the progressively dimming first, second and third worlds before reaching the overcrowded and blackened fourth world. The people, blinded by the darkness, identified the two brothers as strangers by touch and called them their bow priests. The people expressed their eagerness to leave to the bow priests, and the priests of the north, west, south and east who were also consulted agreed. To prepare for the journey, four seeds were planted by Awonawilona's sons, and four trees sprang from them: a pine, a spruce, a silver spruce and an aspen. The trees quickly grew to full size, and the bow priests broke branches from them and passed them to the people. Then the bow priests made a prayer stick from a branch of each tree. They plunged the first, the prayer stick made of pine, into the ground and lightning sounded as it quickly grew all the way to the third world. The people were told that the time had come and to gather all their belongings, and they climbed up it to a somewhat lighter world but were still blinded. They asked if this is where they were to live and the bow priests said, "Not yet". After staying four days, they traveled to the second world in similar fashion: the spruce prayer stick was planted in the earth and when it grew tall enough the people climbed it to the next world above them. And again, after four days they climbed the length of silver spruce prayer stick to the first world, but here they could see themselves for the first time because the sky glowed from a dawn-like red light. They saw they were each covered with filth and a green slime. Their hands and feet were webbed and they had horns and tails, but no mouths or anuses. But like each previous emergence, they were told this was not to be their final home.
On their fourth day in the first
world, the bow priests planted the last prayer stick, the one made of
aspen. Thunder again sounded, the prayer stick stretched through the
hole to the daylight world, and the people climbed one last time.
When they all had emerged, the bow priests pointed out the Sun,
Awonawilona, and urged the people to look upon him despite his
brightness. Unaccustomed to the intense light, the people cried and
sunflowers sprang from the earth where their tears fell. After four
days, the people traveled on, and the bow priests decided they needed
to learn to eat so they planted corn fetishes in the fields and when
these had multiplied and grown, harvested it and gave the harvest to
the men to bring home to their wives. The bow priests were saddened
to see the people were smelling the corn but were unable to eat it
because they had no mouths. So when they were asleep, the bow priests
sharpened a knife with a red whetstone and cut mouths in the people's
faces. The next morning they were able to eat, but by evening they
were uncomfortable because they could not defecate. That night when
they were asleep the bow priests sharpened their knife on a soot
whetstone and cut them all anuses. The next day the people felt
better and tried new ways to eat their corn, grinding it, pounding,
and molding it into porridge and corncakes. But they were unable to
clean the corn from their webbed hands, so that evening as they slept
the bow priests cut fingers and toes into their hands and feet. The
people were pleased when they realized their hands and feet worked
better, and the bow priests decided to make one last change. That
night as they slept, the bow priests took a small knife and removed
the people's horns and tails. When the people awoke, they were afraid
of the change at first, but they lost their fear when sun came out
and grew pleased that the bow priests were finally finished.
This page was created 01 11 2014
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