Indian Creation Myths In reading three different Indian creation myths, The Emergence, Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away, and The Woman who Fell from the Sky, we are taught many things not only about creation myths themselves, but about the culture from which they originated. These creation myths contain many of the same universal elements that are found in nearly all creation myths and they demonstrate for us the degree to which the Indians felt we truly are one with nature. These three creation myths talk about three major universal elements, the flood, the creation of the first man and woman, and the nature of human beings. In The Emergence the first man and the first woman are trying to figure out why the Water Monster has been punishing them. When they discover his babies with the Coyote, they realize that he wants his children back. The punishment of the Water Monster is a direct reference to the great flood that is found in many creation myths, including that of the Christian myths. Another universal element is the creation of the first man and the first woman. Though they are created in different manners in each story, the different creations still hold universal elements. In The Emergence, they are created from two ears of corn, which conveys the idea that the Indians believe that we came from nature. In Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away and in The Woman who fell from the Sky, the first humans come from a mother, supporting a more mainstream idea of a birth. Finally, these creation myths discuss the nature of human beings. In all three of these stories there is a struggle for power. In the Emergence, it occurs between all the creatures, in Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away, it is a struggle between humans and all in nature, and in The Woman who fell from the Sky, it is between two humans, one good and one evil. These three ideas truly encompass our thoughts of a struggle between either man vs. man, man vs. nature, or man vs. nature. All three of the Indian creation myths hold universal elements that are easily recognizable and comparable to other creation myths from other cultures. The Indian creation myths also teach us a great deal about how we should be with nature. The Indians nearly worshiped nature; they never harmed it, but rather used it for their survival.
The most common mythological theme across different cultures is the creation of humankind because everyone has always questioned how the earth was created and so forth. Creation myths are “usually applied to a mytho-religious story which explains the beginning of humanity, life, the earth and the universe as being the result of a deliberate act of supreme beings or being” ("Creation myths," 2007). Individuals from different cultures believe in a higher power known as God and they believe that the higher power is the creator of earth, animals and humankind, however each culture believe in different Gods but they all believe that God is the creator and that is the universal theme across different cultures.
Throughout history man has searched for an explanation of our origins and why we are here. Many creation myths are attempts of our ancestors to do just that. I have found in reading many of these creation myths, that there is also an attempt to explain why human existence is imperfect. The following essay will compare and contrast four creation myths and their explanation of how mans imperfection came to be.
People have faith in many things. Some believe in many gods, one god, or that their is no god. All those people have their opinions on how the world was made and each of these stories from different people have some similarities. Those stories are the Navajo, Inca, and Zulu creation stories. All three made by different people in different continents and at different times but they all have some wide ranges of similarities in them.
The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an ancestor or relative. The Native American’s strongly belie...
Have you ever wonder how the universe was created? Some people believe in the Earth creation by the Supreme Being, some believe in the scientific explanation of Big Bang explosion theory. Every civilization in the world has its own story of how things are created. Each story reflects how people see and think the world at their time. In this essay, I am going to compare two myths of how man was created – the creation tale of Mohawk Tribe and the Hebrew Bible creation story. There are a lot of similarities as well as differences between these legends. While some differences between the two tales are the development of the stories and the meaning behind the stories, the similarities between them is the concept of creationism.
The Lakota Creation story tells the origin of the world, the living creatures that inhabit it, and the Buffalo people. The story begins with Inyan, the creator, a being so powerful that nothing else could exist but him. Then Inyan separated a part of its...
The pagan creation myth of the Iroquois “The World on the Turtle’s Back” similitude to the Christian beliefs of Earth’s creation in the book of Genesis. “In the beginning there was no world, no land, no creatures of the kind that are around us, and there were no men.” This phrase indicates that Iroquois also believed that at the beginning of Earth’s formation there was nothing. These beliefs are very similar to the accounts in the Bible. “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” “Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2) In the first paragraph the Iroquois show that they believe in gods who live in the sky. Just like Christians believe in the almighty God creator of Earth. Humans, Christian or pagan have always sought to believe in a higher power that is in charge of life and shaping Earthly creatures of the natural world (existence).
Through studies such as comparative mythology, researchers and philosophers have discover hundreds of parallels between the myths that make up every culture, including their creation myths. As most are deeply rooted in religion, comparisons based on geographic area, themes, and similar story lines emerge as religions form and migrate. Campbell recognized these similarities an...
The emergence myth differs greatly from the common western Christian way of thinking. In Christianity, humans were once in a perfect place until they disobeyed God and were sent into the current world, which is thought of as a punishment. In the Tewa Pueblo emergence myth, the people are stuck in a place of darkness until their friend, the Mole, helps lead them to a new world (Marriott, Rachlin 66-67). They do not view this world as their punishment but as a good place, improved from where they were before. Many of the things that appear in this myth are characteristic of other Native American myths as well. For example, Mole is an animal but talks and acts similarly to a human. This shows the great respect that the culture held for animals. They did not believe that they were superior to or dominant over the animals. They recognized their differences to th...
Creation stories have profound effects on humans. Those associated with ancient cultures/civilizations aim to ensure the successful survival or well-being of themselves and that particular culture/civilization of their association, but not all are beneficial, prosperous, or fortunate. Mesopotamia’s “The Gilgamesh Epic”, Egypt’s “Hymn to the Nile-Documents”, and Mesoamerica’s Mayan and Aztec creation stories/religion are influential to establishing significant relationships within society, whether that is between humans and nature or humans and their “god(s).”
In Genesis the creation of the Earth draws quite a few parallels with some of the Native Americans
Hesiod’s Theogony and the Babylonian Enuma Elish are both myths that begin as creation myths, explaining how the universe and, later on, humans came to be. These types of myths exist in every culture and, while the account of creation in Hesiod’s Theogony and the Enuma Elish share many similarities, the two myths differ in many ways as well. Both myths begin creation from where the universe is a formless state, from which the primordial gods emerge. The idea of the earth and sky beginning as one and then being separated is also expressed in both myths.
The creation myths that I have studied are similar in many ways. They also have differences that show an inherently different way of thinking about the world. All have creators-gods that make the world into what is now. There are conflicts within their world, and these conflicts change the face world. God to god or human to god maybe be involved in these conflicts. Their bloody struggles prove who is more powerful, causing change in the control of the world. Some gods are beneficial to man and others are self-serving, using man only as a tool.
In both myths the relationship between humans and nature is shown as a positive one but with negative effects from humans’ greed and necessity for more. In the beginning of the Creation Story it is stated in the first few lines “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” God then began to create the Earth in seven days. On the first day he created day and night out of the darkness and light. The second day led to the creation of the sky. The third day was the creation of the land. The fourth day led to the creation of the season. And finally on the fifth and sixth day, animals and humans were created, and the first two were a male and female named Adam and Eve. At the end of everyday during creation the words “and God saw it was good” are written. God is happy with his creation of nature. The phrase shows the positive connotation of...
The Maori myth is a Polynesian story about the creation of the universe which according to Rosenberg was different from other creation myths because it begins with nothing and then progresses through a process of “nonbeing to thought to the creation of the universe and human beings” (351). Even though it may be different because it goes from “nonbeing to thought” instead of nothingness to a spoken word or action, it has many similarities to other creation myths in how it explains the origins of the Gods and how each one represents a natural event or aspect of nature and humanity. The myth begins with an “idea” that “was remembered” and then “became conscious” and then “a wish to create”, all of which created a “power to live and to grow, even in emptiness” (352). At this point there was still no being, only thought and desire which gives the idea that what is being addressed are the human attributes of feeling, sensing, desire and thought, this is where this story is different from other creation myths.