Creation Stories
All cultures seek to explain how everything in this world was created. They come up with their own creation stories that describe the creation of themselves and the things around them. Most creation stories also attempt to explain mysterious phenomena, teach lessons to the listeners, and emphasize aspects of life that each culture finds important. The three creation stories that I chose to compare were the creation myths of the Mande, the African Bushmen, and the Egyptians. These creation stories, though extremely different do share some similarities.
The African Bushmen myth and the Egyptian myth both have lessons or morals to be learned from the story; specifically, they emphasize the importance of obeying laws. The Egyptian myth, “The Story of Re,” shows that men must obey the laws of Re, the creator, even if he appears weak in their eyes. When the men stopped obeying Re, they were slaughtered by his daughter, Sekhmet. The African Bushmen myth demonstrated that one should always obey the laws of the creator (in this case, Kaang) because it is usually for one’s own benefit anyway. The people disobeyed Kaang’s warning not to use fire and so their use of fire ended up scaring off the animals breaking off communication between people and animals.
All three myths reveal something about what its culture considers to be important in life—the myths indicate what these cultures value and what fascinates them. The Egyptian myth, “The Story of Re,” reveals the Egyptians’ fascination with bloodshed; there is a great deal of bloodshed when Sekhmet slaughters men and takes pleasure in their blood. The myth also indicates that Egyptians valued cunning deception and magic arts. The myth involves two instances in which a character tricks another character using clever and/or magical means. In one instance, Re tricks Sekhmet into drinking large amounts of alcohol by dying it red with red ocher, so that she thinks it is blood. In another instance, Isis tricks Re into telling her his secret name by requiring it as part of a cure for a snakebite.
Through their creation myth, the African Bushmen indicate that they value man’s interaction with animals; they show concern about fire and the fact that it frightens animals. They seem to feel that fire has ruined the relationship between men and animals.
Most cultures have a creation myth, a story of how humans came to exist in the world. Often, they involve Gods of some capacity who exist without much question or explanation. Many myths have a common idea for the origin of the world, like Earth being born from water, a golden egg, or a great monster. The Mayan creation myth and the Babylonian creation myth are similar in that they both begin with water, and account the creation and purpose of man. They also differ, as the Mayan Popol Vuh chronicles a peaceful tale of trials to forge the Earth and sentient beings to worship the gods, while the Babylonian Enuma Elish tells of wars between gods that lead to the creation of Earth and of man as a servant to the gods.
Creation stories tell of how the world was created based on the Indians. In my home state of Washington State, Makah Indians told the story of the-Two-Men-Who-Changed-Things creation story. Chelan Indians told the story of a Great Chief above that created the Indians. Both have different cultural backgrounds and live in different places in Washington.
As a child, Black Elk was blessed by his grandfathers with a vision. In this vision he saw the fate of his people. There were many symbolic creatures and elements in this vision. There we...
They complained that there will not be enough meat to go around, men will fight over the food, and the celebration will be a disaster. Together, they planted enough fear in the mind of the anthropologist, that even though once he was convinced and proud of his pick, he started to worry that the ox was not good enough, and the celebration will be ruined. In the end, after the ox was slaughtered, it proved to be indeed a very meaty animal, with plenty of white layers of fat. The anthropologist discovered that Bushmen collectively played a joke on him. They all knew what a beautiful animal they were receiving, yet they all complained about it, calling it a "bag of bones". Only later did the anthropologist learned that it was the Bushmen's tradition to criticize, and they routinely did it to themselves. They did it to keep their arrogance in check, and their humility
Religion often enlightens one with newfound reverence and respect. While caring for the wolf, the man finds both reverence and respect through a few spiritual encounters. As he is walking with the wolf, the man hears coyotes calling from the hills “above him where their cries [seem] to have no origin other than the night itself.” This represents the heavens calling out to the wolf to enter its gates. Once the man stops to build a fire, he seems to hold a ritual for the wolf. His shelter steamed “in the firelight like a burning scrim standing in a wilderness where celebrants of some sacred
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.
Myths relate to events, conditions, and deeds of gods or superhuman beings that are outside ordinary human life and yet basics to it” ("Myth," 2012). Mythology is said to have two particular meanings, “the corpus of myths, and the study of the myths, of a particular area: Amerindian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so on as well as the study of myth itself” ("Mythology," 1993). In contrast, while the term myth can be used in a variety of academic settings, its main purpose is to analyze different cultures and their ways of thinking. Within the academic setting, a myth is known as a fact and over time has been changed through the many different views within a society as an effort to answer the questions of human existence. The word myth in an academic context is used as “ancient narratives that attempt to answer the enduring and fundamental human questions: How did the universe and the world come to be? How did we come to be here? Who are we? What are our proper, necessary, or inescapable roles as we relate to one another and to the world at large? What should our values be? How should we behave? How should we not behave? What are the consequences of behaving and not behaving in such ways” (Leonard, 2004 p.1)? My definition of a myth is a collection of false ideas put together to create
Every culture has a different story of their origin. Each story varies in setting, main characters, and religious aspects. Although the stories are different, the sole purpose is the same for each – to explain how each civilization came to be. In order for a civilization to fully understand their past, they must critically break down the components of their origin story. Creation stories establish appropriate relationships within society by the revelation of the punishment laid out by the gods on unsatisfactory vassals, the importance of a hero figure, and the exposure of human survival based on nature.
The monkeys in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book are a very unique group of characters. They are viewed by the other animals of the jungle, or the Jungle People as they call themselves, as outcasts and outlaws. The most prominent chapter they occur in, “Kaa’s Hunting”, shows their lawless, shiftless, and uncivilized way of life. This image in itself does not give off any racist undertones.
Just look at two creation stories side-by-side and you should easily see their similarities. Perhaps the easiest way to do this would be to take one unknown creation story and compare it to one from one’s own culture. Below is an example of a Mongolian creation myth:
Over centuries, humankind has searched for the line where positive and negative influence over nature intersect. “The Rattler”, a tale of a man and a rattlesnake who cross paths in the desert, deals with this very question. The individual is at first cautious of the snake, thinking it best to leave the dangerous creature alone. But at the thought of the nearby neighbors, he takes it upon himself to kill it, and then continues on into the night. The author uses comparison, diction and personification in “The Rattler” to promote sympathy for both characters: the snake and the man.
Every ancient society and civilization has creation myths that were passed down and keep alive throughout the passing of time by word of mouth. These myths are the world’s oldest stories and are vital to these cultures because they explain their beginnings and give purpose to their existence. By analyzing and interpreting different creation myths it becomes easier to understand different cultures and their connections and relationships with heir beliefs and god(s).
This idea is expressed prominently in John Foulcher’s For the Fire and Loch Ard Gorge. For the Fire entails a journey of someone collecting kindling as they witness a kookaburra kill a lizard, Foulcher represents his idea through the use of metaphor, “a kookaburra hacks with its axe-blade beak.” This metaphor represents the beak in weaponised form, as it is compared with a violent axe. This evokes a sense of threat and intimidation towards the kookaburra, which contrasts to societies general interpretation of the ‘laughing kookaburra,’ thereby challenging the reader's perceptions of beauty in the natural world. Also, this comparison of the kookaburra offers a second understanding for the readers to interpret of the kookaburra. Similarly, in Loch Ard Gorge, Foulcher uses strong visual imagery, “savage dark fish are tearing their prey apart, blood phrasing the water decked with light,” to communicate the violence of the ‘savage’ fish to readers in a visual, gruesome manner. Thereby evoking a feeling of disgust towards the situation, as a visual description of blood is shown and Foulcher uses provoking, gruesome adjectives to communicate the fish's brutality. Foulcher expresses these ideas to communicate the abilities of nature, and provide a necessary ‘reality check’ for the readers, to review the beauty they see nature and understand the barbarity at the heart of everything. Although ruthlessness and brutality that nature can show are unintentional and immoral, this harm is a large part of the cycle nature needs to survive and thrive, and these factors can counteract assumed beauty and
Five myths from throughout Africa will be mentioned throughout this essay. They are from the Boshongo, Mande, Shilluk, Egyptian, and Yoruba peoples. For a brief description of these myths please see the appendix. Please remember that these myths do not represent the beliefs and stories of all of Africa.
Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomena in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life sprouting from a seed.