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comparing creation stories
Similarities of creation stories
creation stories and myths
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This paper juxtaposes some of the characteristics of two disparate creation stories – Dakota and Apache. It outlines who created earth and life, how they came into being, the order of creation, different generations and roles and responsibilities within the communities.
A Dakota story implies creation of the earth and humans at the end of its story. There is a detailed story of discord between the Gods and ousting of a few because of a predisposition to overpower the command and authority of the chief God. A trickster personality who savors mocking people is included. Earth was made by an associate God for His adopted daughter to have for herself, her husband, and his family (Creation Stories Comparison and Contrast. (n.d.)).
In the Dakota story, Wakantanka, was a master creator who is known as the chief God and a great spirit, responsible for creating all other Gods. The Gods created the world and everything in it as a wedding gift for Wakantanka’s adopted daughter and her husband. According to this story from the Dakota tribe, multiple Gods were responsible for creating earth (Da...
The Choctaw Indians The Choctaw Indians is a tribe of Musksgean stock. The Choctaws were once part of a larger tribe that included the Greeks and Seminoles and are considered one of the five civilized tribes (Cherokees, Greeks, Choctaws, Seminoles, and Chickasaws). At one time Choctaw territory extended from Mississippi to Georgia, but by the time Europeans began to arrive in North America they were primarily in Mississippi and Louisiana. The Choctaw Indians were into cultivation, they hunted and raised corn along with a host of other crops. One of their chief religious ceremonies was a harvest celebration called, “The Green Corn Dance.” According to one legend, the Choctaw were created at a sacred mound called Nanih Waiya, near Noxapater, Mississippi. In 1540, the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto led the first European expedition through Choctaw territory.
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 Sioux Creation Story is an native american tale about how the world was created. It is based upon the idea that the humanity needed to be destroyed and recreated because of the not so good actions they were committing. The story focuses on particular traditions in the native american culture.
seed beater that was made of twined openwork baketry (Taylor 56). To store or to place any
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).
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 phenomenons 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. But all share a common themes, such as a form of chaos or nothingness before life is created. Joseph Campbell notes that “... the idea of an absolute ontological distinction between God and man – or between gods and men, divinity and nature - first became an important social and psychological force in the near East, specifically Akkad, in the period of the first Semetic Kings, c. 2500 B.C.,” showing another similar trait – a god or set of gods exists to create in each story (626). Joseph Campbell makes a comparison of how both Genesis and the Book of the Dead of Egypt share the same idea of their bodies belonging to their god in some way, or being reabsorbed into them at death (630-631). Others, like the Japanese and Iroquois creation myths, claim the Earth was once covered entirely of water before land was formed. Adam and Eve of Genesis and Izanagi and sister Izanami of Shintoism provide examples of myths that share both a passive and active pair of people who eventually create the Earth's population. In any case, certain popular creation myths, some closely tied to prominent religions, share more common characteristics than others. An entire sub-study, called comparative mythology, gives insight into this subject.
There are various diverse creation myths from Native American cultures, though many hold similar characteristics. One of the more common forms of creation myth seems to be emergence myth. Generally, in the emergence myth, instead of seeing how the world is created, we see how the people arrive in an already created world. This particular story type is commonly found in Native American cultures from the southwest (Ryan). The Tewa Pueblo version of this myth, entitled How the People Came to the Middle Place, has been collected and written down by the anthropologists Alice Marriott and Carol K. Rachlin in their book, American Indian Mythology. The myth was told to them by two separate sources, Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso and Leonidas Vigil of Nambe Pueblo. This myth helps to illustrate important parts of their culture and probably held multiple functions for the Pueblo people.
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 the myth “The Emergence” it is shown how the Navajo people depended on animals for food and spiritual beliefs. Their culture is one of adaptation from those that they meet and live near. They started their journey being hunters and fishers, but when their Pueblo neighbors took refuge on their lands they learned other ways to get food. “The Pueblo people introduced the Navajo to farming and weaving” (“The Emergence” 615). They developed those skills learned from the Pueblo and incorporated them into their everyday life. The Navajo prospered by adapting and learning from new opportunities.
Throughout the world there are various cultures with varying religions and creation stories to explain the creation of the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Of these creation stories two with similar and also different characteristics is the Creation story in the book of Genesis which is a part of the 1st Testament in the Hebrew Bible and explains the creation of Earth and humans, and the Theogony which is the greek creation story that describes the origins of the Earth and the Greek Gods. Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but it can also affect them negatively, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories.
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.
The Navajo creation Myth story deals with the topics of story telling that are quite familiar to
The American Indians Between 1609 To 1865. Native Americans or American Indians, once occupied the entire region of the United States. They were composed of many different groups, who spoke hundreds of languages and dialects. The Indians from the Southwest used to live in large, terraced communities and their way of sustain was from the agriculture where they planted squash, pumpkins, beans and corn crops. Trades between neighboring tribes were common, this brought in additional goods and also some raw materials such as gems, cooper.
Indigenous people are those that are native to an area. Throughout the world, there are many groups or tribes of people that have been taken over by the Europeans in their early conquests throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by immigrating groups of individuals, and by greedy corporate businesses trying to take their land. The people indigenous to Australia, Brazil and South America, and Hawaii are currently fighting for their rights as people: the rights to own land, to be free from prejudice, and to have their lands protected from society.