Creation Myths

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Creation Myths
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Culture

• Culture is a system of beliefs and values through
  which a group of people structure their
  experience of the world
• These beliefs and values can be roughly organized
  in three areas
• Beliefs about the nature of the physical world
• Beliefs about social order appropriate behavior
• Beliefs about human nature the problem of good
  and evil

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Creation Myths

• Are symbolic stories about the Creation of the
  World and how humans came to be
• Used to explain the origin of humans, earth,
  animals, plants, and other elements of nature
• Influence how they think about the world and
  treat it their worldview
• All cultures have a creation story
• In an effort to explain their origins, early
  humans invented stories which made sense in
  regard to his specific time period and culture

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Common Themes

• Creation myths from around the world often share
  many similar themes
• These similarities have been attributed by modern
  scholars, not the inventors of the stories
• Each creation myth will likely contain several
  common thematic features.

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Basic Themes

• Creation myths usually have one of these basic
  themes
• Creation from chaos
• Initially there is nothing but a formless,
  shapeless expanse, which is also sometimes called
  a void or an abyss, contains the material with
  which the created world will be made
• Earth diver
• In these stories a supreme being usually sends
  an animal into the primal waters to find bits of
  sand or mud with which to build habitable land

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Basic Themes

• Emergence
• Humanity emerges from another world into the one
  they currently inhabit with the previous world is
  often considered the womb of the earth mother,
  and the process of emergence is likened to the
  act of giving birth
• Ex nihilo (out of nothing)
• In most of these stories the world is brought
  into being by the speech, dream, breath, or pure
  thought of a creator but creation ex nihilo may
  also take place through a creator's bodily
  secretions
• World Parent
• There are two types of world parent myths, both
  describing a separation or splitting of a
  primeval entity, the world parent or parents

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Common Elements Birth

• Egg
• Often a jumbled mass of components which serve as
  the first elements of life
• Childbirth
• Male or Female gods give birth to children
• Natural
• Unusual

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Common Elements Mother and Father

• Very common in many world cultures
• Mother usually earth
• Life emerges from earth/womb
• Father usually sky
• Sense of unity created (marriage)

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Common Elements Genealogy

• The first god born did not always create the
  world.
• Often, his or her children decided to fill the
  world with life.
• The parents work was finished by the child.

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Common Elements Supreme Beings

• Most cultures revered a pantheon of supreme
  beings (polytheistic)
• Some cultures revered a single creator
  (monotheistic)

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Common Elements Earth-Diver Myths

• Many stories allude to a time when the earth was
  covered by water
• many myths feature a creature diving into the
  water to retrieve some earth to grow and form the
  Earth

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Common Elements Animal/Human Relationships

• Animals played key roles in many Creation Myths
• often viewed as equal to humans
• often reflect feelings of culture for animals

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Common Elements Night, Fear, Fire, and Sin

• In the creation myths of many cultures, darkness
  represents fear
• the setting of the sun brought on fear and chaos
• this fear and chaos was sometimes represented as
  fire

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Common Elements An Instruction, a Sin, and the
Consequence

• Many creation myths consist of at least one of
  these elements
• The consequence is often what causes pain,
  hunger, disease, and all other evils which plague
  the earth

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Common Elements Creation of Man

• Created by a god or supernatural being
• Establishes
• a connection between human beings and the
  supernatural world
• the place of humans in the hierarchy of life in
  the universe (below gods, above animals)

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Common Elements Creation of Geographical Features

• Many legends offer explanations for the formation
  of mountains, valleys, oceans, rivers, etc.

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Common Elements Creation of Lesser Creatures
(animals, plants insects, etc.)

• Almost all creation stories account for the
  existence of the forms of life that inhabit the
  planet.
• May also explain the physical characteristics of
  the animals.

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Creation Myths

• Much like our distant ancestors, we strive to
  uncover our origins and determine our place in
  the universe.
• Scientists advance new theories each year on the
  origin of the universe
• For some, scientific evidence serves as a basis
  for creation stories
• For others, deeply rooted ancient beliefs remain
  the cornerstone in their own theories