Creation Myths

Moneka Goff HUM/105-World Mythology Terry Bovine 20130513

Creation Myths

Most creation myths are a narrative about how world came to be and how people came to live on earth. All cultures have some type of creation myths to explain why the culture views the world as they do. Creation myths typically have multiple versions due to the fact that they are told verbally and people have a tendency to add or subtract things from the story. In this paper I will discuss two creation myths I found interesting. The Zulu Creation and Navajo creation myths are about the journey of emergence. In the Zulu Creation, the world is thought to have been nothing but darkness. One large seed was the beginning of all things. This one seed sank into the earth and begin to grow a reed. According to this creation, the reeds that grew people, cows, fish, and all other creatures were called Uthlanga which means the source of all things. In the Navajo creation myth, the first world was very small and black with four seas with an island in the middle. On this island was a single pine tree where ants, flies, and beetles lived. Man was created from four clouds. The myth states that when the blue and yellow clouds came together they created the First Woman while the black and white clouds came together to create the First Man. In the Zulu Creation, people were grown from reeds. One man named Unkulunkulu fell from the vine becoming the creator of all things and the first man. In the Zulu creation story, the creator of all things was a man whom after he was fully grown begins to create streams, mountains, valleys, the sun, and the moon. Unkulunkulu pulled all the other men and women from the reeds as well as cattle, fish, birds and other creatures. In the Navajo creation myth, the First Woman had to go to the First Mans fire and then he had to ask her to live with him in order for the creation of all other mankind to begin. Then The Great Coyote came to the First Man and First Woman explaining that he was formed from an egg hatched in water. He went to them because he knew all the secrets of the skies and water. Another coyote name First Angry came to them to bring witchcraft to the world. Once the First Man, First Woman, The Great Coyote, and First Angry all came together they rose to the second world. In the second world they found other people living there but the newcomers were kicked out shortly after arriving because they brought chaos to this world. So First Man, First Woman, Great Coyote, and First Angry had to continue to the third world which consisted of six mountains where holy people lived. The importance of the third world is that the First Woman gave birth to a set of twins that were neither male nor female so in four days she gave birth to another set. At the end of 20 days the First Woman had given birth to five set of twins then these twins were given to a mountain god to be taught how to pray and wear masks. Then the twins were given back to the parents and soon for mates and brought many people into being. In the Navajo creation story, people moved into the fourth world to live. First Man and First

woman built their first home to live in. In the Zulu creation story, one man created everything we see around us today. He taught his people to hunt, fish, make fire, make clothes and prepare corn so they could survive. The creator of all people left his people in charge of the new world. In both creation myths, they describe how two different cultures believed the world came to be. The Zulu creation myths says that one man created everything and gave his people the knowledge they needed to live on earth but then in the Navajo creation myth, the First Man and First Woman was the beginning of mankind. The Zulu creation definitely had a God in the sky once he created all things because he sent a message to his people by a lizard saying that Death was coming and Death has not left mankind since. The Navajo people believed that all things were spiritually created in time before earth existed maybe that is why this myth had four worlds they had to experience before they were actually human beings.

References
Navajo People, Culture, and History retrieved from https://navajopeople.org Zulu Creation retrieved from www.bigmyth.com/myths Unkulunkulu retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org