Creation Motifs In Creation Myths

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

Creation stories are symbolic accounts of how the world and its inhabitants came about. These stories first developed in oral traditions, so there are multiple accounts of them from different cultures and societies. The Babylonian Creation story, the Genesis Creation story, and the Sumerian story of the Creation of Enkidu are examples of these and the similarities are interesting. As Dennis Bratcher states, “Because of many parallels with the Genesis account, some historians concluded that the Genesis account was simply a rewriting of the Babylonian Story. As a reaction, many who wanted to maintain the uniqueness of the Bible argues either that there were no real parallels between the accounts or that the Genesis narratives were

One very interesting thing about the Mayans was that they had a very different view of creation than most common belief systems. The Mayans believed that the earth was just a plain old watery void to start out. Then, animals and plants came into the earth’s wide picture (Jarus). It was just animals and plants on the planet--no humans.

Every culture has its own past belief on how everything was created; Gods, lands, plants, animals, creatures, and humans all have a unique story to be told throughout the ages. But it is plain to see there is some overlap between ideas on how everything was made. Take the Greek Mythology, the most popular and well known type of mythos, has connections to other cultures like Nordic and Native American. But of course, each story has their own twist or other idea to it, as well.

Throughout the plot of these four creation stories, it is visible that each culture has varying beliefs on how land was developed. For example, Cherokee Indians conclude that land was created by a water beetle who sculpted soft mud, where as Hawaiians believe that land emerged from the slime in the ocean. Both Europeans and West Africans teach that a supreme being used his or her powers to form land. In Genesis, God was responsible for the land, whereas in the Golden Chain story, a creature called Obatala was deemed accountable for creating the land. One similarity betweens these stories is that they all begin in an almost identical setting. In every myth except for

These Native American spiritual stories can be compared to the book of Genesis. Both of the stories and the book of Genesis all start with water at the beginning of the story. In "How the World Was Made" everything was all water and the animals lived above in the sky. "The Sky Tree" starts with the earth covered in water. The book of Genesis claims that the earth began in water. Another common characteristic between all three stories is how land came after water. In all three stories, land

One parallel between Greek and Egyptian creation stories is that they both begin with a God or Gods being created from the universe. The creation of

In a clear, concise, and well-organized essay, I will analyze the different motifs of the creation myths process, struggle, and organic material. The definition of a motif is “something in literature we notice repeated over and over again. I will include ample evidence to conclude the myths that include these motifs, why they used them and how they used them. In the final analysis, I will conclude why I envision the motifs: struggle, process, and organic material are the three most important to me and why.

The humans were created through trial and error. The gods began their experimentation in creating humans. The first humans they created were made from mud. This left the gods without their creations since the humans kept falling apart. The human faces were lopsided and they would dissolve when they came in contact with water. This

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

Almost every culture on earth has a creation myth. Most if not all of these myths borrow from the core theme of a God-centered creation as contained in the book of Genesis chapter one. According to Van Over (11), a good number of these creation stories show a similarity in the point of their origin. Rumor has it that some of these myths have emanated from actual historical occurrences or events. All creation myths emerge from one ancient source and only diverge when it comes to their timing and the surrounding cultural circumstances. The variations in the myths come as a result of the differences in time and cultural circumstances. Aside from the two causes of variation, in general all creation myths show a basic outline and they also share some basic elements.

Origin myths deliver stories explaining how the world, humans or objects came to existence. Describing where the nation comes from, they are very important to the culture of given region. Therefore, each nation developed its own stories and beliefs; however, there are many similarities between myths of various religions and cultures. A good example would be Native American stories about origin and their resemblance to Greek mythology or to the Bible. Similarities can be seen in different spheres such as creation of humankind or even in the story about flood.

So in my opinion, three of the most common creation myth motifs are people coming from organic material, destruction, and the jobs of the humans are to take care of the planet. Motif #1 My first motif involves the idea of people coming from organic materials. I chose this as my

We now see these theories as inaccurate, due to the fact that they have been replaced by newer scientific models. In a modern light, it can be stated that creation myths describe not the origin of our cosmos but rather these myths allow us to gain a broader understanding of ancient theories and beliefs. During the time of their invention however, these myths were precisely an honest interpretation of the outer world, and therefore they served the exact purpose which is stated in their title, to explain the process of creation.

How were human beings created? How has life come to be? How was the earth created? These are some very important questions that humans have tried to answer for ages. In an attempt to answer these questions, different cultures around the world developed different beliefs. Some believe that they are many gods watching over them, while others believe that there is only one supreme God. Some believe that humans were created by an explosion while others believed that a God or gods created them. Today, I will be analyzing two different creation stories, Genesis, the Christian creation story and “The Creation and Emergence” story by the Jicarilla Apaches. While some differences between the two are evident, the similarities are noticeable.