CREATION STORIES

 

The Dogon are an African tribe that live in Mali. Their creation stories are believed to go back thousands of years and some claim that they may be descended from the ancient Egyptians. What really sets the Dogon apart is that they believe in an “egg of the world” out in space which is now known to modern astronomers as “Sirius B.” How astrological maps depicting this star exist on ancient Dogon artifacts is baffling since the star was only discovered in 1970.

The creation myth of the Dogon begins with Amma the God who existed in the before time and created the world. The egg of the world or Sirius B is sometimes referred to as the original placenta, which may refer to Amma’s origins. Amma then creates the Earth and marries her. However, the clitoris of the Earth is opposed to Amma’s penis. Therefore, it is only after Amma removes the Earth’s clitoris that they are able to conceive four sets of twins.

The twins are known as Nommo. One of the twins is referred to as O Nommo, while another is Ogo. The Nommo has the shape of fish and require a watery environment to live but they also have arms and legs. Ogo removes himself from Amma’s womb before he is finished in order to take over creation. With no partner of his own, he mates with the Earth, and that act of incest brings disorder and chaos into the world. From the incestual union comes the first menstrual blood and the spirits of the underworld.

Amma sends O Nommo to Earth in an ark in order to quell the chaos of Ogo. Ogo realizes that O Nommo is stronger and demands that Amma give him his placenta so he can be strong too. Instead, Amma uses the placenta to create the sun. Then she turns Ogo into a fox but he continues to wreak havoc on the world. Amma then sacrifices O Nomma. His blood purifies the earth. Amma then cuts his body into pieces in order to create the stars, plants, and animals.

 

Vishnu and the Lotus Flower

Hindu Creation Myth

The Hindu creation myth has some links to other creation myths in that it begins with a watery world of nothingness. There was a large expanse of ocean, and on the water floated a giant cobra. Within the endless coils of the giant snake lay Lord Vishnu. The large snake was the protector of Vishnu and watched over him as he slept. Lord Vishnu remained sleeping because everything was so quiet and peaceful.

Then there came a humming sound, Ohm. The sound grew louder and spread, moving through the emptiness and throbbing with energy. The humming sound meant that night was over and it was time for Vishnu to awaken. When dawn broke, a magnificent lotus flower grew from Vishnu’s navel.

From the center of the lotus flower emerged Brahma, the servant of Vishnu. Vishnu spoke to Brahma and commanded him to create the world. Then a wind blew over the waters and caused Vishnu and the snake to disappear, leaving only Brahma. Brahma stayed alone in the lotus flower floating upon the turbulent sea. Then Brahma lifted his arms and calmed the seas and the wind.

Next, Brahma split the lotus blossom into three pieces. With one he created the heavens; with another, he created the earth and with the third, he made the skies. From his buttocks, he created demons, and from his body, he created the darkness. Donning a new body, Brahma then brought the gods from his face and then cast off that body as well to create light. By taking on more bodies, Brahma would create all the things that inhabited the world. His powers of concentration created humans, snakes, and birds. Goats were brought from his mouth, sheep from his chest, and cows from his stomach. Horses were made from his feet, and the other animals were made from his arms. The hairs on his body were used to create the plants.

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Japanese Creation Myth

The Japanese creation myth is first told in the Kojiki, the first book written in Japan in 712 CE. The Japanese creation myth begins with chaos, as do many of the others. At the start of the universe, it was a shapeless sort of matter that remained in silence.

But then came sounds that indicated the particles were moving. The lightest particles and the light rose up. The particles rose but could not reach the same height as the light itself. Therefore, the light became the top of the universe, and the particles below became the first clouds and Heaven. The particles that had not risen came together to form one large mass known as Earth.

At first, the mass of the Earth was just like oil floating upon water and was not solid at all. From this emerged a reed that grew up and sprouted two immortals from its bosom. More Gods were formed but they had little to do in the chaos that was the universe and with no solid ground. So they called Izanagi and Izanami to work together to create terra firma. The gods gave them a jeweled spear with which to create the world.

Upon reaching the waters, they thrust the spear into the sea upon which it created a large mass that became the first island. Here the couple wed and Izanami gave birth to many of the gods of the world. However, it was upon giving birth to the fire god that Izanami perished. Izanagi went to the underworld to retrieve her and she told him she must first ask the gods of Yomi if she could return but that he must not look back at her. Izanagi grew impatient and looked for her, only to find that she was a disfigured corpse. Terrified at the sight, he left and sealed the exit. When he went to purify himself in the river, the goddess of the sun was washed from his left eye, the god of the moon from his right eye, and the god of storms from his nose.

Zuni Creation Myth

The Zuni are a Pueblo people that reside in New Mexico. Their religion continues to be integrated into their daily life and their respect for their ancestors, nature, and animals. They have been persecuted for their religion and therefore remain very private about their beliefs.

In the beginning, the people of the world lived crowded together in a place of total darkness deep down in the earth in the fourth world. The daylight world had streams and hills, but there were no humans there to offer prayer sticks to Awonawilona, the Sun and creator. He called two of his sons to lead the people to the daylight world. His sons, who had human features, descended down through the first, second and third worlds to get to the fourth world.

Upon arriving the humans called them their bow priests and told them they were eager to leave. Before leaving the sons planted four seeds, a pine, spruce, silver spruce and aspen. The brothers created prayer sticks from the branch of each tree. The pine prayer stick was planted and grew all the way to the third world. The son and humans then climbed the tree to get to the third world. They traveled to the second world by planting the spruce prayer stick, and to the first world by planting the silver spruce prayer stick. At the first world the last stick was planted, and the humans emerged in the daylight world.

In the light of day, the sons realized that the humans were covered in filth and green slime, with webbed feet, horns, and tails. When the two sons grew corn to feed the humans, they realized they had no mouths and therefore cut slits in their faces for mouths. Soon after they realized the humans had no anuses either, so holes were cut again. Then the sons cut the webbing of their feet and removed their horns and tails until they appeared as humans are known today.

Doodle of the Mole and the Bee with the String. stevyncolgan.blogspot.com

Romanian Creation Myth

The Romanian creation myth begins with God creating heaven. After creating heaven, he measured the space beneath with a ball of thread. He then asked the Devil to bring him up some clay from the large ocean over which they resided so that he could shape the Earth. The Devil tried to bring up the clay by invoking his own name but it was only when the Devil invoked God’s name that the clay rose and grew so that God could shape it into the Earth.

As God was weaving the string and the clay into the patterns of the Earth a little mole asked to help. He bid the mole to hold the thread as he wove and the Earth continued to grow. As the Earth grew, God rested and fell asleep, leaving the mole to slowly let out the thread. As God rested, the Devil decided to push God over the edge.

The mole kept pulling out the thread and didn’t realize that the Earth was growing too large. As the Devil tried to push God over the edge, the Earth grew, keeping God from falling. The Devil tried to push God in all four directions but each time the Earth grew. After pushing God in the fourth direction, the Devil became scared of the cross he had created in the dirt.

The mole knew nothing of God’s plight and instead feared that he had ruined Earth. He burrowed himself underground to hide. God awoke and sent a bee to find the mole so that they might find a way to fix their mistake. The mole refused to return, unwilling to believe that God would need advice from him. The bee refused to return without the mole’s advice and instead hid in a flower. As the bee hid he heard the mole talking to himself about squeezing the Earth in order to create mountains and valleys which would make the Earth smaller. The bee told God the mole’s plan and God thought it a good idea and thus finished the creation of the world by making mountains and valleys.

Boshongo God Bumba creating the world. paicherng.tumblr.com

Boshongo Creation Myth

The Boshongo are a Central Bantu tribe of the Lunda Cluster. They have a long history despite being fairly unknown among the Bantu tribes. Their origin story is one of the strangest largely because it begins with a stomachache.

In the beginning, there was nothing but dark water and Bumba was on his own. Then one day he was in great pain in his stomach. His discomfort grew so great that he vomited up the sun. The sun then spread its light all over the world. The heat from the sun dried up the water and black sandbanks and reefs were exposed. Bumba was still in pain and next, he vomited up the moon and the stars which then lit up the night.

Bumba’s stomachache continued and he retched up nine animals; the leopard, the crested eagle, the crocodile, a fish, the tortoise, the white heron, one beetle, a goat named Budi, and Tsetse, the lightning. The last creature to come forth out of Bumba was man, but only Loko Yima was white like Bumba. The rest of the world’s creatures were then created by the animals that had come forth out of Bumba, each of them responsible for creating their own group of animals.

Bumba then gave his three sons the tasks of finishing the creation of the world. Nyonye Nagana made the white ants but died at the effort it took. Chonganda brought forth a plant from which all other trees and plants and grasses of world came. Chedi Bumba tried for something different but could only make a bird called the kit. The world was peaceful with the exception of Tsetse who continually stirred up trouble so Bumba banished her to the sky. Without lighting man, had no way to make fire, and so Bumba showed man how to make the fire drill and liberate the fire that was within the trees. Thus the world was created.

theodysseyonline.com

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Schoppert, S. (2017, July 7). Emerging from the Darkness: 9 Creation Myths from Different Cultures. History Collection. https://historycollection.com/emerging-darkness-9-bizarre-creation-myths/9/