Fairytales: The Four Creation Myths

What is a creation myth? Creation myths are stories that rationalize and explain the unknown. Creation myths were told with the senses and rich in visual imagery. The four-creation myths that are discussed in this chapter are "The Song of Creation" from the Rig Veda, An African Creation Tale, Popel Vuh ("Sacred Book") Of Central America's Maya Indians, and Native American Iroquois. These four stories have different ways of how humankind was created, but there are also some elements that are similar with their stories, which is the creation of humankind.

What makes the four creation myths different is how life came to be, in "The Song of Creation", it talks about how we began in a watery darkness and then the One came with light. In this creation myth, it

explains how the universe was created, something very similar to the Big Bang Theory, how the world started with nothing and then heat came and started the creation of the world and humankind. An African Creation Tale talks about the origins of life in the slender grasses that grow in wet, marshy soil.

In this myth, a deity name Unkulunkulu created all of man, he gave them fire so that it can light their way. He taught them about the different animals that they can use for meat and cook it by dressing it in the fire, and he told them that they needed to marry and have children to increase the population on earth. Popol Vuh links creation to light, thought, and language itself. In this myth, the world was nothing; it was just silence and darkness. The only ones there were the Creator and the Maker, Tepeu and Gucumatz, also known as the Forefathers, the two gods with each other on how to bring the world from the darkness and into the light. They said, "Let there be light, let there be dawn in the sky and on the earth!" the formation started and then created humankind. The Native American Creation Tale, "How Man was Created" talks about the Good Spirit fashioned humankind in its diversity. In this myth, the Good Spirit, Sat-kon-se-ri-io, first created plants and animals to inhabit the earth, but while he was resting, he felt as if something was missing, he thought about the idea for awhile and he came up

with the idea to make a creature that resembles himself. The Good Spirit went to the river, used the clay from it, constructed a man, and then set it on fire to let it bake. The Good Spirit went to sleep but overslept and the first man burnt, which made the first Negro, he made another man and did the same steps, this man came out half-baked, which created the first white man. The Good Spirit tried again for the third time and he finally got the results he was hoping for, the man he created came out a red color, described as a red color of the sunset sky.
Now the four Creation Myths all had their own explanation on how humankind was created, but they all have something in common, they discuss on how humankind was created. Each Creation Myth has a way of how humankind was created, for example, in both an African Creation Tale and a Native American Creation Tale both gave their explanation on how a deity created humankind. In the African Tale, the deity created man and taught them how to survive and live their lives and in the Native American Tale, the deity wanted to create a creature that looks like himself.
In conclusion, the four Creation Myths that are discussed in this chapter have interesting ways of explaining how humankind was created and they all represent the culture that they are from, but the one element they have in common is the creation of humankind.