Creation Mythology: Native America - North

Today we are going to explore the creation myths of the North Native Americans.  North America is the third largest of the world’s continents and is often referred to as the New World.  There are many Native American tribes within North America, all with their own creation mythology.

The Iroquois people, including the Cayuga, Cherokee, Huron, Mohawk and Seneca tribes, occupied territory around Lakes Ontario, Huron, and Erie, in what is now New York and Pennsylvania as well as Ontario and Quebec in Canada.  Their name, Iroquois, is a derivation of the French Irinakhoiw, meaning ‘rattlesnakes’, although they call themselves Hodenosaunee, meaning ‘people of the longhouse’.  The following creation myth is widespread throughout the Iroquois tribes.



Aataentsic by Sylvie Paré & Robert Laliberté

The Turtle’s Shell

In the beginning, there was no land, only a wide, wide water that stretched as far as the far horizons in every direction.  This watery world was not without life, for in it lived such creatures as the muskrat, with its webbed feet and flat tail, and its cousin the thick-furred beaver who builds log lodges in which to live and house its young, and the otter who slides through the water like a snake.  There were salmon and other fish too, and birds – ducks with speckled and iridescent plumage and gaggles of cackling geese and diving birds with stick-like legs and pointed beaks.

But in this watery world there were no people and this is how, so the old story goes, mankind first came into the world.
Up in heaven, the Great Mother Aataentsic conceived in her womb the first man and the first woman.  Time passed, and soon, she knew, the moment would come when she should be delivered of her children.  But one day, as she was walking about in heaven, she tripped and stumbled and fell, and came tumbling, rumbling, spiralling, and turning, like a feather twirling in the breeze, all the way down through the limitless blue sky towards the wide, wide water below.
And as the animals looked up the saw Aataentsic coming towards there, ever closer, and they went scurrying hither and thither to find a piece of earth that they could place under her to break her fall, for they did not want her to drown.  The otter searched, the beaver searched, the ducks, the geese, the salmon and all the other creatures searched, but in the end it was the muskrat who found a clump of earth – not much bigger than a fist – and quickly placed it on the back of the turtle who was swimming through the water in his usual unhurried and ponderous way – and only just in time, too.

Turtle Island by Rowye

For at that very moment, the Great Mother landed – with a gentle bounce – on the little piece of earth that had been placed for her on the turtle’s back, and it was just enough to cushion her fall for her landing was as soft as if she had been dropped into a featherbed.  It was here that she was delivered of the first man and the first woman and it is their children and their children’s children who are all the people in the world.
And as for the clump of earth, that was no bigger than a fist, a very strange thing began to happen, and you would have marvelled greatly if you had been there to see.  The clump began to swell and grow and to spread out over the wide, wide water until it became an island and then a vast land that stretched north, south, east, and west, with hills and valleys and forests and rivers.  It became the earth on which we walk, and because it still rests on the turtle’s shell, the people call it Turtle Island.
And so it is, when the sea is churned into a great swell of waves, that the people say the turtle is stirring.
And so it is, when the earth is shaken by tremors and rumblings and quakes, that the people say the turtle is stretching its limbs.

The Seneca , or ‘People of the Green Hill’, who once lived in what is now New York, have their own version of the Turtle Island myth.  Unlike in the above version, where the first man and woman are the children of Old Mother, it is Old Mother’s daughter who births the first humans.  Her children, Sky Holder and Flint, or Good Mind and Bad Mind, complete the creation of the Earth.

Earth Holder & Old Woman - artist unknown

Flint and Sky Holder

Earth Holder, the Ancient One, lived in the sky world.  In the centre of this world grew a great tree that bore flowers and fruit, and sustained all those who lived there.  Earth Holder took Old Woman to be his wife, and she became pregnant by inhaling her husband’s breath.  But Earth Holder became jealous and suspicious and began to waste away.

He dreamed that the answer to his problems was to uproot the great tree, so he pulled it out, leaving a gaping hole in the floor of the sky world.  Earth Holder called Old Mother to look through the hole, and when she came he pushed her through it.  As she fell, she grasped seeds from the tree with one hand, and a tobacco-scented root with the other.  Old Woman fell towards the water which then covered the Earth.  The ducks saw her fall, and wove their wings together to catch her, and then the Great Turtle rose from the underworld and, with the curve of his shell, made a resting place for her above the water.
A muskrat dove under the water and brought up mud, which he smeared on to the Turtle’s shell.  As the surface began to expand, Old Woman released the seed and the root that she was holding.  The Earth was soon covered with plants, and a new tree grew from the root.
Old Woman built herself a lodge beneath the tree, and there she gave birth to a daughter, who in turn became pregnant by the Wind.  The daughter heard two voices inside her, arguing about which should be born first; one was gentle, the other harsh and rough.
‘If you won’t let me out first,’ said the second voice, ‘I shall force my way out.’  And the child with the rough voice burst out of his mother’s armpit.
Old Woman’s daughter had just enough strength to give birth to the other child before she died.  She was the first to die, and to make a path from this world back to the sky world.  The boy born from her armpit was called Flint, and his heart was cold and hard.  The other boy, Sky Holder, was warm and loving.

Old Woman Falls - artist unknown

When the boys were grown they decided to enlarge Turtle Island.  Flint created the mountains and hills in the west, while Sky Holder made the valleys and meadows in the east.  ‘You’re making it too comfortable,’ said Flint, and he did everything he could to spoil the new land.  He even stole the sun and hid it in the southwest; although Sky Holder won it back, Flint had created winter.  Sky Holder saw his own reflection in a pool of water.  Taking some clay, he made six pairs of humans in his own image – the first man and woman of six nations of the Iroquois. Sky Holder taught the people how to live, but every good gift from Sky Holder was matched by a bad gift from Flint, and so disease and evil came into the world.  Whenever Sky Holder made a healing plant, for example, Flint made a poisonous one.  Eventually Sky Holder challenged and beat Flint, imprisoning his brother in a cave.  Sky Holder also vanquished other enemies of humanity, such as the Whirlwind, the Wind, and the Fire Beast.  He made the stars, the sun, and the moon and when his work was done, Sky Holder followed his mother’s path up to the world in the sky.

This next story is one of recreation and comes from the Algonquian Indians.  The Algonquian people are the most numerous in North America, with hundreds of original tribes.  They once inhabited the forest regions of the Ottawa River vally and its tributaries in what is now Quebec and Ontario in Canada.  This creation myth tells of how Michabo, also known as Lord Hare, with the help of muskrat, uses a piece of earth from the old world to create a new world.

Far Away by Nerain

Michabo and the Flood

One day Michabo, lord of the east wind, was out hunting with his wolves when they came to a vast lake.  Stirred by the excitement of the chase, the pack would not be turned from their course and plunged headlong into the water.  But the lake was deep and it was not long before all the beasts had been swallowed up, leaving behind them no more than a few lingering ripples on the treacherously calm face of the water.

Coming close after them, Michabo saw what had befallen his beasts so he waded out into the lake to try to rescue them, pitting all his great strength against the water that slowed his path, to go ever deeper towards the middle.  But so powerful was the movement of his limbs and so wild the swirling of his breath that the lake was stirred to a storm.  Waves lashed the shore and the water rose higher and higher until it overflowed its banks and roared in turbulent torrents over the land, carrying with it stones and rocks and stripping the trees of all their branches.

Michabo and The Flood by Janet Hulings Bleicken

When the flood finally abated and all was peaceful once more, the whole world had disappeared beneath a blanket of shining water that stretched east, west, north, and south, as far as the farthest horizons.
Try as he might, nowhere could Michabo see one single spot of dry land.  So he resolved to make a new world from the remains of the old – but he needed help.  He called the raven:
‘Go out across the water,’ he said, ‘and bring me back one grain of soil so that I may make a new world from the remains of the old.’  With a swish of wings and a croaking cry, the raven flew off to do the Master’s bidding.  But when it returned, it brought nothing.
So Michabo called the otter:
‘Go out across the water,’ he said again, ‘and bring me back one grain of soil so that I may make a new world from the remains of the old.’  With a flip of its sleek body, the otter dived into the water and was soon out of sight.  But when it returned, it brought nothing.
So Michabo called the muskrat, and sent her off with the same instructions as before.  How long she was gone no one can be sure – as hour or a day or a year or more – but what is sure is that this time, when the muskrat returned, she held between her teeth a tiny clod of earth, just big enough to allow the Master to do his work.
Michabo took the clod of earth and with his magic powers of creation, made it into an island and sent it floating out on the water and the island grew and grew into a vast land with hills and valleys and plains.  And there were trees on this new land but they were bare of branches, so Michabo loosed his arrows at the trunks, and they took root in the bark and became new branches and burgeoned with fresh green leaves, and the world that Michabo had made was more beautiful than you can imagine.
As for the muskrat who had helped to bring about this great work of creation, Michabo rewarded her by making her his wife, and it is their children and their children’s children and all the generations that followed who have been living ever since in the wonderful new world that Michabo made from a tiny clod of earth, long, long ago.

The Coos people, sometimes called the Hanis, once lived along the central and southcentral Oregon coast, including the Coos Bay, Umpqua, and Siuslaw estuaries.  They told the following tale of creation:

Feather Trees by rospberry

Arrow Young Men (Creation of the World)

Two young men were travelling.  They stopped in the middle of their journey, and one of them said, "How would it be if we two should try it?  What do you think about it?"--"It would be good if we two should try it," answered the other one.  "We ought to try it with that soot here."  They had five pieces (disks) of soot.  Now they stopped and dropped one piece into the ocean.  The world at that time was without land.  Everything was covered with water.  Again they dropped one piece.  The ocean was rolling over the disk.  The next day they dropped another disk.  Then they stopped at some small place and dropped another disk into the ocean.  They looked at it from above.  Now land began to appear, and they saw it.  They were very glad when they saw the land coming up.

The next day they dropped another disk.  Land began to stick out.  They looked frequently at the waves that rolled back and forth continually.  "What is your opinion?" said one of the two men.  Shall we try it again?"--"With what shall we try it?" asked the other one.  The water was still rolling back and forth.  "Let us split this mat."  They did so, and placed the two pieces over the five disks of soot.  Now they went down to examine it.  Still the land was not solid enough.  So one of them said, "Let us split this basket in two!"  They split it, and put it on the sand beach.  The waves were held back now, since the water was able to go down through the basket.  Now the young men went down and examined the land.  "This will do," said one of them.  "It's good that way."
Now they began to look around the world which they had created.  There were no trees.  "Suppose we set up some trees," said one of them.  "It would be very good," answered the other one.  Then they stuck into the ground the feathers of an eagle.  The feathers began to grow, and developed soon into fir-trees.  "All kinds of trees shall grow," said the older man.  All the different kinds of trees commenced to grow.  "Suppose we create animals," said one of the young men.  "It won't be good if there shouldn't be any animals. The future generations ought to have animals."  Then they created animals.

Medicine Man by jfarsenault

Early in the morning they went to look at the world they had created.  Suddenly they saw tracks on the ocean beach.  "Whose tracks may these be?" asked one of them.  They followed the tracks, and soon came upon a person sitting on the top of a snag.  "You, indeed, must have made these tracks.  Who are you?"--"I am a medicine-man," answered the person whose face was painted all over with red paint.  "You have no right to travel here.  This is our world, we have made it.  Are you surely a medicine-man?"  They seized the stranger and killed him.  Then they spilled his blood in all directions, and said to him, "You will be nothing, the last generation shall see you."
Then they turned back.  Suddenly one of them became pregnant.  The child could not come out.  "What will become of us?  We ought to have wives."  None of them had done anything; nevertheless he became pregnant.  The child was all the time trying to come out, but could not do it.  So they sent some one to the north, and told him, "There is a man living there.  He is a good man.  Bring him here."  Someone went to get him.  They went out in a canoe.  To their surprise, there were no waves.  So they wished that waves would come.  "Five times shall the north wind come and bring five breakers."  And so it was.  They were waiting for the fifth wave.  And when this came, they went ashore.  They found the man, and brought him to the pregnant person.  As soon as he saw the pregnant man, he took out the child.  It was a girl.  From this girl all the people took their origin.  She caused the people to multiply, and to inhabit the world.

Arrow into the Sun by IkaikaDesign*

Now the young men continued their journey.  They once more examined the world which they had created, and found it to be good.  Everything began to assume its present appearance.
They both had bows.  "How would it be if we should shoot towards the sky?"  Indeed, they began to shoot.  They looked at their arrows as they were shooting them. "You too ought to shoot one arrow," said one of the young men.  "Shoot it so that it shall hit the shaft of mine, and it will look as if it were one arrow; but don't shoot too hard!"  He shot and hit it.  "Shoot again!"  Their arrows became joined, and reached down to the place where they were standing.  "Suppose we climb up now!"--"All right!"  They shook the, arrows.  "Are they firm?  Won't they come apart?--Now you try to climb up!"  He climbed up.  "This is very good indeed."  Then the other man climbed up.  They looked down, and saw the beautiful appearance of the world which they had created.  Nobody knows what became of the two young men. Here the story ends.

The Arikara people of North America were originally from North and South Dakota.  They called themselves Sanish, meaning ‘the people’ and tell an emergence creation myth about Mother Corn, which reflects their many migrations from East to West.  The story is recited during the spring ceremonies.

The Corn Mother by Sharon Irla

Mother Corn

In the beginning the great sky chief, Nishanu, made giants, but these creatures had no respect for their maker and were destroyed by a great flood.  Only a few good giants were preserved as corn kernels under the ground.  Nishanu also planted some corn in the heavens.  Out of this corn came Mother Corn, who descended to the Earth to lead the people out.  Since the people were still animals then, they dug their way out with Mother Corn’s encouragement.  Then the mother led the people from the east, where they had emerged, to the west, where they are now.

Mother Corn then went back the Heaven, but while she was gone the people made trouble and started killing each other.  She returned later with a leader for the people, named Nishanu after his maker, in whose image he was made.  The leader taught the people how to fight enemies rather than each other.  Mother Corn taught them the ceremonies.

The Muskogean Indians include the Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole, Apalachee, and Natchez tribes.  They once lived in what is now North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and part of Tennessee and told the following creation myth in which the deity Esaugetuh Emissee, the ‘Master of Breath’, creates the first men from clay.

Nunne Chaha - artist unknown

Esaugetuh Emissee Creates Man

In the beginning the primeval waste of waters alone was visible.  Over the dreary expanse two pigeons (or doves) flew hither and thither, and in course of time observed a single blade of grass spring above the surface.  The solid earth followed gradually, and the terrestrial sphere took its present shape.  A great hill, Nunne Chaha, rose in the midst, and in the centre of this was the house of the deity Esaugetuh Emissee, the ‘Master of Breath.’  He took the clay which surrounded his abode, and from it moulded the first men, and as the waters still covered the earth he was compelled to build a great wall upon which to dry the folk he had made.  Gradually the soft mud became transformed into bone and flesh, and Esaugetuh was successful in directing the waters into their proper channels, reserving the dry land for the men he had created.

The Zuni tribe of North America were found in what is now west-central New Mexico and are one of the Pueblo Indian groups.  They tell the following emergence myth of creation, in which Awonawilona creates Mother-earth and Father-sky.

Awonawilona by DevilsJohnson

The Creation and Emergence of Man

Before the beginning of the new-making, Awonawilona – the Maker and Container of All, the All-father, Father – solely had being.  There was nothing else whatsoever throughout the great space of the ages save everywhere black darkness in it, and everywhere void desolation.

In the beginning of the new-made, Awonawilona conceived within himself and thought outward in space, whereby mists of increase, steams potent of growth, were evolved and uplifted.  Thus, by means of his innate knowledge, the All-container made himself in person and form of the Sun, whom we hold to be our father and, who thus came to exist and appear.  With his appearance came the brightening of the spaces with light, and with the brightening of the spaces, the great mist clouds were thickened together and fell, whereby was evolved water in water, yea, and the world-holding sea.
With his substance flesh outdrawn from the surface of his person, the Sun-father formed the seed-stuff of twain worlds, impregnating therewith the great waters, and lo! in the heat of his light these waters of the sea grew green and scums rose upon them, waxing wide and weighty until, behold! they became ‘Awitelin Tsita’, the ‘Fourfold-containing Mother-earth,’ and ‘Apoyan Tachu’, the ‘All-covering Father-sky.’
From the lying together of these twain upon the great world waters, so vitalizing, terrestrial life was conceived; whence began all beings of earth men and the creatures, in the Fourfold Womb of the World, ‘Awiten Tehuhena Kwi’.


Father Sky and Mother Earth by AmbiantNight

Thereupon the Earth-mother repulsed the Sky-father, growing big and sinking deep into the embrace of the waters below, thus separating from the Sky-father in the embrace of the waters above.  As a woman forebodes evil for her first-born ere born, even so did the Earth-mother forebode, long withholding from birth her myriad progeny and meantime seeking counsel with the Sky-father.  ‘How,’ said they to one another, ‘shall our children, when brought forth, know one place from another, even by the white light of the Sun-father?’ Now like all the surpassing beings the Earth-mother and the Sky-father were changeable, even as smoke in the wind; transmutable at thought, manifesting themselves in any form at will, as dancers may by mask-making.
Thus, as a man and woman, spake they, one to the other.  ‘Behold!’ said the Earth-mother as a great terraced bowl appeared at hand and within it water, ‘this is as, upon me, the homes of my tiny children shall be.  On the rim of each world country they wander in, terraced mountains shall stand, making in one region many, whereby country shall be known from country, and within each, place from place.  Behold, again!’ said she as she spat on the water and rapidly smote and stirred it with her fingers.  Foam formed, gathering about the terraced rim, mounting higher and higher.  ‘Yea,’ said she, ‘and from my bosom they shall draw nourishment, for in such as this shall they find the substance of life whence we were ourselves sustained, for see!’  Then with her warm breath she blew across the terraces; white flecks of the foam broke away, and floating over above the water, were shattered by the cold breath of the Sky-father attending, and forthwith shed downward abundantly fine mist and spray!  ‘Even so, shall white clouds float up from the great waters at the borders of the world, and clustering about the mountain terraces of the horizons by borne aloft and abroad by the breaths of the surpassing of soul-beings, and of the children shall hardened and broken be by thy cold, shedding downward, in rain spray, the water of life, even into the hollow places of my lap!  For therein chiefly shall nestle our children mankind and creature-kind, for warmth in thy coldness.’
Lo! even the trees on high mountains near the clouds and the Sky-father crouch low toward the Earth-mother for warmth and protection!  Warm is the Earth-mother, cold the Sky-father, even as woman is the warm, man the cold being!

Zuni Creation Myth by Lloyd Moylan

‘Even so!’ said the Sky-father.  ‘Yet not alone shalt thou helpful be unto our children, for behold!’  And he spread his hand abroad with the palm downward and into all the wrinkles and crevices thereof he sent the semblance of shining yellow corn grains; in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed like sparks of fire, and moved as his hand was moved, over the bowl, shining up from and also moving in the depths of the water therein.  ‘See!’ said he, pointing to the seven grains clasped by his thumb and four fingers, ‘by such shall our children be guided; for behold, when the Sun-father is not nigh, and thy terraces are as the dark itself (being all hidden therein), then shall our children be guided by lights – like to these lights of all the six regions turning round the midmost one – as in and around the midmost place, where these our children shall abide, lie all the other regions of space!  Yea! and even as these grains gleam up from the water, so shall seed grains like to them, yet numberless, spring up from thy bosom when touched by my waters, to nourish our children.’  Thus and in many other ways devised they for their offspring.

The Pawnee Indians, sometimes known as Paneassa, Pari, or Pariki, could be found along the Platte, Loup, and Republican Rivers of what is now Nebraska.  They called themselves ‘chaticks-si-chaticks’ meaning ‘men of men’ and tell the tale of Tirawa Atius, the creator and the Morning and Evening Stars.



Morning Star by GoatShrine

How Tirawa Atius Created the World

Tirawa Atius (atius meaning ‘lord’) is the great eternal God who created all things and supplies the needs of all creatures.  He created the Path of the Departing Spirits, known to the White Man as the Milky Way.  East of the Path is the Male Principle – the Morning Star, and to the west is the Female Principle – the Evening Star.  All that has happened and will happen has been ordained by Tirawa, and the stars are his servants.  From the east the Morning Star began to pursue Evening Star in order to make love to her, but she continued to elude him.  She put hindrances in his path, but continued to beckon him all the while.  Why?  Because it was not yet time to make living things on the earth; and females always tease and flirt with males, as well as demand tests to prove men’s character.

The number ten has always had significance for human beings, and this is because Evening Star placed ten obstacles in the way of her suitor.  One of the hindrances was in the chaos beneath them.  There was an endless sheet of water presided over by the Great Serpent.  The Morning Star threw a ball of fire at the serpent, which caused the serpent to flee beneath the waves.  As the fire hit the water, enough of the water dried up to reveal earth and rocks.  From these materials, Morning Star threw a pebble into the sea of chaos and it became the earth.


The Evening Star by SaraPlante

When the earth was in its proper place, Tirawa appointed four lesser gods to administer it.  They were East, West, North, and South.  They joined hands at the edge of the great sea on earth and a land mass emerged. Eventually Morning Star caught up with Evening Star and made love with her.  Soon Evening Star conceived a little daughter.  When she gave birth to the little girl, she placed the child on a cloud and sent her to earth.  High above the earth, Evening Star asked Morning Star to water her celestial garden and, as a love gift, he made the first rain.
In the celestian gardens of Evening Star, there grew a great many plants, including Mother Maize, the greatest of food plants.  Evening Star gave maize to her daughter as a gift to plant on the newly emerged earth.  Soon the Sun and the Moon produced a sun, who married the daughter of Evening Star and Morning Star.  Daughter-of-Evening-and-Morning-Star and Son-of-Sun-and-Moon are the parents of all living human beings, as well as the first beings to cultivate maize.

That's all for today.  Next time we will look at the creation mythology of South America. 

Useful Resources

Hamlyn History: Myths Retold by Diana Ferguson
DK Eyewitness Companions: Mythology by Philip Wilkinson & Neil Philip
Coos Texts by Leo J. Frachtenberg
Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia by David Adams Leeming
The Myths of the North American Indians by Lewis Spence
North American Indian Legends by Allan A. Macfarlan
Parallel Myths by J. F. Biertein

Creation Mythology: South America

Today we are going to explore the creation myths of South America.  South America is the fourth largest continent in the world and its mythology is diverse and vast.  Here we will look at the creation myths of Mesoamerica and some of the tribes which can be found throughout the region.

The Mayan civilization lasted from around 500BC to 1200AD.  The creation myth of the Mayans can be found in the ancient hieroglyphic Popol Vuh, meaning Book of Counsel, Book of the Community, or Book of the People.  The following myth tells of how Tepeu and Gucumatz created the world through conversation with one another.

 

Mayan Creation Myth by TheK40*

How Tepeu and Gucumatz Made the World

This is the account of how all was in suspense, all calm, in silence, all motionless, still, and the expanse of the sky was empty.
This is the first account, the first narrative.  There was neither man, nor animal, birds, fishes, crabs, trees, stones, caves, ravines, grasses, nor forests; there was only the sky.
The surface of the earth had not appeared.  There was only the calm sea and the great expanse of the sky.
There was nothing brought together, nothing which could make a noise, nor anything which might move, or tremble, or could make noise in the sky.
There was nothing standing; only the calm water, the placid sea, alone and tranquil.  Nothing existed.

Gucumatz by Ranubis

There was only immobility and silence in the darkness, in the night.  Only the Creator, the Maker, Tepeu, Gucumatz, the Forefathers, were in the water surrounded by light.  They were hidden under green and blue feathers, and were therefore called Gucumatz.  By nature they were great sages and great thinkers.  In this manner the sky existed and also the Heart of Heaven, which is the name of God and thus He is called.
Then came the word.  Tepeu and Gucumatz came together in the darkness, in the night, and Tepeu and Gucumatz talked together.  They talked then, discussing and deliberating; they agreed, they united their words and their thoughts.
Then while they meditated, it became clear to them that when dawn would break, man must appear.  Then they planned the creation, and the growth of the trees and the thickets and the birth of life and the creation of man.  Thus it was arranged in the darkness and in the night by the Heart of Heaven who is called Huracan.

Huracan: Heart of Sky by Jack Feldman

The first is called Caculha Huracin.  The second in Chipi-Caculha.  The third is Raxa-Caculha.  And these three are the Heart of Heaven.
Then Tepeu and Gucumatz came together; then they conferred about life and light, what they would do so that there would be light and dawn, who it would be who would provide food and sustenance.
Thus let it be done!  Let the emptiness be filled.  Let the water recede and make a void, let the earth appear and become solid; let it be done.  Thus they spoke.  Let there be light, let there be dawn in the sky and on the earth!  There shall be neither glory nor grandeur in our creation and formation until the human being is made, man is formed.  So they spoke.
Then the earth was created by them.  So it was, in truth, that they created the earth.  Earth!  they said, and instantly it was made.
Like the mist, like a cloud, and like a cloud of dust was the creation, when the mountains appeared from the water, and instantly the mountains grew.
Only by a miracle, only by magic art were the mountains and valleys formed; and instantly the groves of cypresses and pines put forth shoots together on the surface of the earth.


The Heart of Earth by belezr

And thus Gucumatz was filled with joy, and exclaimed: ‘Your coming has been fruitful, Heart of Heaven; and you, Huracan, and you, Chipi-Caculha, Raxa-Caculha!’ ‘Our work, our creation shall be finished,’ they answered.
First the earth was formed, the mountains and the valleys, the currents of water were divided, the rivulets were running freely between the hills, and the water was separated when the high mountains appeared.
Thus was the earth created, when it was formed by the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of Earth, as they are called who first made it fruitful, when the sky was in suspense, and the earth was submerged in the water.
So it was that they made perfect the work, when they did it after thinking and meditating upon it.

Several creation stories can be found in Aztec mythology, with some originating from early Mexica and others from other Mesoamericans.  The most well known, however, is the story of the Five Suns.  It tells of how the battles for supremacy between the brothers Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl brought about both the destruction of the first four suns and the creation of the fifth sun.



Ometeotl by rainbow-country-crew

The Creation of the World – The Five Suns

In the beginning there was Ometeotl, the Creator Pair, or the Lord and Lady of Duality.  The male and female aspects of Ometeotl coupled and from their union brought forth Texcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. 

During the time of the First Sun, giants roamed the Earth, eating rocks and acorns, and Tezcatlipoca ruled supreme.  He took it upon himself the honor of carrying the Sun on its daily journey through the heavens, lighting the sky above and the Earth below.  With great pride, he daily led the Sun in its fiery, celestial path.
Quetzalcoatl was jealous of Tezcatlipoca and his great honor.  In a terrible fit of anger he climbed into the sky and gave Tezcatlipoca a mighty blow.  The blow stunned Tezcatlipoca, and he fell tumbling from the sky.  As he crashed to Earth, Tezcatlipoca transformed himself into his sacred animal spirit, the jaguar.  As the jaguar, he destroyed all living creatures on the Earth.  The time of the First Sun of the Earth came to an end, and darkness covered the Earth.  The Aztecs marked this day of the Earth’s first destruction with the name 4 Jaguar.

z9 Tezcatlipoca by SHiNiGAMi-Xiii*

Quetzalcoatl now reigned supreme.  It was his divine honor to lead the Sun on its daily journey to defeat the powers of darkness on the Earth.  The Earth existed again for a second time – the time of the Second Sun.  During this time, the Earth was populated with monkeys who existed on pine nuts.
Now, it was Tezcatlipoca’s turn to be jealous.  He was determined to regain his dominance over Quetzalcoatl.  It was Tezcatlipoca this time who rose into the sky and delivered a smashing blow to Quetzalcoatl.  Quetzalcoatl could not survive the blow and came roaring to Earth with such force that a great windstorm destroyed all living creatures.  For the second time, the age of the Sun had ended with the destruction of the Earth.  The Aztec called this day 4 Wind.

Quetzalcoatl by vandervals

The gods were angry at this destructive battle between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca.  They decided that another god should have the honor of carrying the Sun across the sky.  They chose the rain god Tlaloc.  Tlaloc ruled supreme during this third creation of the Earth.  His fall of nourishing waters brought back life to the Earth, covering it with rivers, lakes, and oceans.
This time, both Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca began to plot against Tlaloc.  Together they attached Tlaloc and caused a fierce rain of celestial fire to fall on the Earth.  The time of the Third Sun ended in the destruction of the Earth by scorching fire.  The Aztecs marked the end of this third age of the Sun with the name 4 Rain.
Once again, the gods intervened to recreate the Earth.  During this time of the Fourth Sun, Tlaloc’s sister, the god Chalchiuhtlicue, the Goddess of Water, fell to the Earth, the sky opened up

Tlaloc by Kamazotz

with a deluge of heavenly waters.  A great flood covered the Earth and destroyed it for a fourth time.  The Aztecs marked this day with the name 4 Water.
After fourth destruction of the Earth, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca felt remorse for their battles.  Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl looked down upon the darkened and flooded Earth and knew that their time of battle must come to an end if there was to be another Sun.  They abandoned their fierce fighting and together created the Earth for a fifth time.  The Fifth Sun, the sun of motion, is the sun of our present age.  According to this Aztec myth, the age of the Fifth Sun will one day end in a cataclysm of earthquakes.

The Inca established their capital at Cuzco, Peru in the 12^th century.  Their creation story tells of Viracocha, also spelled Huiracocha or Wirapoca, the creator deity who made the sun and moon on Lake Titicaca.

Viracocha and his son Inti by MaycuryDealor

Children of the Sun

Viracocha emerged into the primal dark from the sacred waters of Lake Titicaca.  He created a race of giants, but they angered him, so he drowned them and turned them to stone.  Next he called the sun, the moon, and the stars out of the Island of the Sun in the centre of the lake.  He picked up stones by the lakeside and shaped these into the first man and women, painting them with clothes, and giving each nation its own language, songs, and foods.  Viracocha and his sons travelled among the peoples, teaching them how to live, before walking away across the Pacific Ocean.

Among the Keres speaking Pueblo people of southwestern America, the original creator was Sus’sistinako, or Thinking Woman, the spider.  In some versions she creates the world from a discarded clot of blood and in others from her own thoughts.

Thinking Woman

The Pueblo's Spider Woman - Artist Unknown

At first there was only one being, a spider called Sus’sistinako, meaning ‘Thinking Woman’.  Sussistinako sent her thoughts outward into space, and used them to weave the fabric of the universe.  Beneath the Earth she placed Iatiku the Corn Mother, also known as ‘the breath of life’.  It was Iatiku who created all the elements that make up the world – even fun, in the shape of the clown Koshare, whom she shaped from rubbings of her skin in order to make people laugh.

Iatiku had two aspects: one who remained underground, and to whom the dead returned; and another who travelled up to the world, bringing the gift of life.  She had two daughters, to whom she gave baskets filled with seeds and images.  They were to use these to bring life into the world.
The first daughter was named Iatiku, after her mother, because they so closely resembled one another.  The second daughter was not given a name.
The two daughters travelled up to the Earth, and when they emerged, the world was still dark, so they decided to create light.  Singing a creation song, they created the sun from shells and red stone, then they travelled east, carried the sun up a high mountain, and dropped it over the other side.  The next morning the sun rose for the first time.


MOTHER CORN by TWitchhh

Iatiku and her sister continued to scatter the seeds and images from their baskets, and each thing came alive as it fell.  They made the moon, and then the stars, which were all in perfect groups until a little girl peeped into the bundle of stars and let them out, scattering them randomly across the sky. Iatiku noticed that her sister’s basket was more richly filled than her own, so she decided to name her sister ‘Nautsiti’, meaning ‘more everything in her basket’.  The two sisters then held a contest to see which of them should have precedence in the world.  Iatiku won because Thinking Woman sat on her shoulder in spider form and whispered to her, telling her what to do.  As the victor, Iatiku stayed to become the mother of the Indians, while Nautsiti went away, to become the mother of the whites.

The Huitoto or Uitoto Indians can be found deep in the Peruvian Amazon.  They tell the following ex nihilo myth of how Father Naimuena created the world from dreams.

Father Naimuena Creates the World

In the beginning, the word gave origin to the Father.  A phantasm, nothing else existed in the beginning; the Father touched an illusion, he grasped something mysterious.  Nothing existed.  Through the agency of a dream our Father Naimuena kept the mirage to his body, and he pondered long and thought deeply.

Phantasm by JoeyJazz

Nothing existed, not even a stick to support the vision: our Father attached the illusion to the thread of a dream and kept it by the aid of his breath.  He sounded to reach the bottom of the appearance, but there was nothing.  Nothing existed indeed. Then the Father again investigated the bottom of the mystery.  He tied the empty illusion to the dream thread and pressed the magical substance upon it.  Thus by the aid of his dream he held it like a wisp of raw cotton.
Then he seized the mirage bottom and stamped upon it repeatedly, sitting down at last on his dreamed earth.
The earth-phantasm was now his, and he spat out saliva repeatedly so that the forests might grow.  Then he lay down upon his earth and covered it with the roof of heaven.  As he was the owner of the earth he placed above it the blue and the white sky.
Thereupon Rafuema, ‘the man who has the narratives,’ sitting at the base of the heavens, pondered, and he created this story so that we might listen to it here upon the earth.

The Pima can be found in the deserts of southern Arizona.  They tell the following ex nihilo myth of Juhwertamahkai, the Doctor of the Earth, who creates the earth from perspiration and people from the shadow of his eyes.

The Story of the Creation

In the beginning there was no earth, no water – nothing.  There was only a Person, ‘Juh-wert-a-Mah-kai (The Doctor of the Earth).

He just floated, for there was no place for him to stand upon.  There was no sun, no light, and he just floated about in the darkness, which was Darkness itself.

hold on by butterflycollector

He wandered around in nowhere till he thought he had wandered enough.  Then he rubbed on his breast and rubbed out ‘moah-haht-tack’, that is perspiration, or greasy earth.  This he rubbed out on the palm of his hand and held out.  He tipped over three times, but the fourth time it staid straight in the middle of the air and there it remains now as the world.
The first bush he created was the greasewood bush.
And he made ants, little tiny ants, to live on that bush, on its gum which comes out of its stem.
But these little ants did not do any good, so he created white ants, and these worked and enlarged the earth; and they kept on increasing it, larger and larger, until at last it was big enough for himself to rest on.
Then he created a Person.  He made him out of his eye, out of the shadow of his eyes, to assist him, to be like him, and to help him in creating trees and human beings and everything that was to be on the earth.
The name of this being was ‘Noo-ee’ (the Buzzard).
Nooee was given all power, but he did not do the work he was created for.  He did not care to help Juhwertmahkai, but let him go on by himself.
And so the Doctor of the Earth himself created the mountains and everything that has seed and is good to eat.  For if he had created human beings first they would have had nothing to live on.
But after making Nooee and before making mountains and seed for food, Johwertamahkai made the sun.
In order to make the sun he first made water, and this he placed in a hollow vessel, like an earthen dish (‘hwas-hah-ah’) to harden into something like ice.  And this hardened ball he placed in the sky.  First he placed it in the North, but it did not work; then he placed it in the West, but it did not work; then he placed it in the South, but it did not work; then he placed it in the East and there it worked as he wanted it to.
And the moon he made in the same way and tried in the same places, with the same results.

Diamonds In The Sky by Mizth

But when he made the stars he took the water in his mouth and spurted it up into the sky.  But the first night his stars did not give light enough.  So he took the Doctor-stone (diamond), the ‘tone-dum-haw-the’, and smashed it up, and took the pieces and threw them into the sky to mix with the water in the stars, and then there was light enough.
And now Juhwertamahkai, rubbed again on his breast, and from the substance he obtained there made two little dolls, and these he laid on the earth.  And they were human beings, man and woman.
And now for a time the people increased till they filled the earth.  For the first parents were perfect, and there was no sickness and no death.  But when the earth was full, then there was nothing to eat, so they killed and ate each other.
But Juhwertamahkai did not like the way his people acted, to kill and eat each other, and so he let the sky fail to kill them.  But when the sky dropped he, himself, took a staff and broke a hole thru, thru which he and Nooee emerged and escaped, leaving behind them all the people dead.
And Juhwertamahkai, being now on the top of this fallen sky, again made a man and a woman, in the same way as before.  But this man and woman became grey when old and their children became grey still younger, and their children became grey younger still, and so on till the babies were grey in their cradles.
And Juhwertamahkai, who had made a new earth and sky, just as there had been before, did not like his people becoming grey in their cradles, so he let the sky fall on them again, and again made a hole and escaped, with Nooee, as before.
And Juhwertamahkai, on top of this second sky, again made a new heaven and a new earth, just as he had done before, and new people.
But these new people made a vice of smoking.  Before human beings had never smoked till they were old, but now they smoked younger, and each generation still younger, till the infants wanted to smoke in their cradles.

The Sky Is Falling by gamesandgigs

And Juhwertamahkai did not like this, and let the sky fall again, and created everything new again in the same way, and this time he created the earth as it is now.
But as first the whole slope of the world was westward, and tho there were peaks rising from this slope there were no true valleys, and all the water that fell ran  away and there was no water for the people to drink.  So Juhwertamahkai sent Nooee to fly around among the mountains, and over the earth, to cut valleys with his wings, so that the water could be caught and distributed and there might be enough for the people to drink.
Now the sun was male and the moon was female and they met once a month.  And the moon became a mother and went to a mountain called ‘Tahs-my-et-than Tow-ahk’ (sun striking mountain) and there was born her baby.  But she had duties to attend to, to turn around and give light, so she made a

Coyote by RichardatUK

place for the child by tramping down the weedy bushes and there left it.  And the child, having no milk, was nourished on the earth.
And this child was the coyote, and as he grew he went out to walk and in his walk came to the house of Juhwertamahkai and Nooee, where they lived.
And when he came there Juhwertamahkai knew him and called him ‘Toe-hahvs’, because he was laid on the weedy bushes of that name.
But now out of the North came another powerful personage, who has two names, ‘See-ur-huh’ and ‘Ee-ee-toy’.
Now Seeurhuh means older brother, and when this personage came to Juhwertamahkai, Nooee and Toehahvs he called them his younger brothers.  But they claimed to have been here first, and to be older than he, and there was a dispute between them.  But finally, because he insisted so strongly, and just to please him, they let him be called older brother.

The Sanema people live in the upper Caura region of Venezuela and tell this creation myth of Omao who creates people from wood.

Jaguar - Its Dinner Time by m3-k3

Omao Creates Man 

Once there lived Curare-woman and Original Jaguar.  Jaguar was very fond of meat and one day he caught Waipili the frog.  Jaguar made Curare-woman cut up Waipili and Jaguar ate the frog up.  But Curare-woman saved two tadpoles called Omao and Soawe and hid them in a pot. 

Curare-woman kept Omao and Soawe safe from Jaguar.  Omao and Soawe grew fast, but Original Jaguar was still a danger.  Then one day, by some clever tricks, Omao was able to fool Jaguar into climbing a tree, which, when released from the hold of a vine, threw Jaguar up into the air.  He fell to the ground and was killed.
Omao was very hungry because he did not know how to grow yuca.  Only Lalagi-gi, the cosmic anaconda, knew how to grow the plants.  Although Omao was very frightened of the giant anaconda, he wanted to learn how to grow yuca.  So he gave some meat to the snake and in return Lalagi-gi brought yuca cuttings, yams, maize, and other things.  If it had not been for Lalagi-gi, people would not have learned how to grow crops.
It was long, long ago when Omao created the Sanema ancestors.  He decided to use hardwood trees.  But Omao had great difficulty in finding them, so he asked his brother, Soawe, to help.  Soawe was lazy.  Instead of hardwood trees, he cut down softwood trees.  When Omao returned, he was very angry.  ‘I was going to make humans from the hardwood trees,’ he said.  ‘Then they could live

Yellow-knobbed Curassow by gracek

forever, just casting off their old skins.  I was going to make the anacondas from softwood trees, so they would be weak and die young.’  Omao made the Sanema from the softwood trees, which is why people are weak and do not live forever.  Then he made the anacondas from the tough bark of the hardwood trees, which is why anacondas shed their skins and live for a very long time.  Omao was still so angry that he left the world.  He went down the river, to the bottom of the sky.
It was night when the animal and Sanema ancestors appeared.  Sunrise did not come.  The great curassow bird cried out all night – and still dawn did not come.  The ancestors realized that it was the curassow bird that stopped the dawn, so they shot the bird with arrows.  The feathers of the dying bird fell and transformed into all the birds that now live in the forest.
And then the dawn came.

 

Useful Resources

Popol Vuh:The Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiche Maya by Delia Goez & Sylvanus G.Morley

The Oxford Companion to World Mythology by David Leeming
The Eagle on the Cactus: Traditional Stories from Mexico by Angel Vigil
DK Eyewitness Companions: Mythology by Philip Wilkinson & Neil Philip

The Creation Account of the Uitoto of Columbia, South America

Aw-aw-tam Indian Nights (Myths and Legends of the Pima_ by J. William Lloyd
Yanomamo Sanema Creation Story