Creation
Myths From
Around the
World
What Are Creation Myths?
• Creation myths or creation stories are ways that different
societies have tried to explain how the universe was created.
• Some myths say that the universe has always existed, while
others say that the universe was created out of nothing and has
a defined beginning and are called ex nihilo stories.
• The inherent need for people to explain the unknown is an
important motivation for civilizations to explain how the world
became what it is today.
What Do Creation Myths Tell Us?
• Creation myths are not created in a vacuum, and the different
values that a culture has can influence the types of creation
stories that they tell.
• Fixating on a certain value or topic in creation myths can
sometimes correlate with things that the culture in question
values over other things.
• Important environmental factors like different types of food or
water, animals or livestock significant to the culture, or societal
norms are often reflected in creation myths.
Norse Creation Myth
• Before the world was created, there was a
void called Ginnungagap that sprung two
different realms into existence: Niflheim, a
world of ice and cold, and Muspelheim, a
land of fire and smoke.
• The air from Niflheim and Muspelheim
came together, melting the ice, which
formed the first giant, named Ymir, and a
giant cow named Audhumbla, who helped
to create the first Gods.
• The later Gods, Odin and his two brothers,
were threatened by the number of giants
there were, so they killed Ymir, and the
world was formed from his corpse.
What Does
This Myth
Mean?
• Though this myth is less explicit about its themes
than other creation stories, at its core it is still about
gods creating order and form from chaos and
nothingness.
• The world was created from violence, showing that
fighting and battle were valued and seen as
important in Norse culture at the time.
Kuba Creation Myth
• In the beginning, the creator god in the Kuba
religion, Mbombo, was alone, and there was
nothing but water and darkness that composed
the world.
• He was sick for countless years because he
was alone, which caused him to vomit the sun,
creating light, the moon, which divided the day
from the night, and nine different animals.
• The animals that he created made more animals
like themselves, and Mbombo’s sons said they
would try to create the rest of the world, creating
soil, plants and trees.
How Can We
Interpret This
Myth?
• Mbombo being lonely for millennia caused him
to become sick enough to vomit up the entire
world, showing that community is very
important to the Kuba people.
• Mbombo showed humans how to make fire,
which is an important tool in cooking food,
providing warmth, and keeping people alive.
Tibetan Creation Myth
• In the beginning, the world was covered completely by water
that slowly evaporated over time, and the Buddha’s avatar was
a monkey that wanted to convert the creatures living in the the
newly unflooded land of Tibet to Buddhism.
• A demon came and threatened that if he did not sleep with her,
she would conceive monsters that would destroy the world, so
the monkey married her and they conceived six monkeys.
• Three years later, the monkey learned agriculture to feed his
children, who eventually lost their hair and tails and used tools,
becoming the predecessors of the Tibetan people.
What Does
This Myth
Mean?
• The myth portrays the demon as unable to be
converted to Buddhism, implying that
Buddhism is synonymous with positivity, being
civilized, and natural.
• The monkeys slowly becoming more human as
time goes on and eventually becoming the
Tibetan people shows how much they value
spirituality, as the monkeys themselves were
the children of the avatar of Buddha.
Yakama Creation Myth
• In the beginning, the Great Chief Above lived alone, so he
created land out of the mud in the water and made mountains
out of high piles of mud.
• The Great Chief above created trees, roots, and berries, and
then created man out of a ball of mud and gave him dominion to
hunt over other animals.
• The Great Chief Above made a woman to be his companion,
and taught her how to make baskets, gather berries, and how to
cook the food that the man brought home.
What Does
This Myth
Tell Us?
• Since man was created from the same thing
that the mountains and land was created from,
it shows how close the connection between the
Yakama and the lands they inhabited were.
• The women were given the roles of making
baskets, gathering berries, and cooking the
food that the men brough home from cooking,
showing that they believed women and men
had specific societal expectations that they
needed to adhere to.
Aztec Creation Myth
• In the beginning, there was nothing but the void until the dual
god Ometecuhtli/Omecihuatl created themselves, and being
male and female, it was able to have children by themselves.
• The four children it had represented the four directions of north,
east, south, and west, and they created water, other gods, and
a monstrous sea creature.
• The four gods fought the sea monster, and pulled it in four
different directions, creating the universe.
What Does
This Myth
Symbolize?
• The Aztecs believed that their empire was at
the center of the entire universe, so the first
four gods representing the cardinal directions
gave political significance to their society.
• The four gods working together in order to
defeat the sea monster shows that they viewed
cooperation to achieve a greater goal as
important.
References
• https://skjalden.com/creation-of-the-world-in-norse-mythology/
• https://norse-mythology.org/tales/norse-creation-myth/
• https://journeytothewestresearch.com/tag/tibetan-creation-myth/
• https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/mbombo0010755
• https://yakama.weebly.com/tribal-stories.html
• http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-creation-story.html