Mayan Creation Story
How is existence created?
• There was sky and there was sea. Then
the hurricane God decided to create land
and trees. Then he created animals and
then he realized they did not praise him so
he decided he would make man to humble
the animals, and man would be above
them.
How are people created?
•
The hurricane God first tried to create man from clay,
but man was weak and could not praise him or speak at
all so he let rain come and wash them away. The he was
told by another God to create man from wood and he did
so, but then he soon realized that they were still and
would not praise him either. They praised themselves
and this angered the hurricane God so he created a
great flood which drowned all the people and the animals
all fled to a cave to escape where they were then eaten
by wolves. Then the hurricane God started over again
and this time created man from maize (corn) and rain
water.
Identify and explain the principle
forces (gods?) involved in creation
• The main force in the creation story is the
hurricane God.
. How does the creation myth
account for good and evil?
• It does not necessarily state good and evil in the
beginning of this version of creation, but in
another chapter of their book called the Popol
Vuh (the bible basically) there was a story about
their “Life Tree”. The life tree has 6 features
about it, there is the heaven (which are the
branches and the top of the tree) then there are
the roots (the dark evil underworld) and then
there was North, South, West, and East. Those
are the examples of good and evil in one
chapter of their Popol Vuh.
What are some of the important symbols and
metaphors from the story?
• The life tree is obviously a symbol for
good (above) and evil (below). Also The
fact that the people were made from rain
and corn is a huge deal because that was
their main source of food, and they
worshiped the corn and rain every month.
What are some possible implications about people
embedded in this story
• Some implications about people might
have been that if you do not praise Gods
or are useless, you are done away with.
How does this creation myth compare and
contrast to Biblical and Greek/Roman
mythological explanations of the world?
• There was a flood in both stories, and there was
also the creation of people after animals. Also
they both have a bible of some sort that tells the
stories. Another similarity is that there was only
sky and sea first and then when the God spoke it
was so. Some differences would be that there
are more Gods then just one, and people were
made from maize and rain instead of God him
self. Also there were 3 attempts to make people
and only on the third time did it work correctly.
Citation
• http://www.criscenzo.com/jaguarsun/popol
vuh.html