The Creation - A
Tiahuanaco/Aymara
Myth (Bolivia)
Alisa Granada, Annika Nosal, Eleni
Kent, Sevan Dulgarian, Katie Luczai
Basic Details of Story
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Lord Con Ticci Viracocha created Earth and
the heavens, as well as the first people.
When they displeased him, he flooded the
Earth and started over again.
First, he created nature and animals.
Then he created humans out of stone and
divided them into groups and communities
with the help of his companions.
Taught them how to live on the land.
Humans' relationship to the gods:
-Lord Con Ticci Viracocha originally created a "race of
gigantic human beings who lived upon the earth in the
darkness of eternal night", yet was angered by the
behavior of the race and turned them to stone and
created a great flood to wipe out everything.
- He organized the new humans into groups with their own
allotted languages, types of food, etc.
-Viracocha became a teacher to humans, but when a
group attacked him, he taught them a lesson.
-After his work was done, he and his followers walked
across the ocean and withdrew from mankind.
The origin and nature of control and
power.
Lord Con Ticci Viracocha set the moon and sun on their
paths, and used punishment to hold control over the
humans:
"Punished first human beings by turning them into
stone...created a great flood"
"One group of people emerged armed with rocks... and
attacked [Viracocha]. He "punished them by causing
fire to fall from the heavens"
"These people constructed a great stone figure of
Viracocha. They established a place of worship...Their
descendants continue to present offerings of gold and
silver"
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The nature of the world and how it works.
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Viracocha created people in all
phases of life; divided all of the
humans into communities with
their own distinct ways of life
Taught people how to live on
the land and treat each other
with kindness and respect
Showing his power and control,
Viracocha punished those whose
disturbed the peace in the world
teaching them to obey him
The two sexes' relationship to one
another.
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Creation of woman first.
Marriage is not mentioned, but rather,
Viracocha created pregnant women and
women "in the process of caring for young
children."
Importance of women and children in
Bolivian culture
Men are present, but less emphasized
Elements of Culture in the story
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Viracocha is both a creator and a civilizer,
shaping order out of chaos and teaching his
humans to respect their god.
Community is also emphasized by the way
in which humanity is divided into groups.
Humans are seen as the creation into which
Viracocha put the most effort, having
already tried and failed once, and waiting
until he was finished with all other life to
make them.
Connections to Art and Music
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When Viracocha first created
the different groups of
humans, he gifted to them
certain aspects of their
cultures, including "the songs
[each group] would sing."
Later, when Viracocha awed
the people living at
Tiahuanaco with his power,
they made a great stone statue
of their creator and
established a place of worship
upon the site.
Something to discuss:
Although Viracocha is portrayed as a powerful prince
and creator-god, he is not perfect. Instead,
through the course of the legend, it is evident that
he has learned and changed in light of his
experiences.
-In what kind of culture would it be more important
to have an all-powerful, all-knowing, and allperfect god? What kind of culture would prefer a
creator with human-like flaws, one that learns
from mistakes?