Comparing Pima And Megan Wren's Mayan Creation Myth

Like snowflakes, no single creation myth is identical to another, “The Story of the Creation”, which highlights on the creation of the Akimel O’odham, more commonly known as the Pima, and Megan Wren’s “Mayan Creation Myth” are no exception; however, there are many similarities. Most creation myths, such as the “Mayan Creation Myth” and “The Story of Creation” follow the basic path that the majority of creation myths do, starting with the emptiness in the beginning, a void to be filled by a God-like figure, who would soon create vegetation, animals, and humans who he would then destroy and start anew: however, some do not, such as the “Creation of the World” and “How the World Was Made.” With most creation myths, there is a void, or an emptiness

1) in the beginning. An unlikely pair, Wisaka and Muskrat, who lives in the beginning, work together to create Earth. Even though a majority of creation myths depict a void in the beginning, some do not, such as “How the World Was Made”, an interesting creation myth from none other than the Cherokee. In the creation myth “How the World Was Made” the Cherokee do not include a time before the Earth was created. Instead, the Cherokee begin by describing Earth as “a great island floating in a sea of water…suspended at each of the four cardinal points by a cord hanging down from the sky vault, which is of solid rock” (Cherokee para. 1). Another large difference between “How the World Was Made”, and most other creation myths is the lack of a higher power. No one can recall a time where there was a higher power in the Cherokee myth. The presence of these higher powers is something that makes a majority of creation myths extremely

Staying on path, Wisaka brings vegetation into his blooming world. In “The Creation of the World” once the landscape was made and solidified my Muskrat and his friends, Wisaka planted a tree. After Wisaka planted the tree he continued to add to his island. He added more vegetation and instructed the animals to dig out channels for the water to flow through. Just like nearly every other aspect of the myth, “How the World Was Made” continues to defy the pattern of creation. No one remembers who created the plants; however, there is a rather unique explanation for why trees lose their leaves in the winter. In the myth it is said that certain trees lose their hair in the winter because they were unable to stay awake for seven days and seven nights. Just like a food chain, wildlife comes after vegetation. Unsatisfied by the silence that the vegetation did not change, Hurricane and Serpent create “animals to live in the forest” (Wren 1). These animals satisfy the silence; however, they still do not please Hurricane and Serpent because the animals are unable to worship them. Juhwertamahkai on the other hand creates ants. Juhwertamahkai creates ants to live on the greasebush that he first created, but these ants do not perform as he hoped, so he creates new and improved ants to increase the mass of the Earth. Once the ants made the Earth large