Creation Myth Motifs

Creation Myth Motifs

Ever catch yourself wondering how so many creation myths have very similar ideas yet they are on the complete opposite side of the world? For instance, how does Nigeria (Yoruba creation myth) and Jerusalem (Genesis creation myth) both involve the creator flooding the world to get rid of their creation, the human. In relation to creation myths, there are these three main motifs: the idea that humans are made of organic materials, the idea of creator giving humans the breath of life, and the idea of starting with chaos.

Humans Made from Organic Materials It is somewhat obvious that the creator would have used organic materials just laying around not in use. Several different creation myths used this motif. These

This took them five attempts to get correct. In Genesis, God used dust to create man. After this he then takes one of the man's ribs and makes a woman out of it. These attempts were both perfect. In the Norse creation myth Odin creates the first man and woman from two fallen trees. Man was made from an elm tree. Woman was made from an ash tree. These first humans populated the world of Midgard.

In the Inuit creation myth man sprouted after five days from a pea-pod plant without Raven, the Inuit creator god, even knowing. Raven then scattered around the earth to find and create food for man. After some time, Raven creates woman from clay. In the Chinese creation myth Nuwa created humans, so she could have someone to talk to. The first humans were handmade from clay. Later on Nuwa found a technique that quickened the pace of populating the world, she flung the clay off of a stick and as the figures dried they popped up just like the

I think that these myths imitate birth by breathing into their creations. Here are four creation myths that use the breath of life: Inuit, Elder Eddas, Babylon, and Yoruba.

In the Inuit creation myth man was first and he came from the pea-pod plant. Woman came after. Raven sculpted woman from clay in a far corner of the earth, so that man could not see. Once Raven finished the clay figure he flapped his wings representing the breath of life. In the Norse creation myth Odin goes for a walk and comes across two fallen trees. An elm tree and an ash tree. He lifted them up from the mud and formed the first man and woman from the two trees. He then breathed life into them. He named the man Ask and the woman Embla. These two populated all of the human race. In Babylonian creation myth, Marduk battles with the one of the creators of the earth, Tiamat. After this bloody battle Marduk uses Tiamat’s corpse as the sky. Sometime later Marduk needed a creature that could endure hard work and serve the gods. He found some of the remaining monster bones from the previous battle and formed flesh around them. Marduk breaths life into the creatures. Leaving the humans on earth to have eternal labor while the gods resided in the