World Creation Myth Summary

World Creation Myth

Directions: Step 1: Choose a world myth from the link below.

You may choose any of the myths except myth #4.

http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CS/CSIndex.html

Step 2:

In the box below, write a brief summary for the creation myth you choose.

Creation Myth Title: Creation by and of the Self

Land or People: India

Summary: “This story is from the the second and fourth Brahmanas of the Brhad-arayaka Upanishad, which was written in India in the 700s or 600s B.C. The principal actor in this story can be taken to be Praja-pati, the Lord of Creation, or Brahma the Creator. Like the original, however, this story uses "he" as its subject, because "he" may taken more metaphorically as any sentient being who creates by his

“In the years that followed the girl and the grizzly bear had many children.”

One creator created the earth: The women used dirt lodged in her fingernails and sand from the bottom of the sea as the first soil to be part of earth (40). “Before there were people, [there was] the Chief of the Sky Spirits... [who] broke of an end of his giant stick and the small pieces became fish.” “In the beginning there was absolutely nothing, and what existed was covered by death and hunger. He thought, ‘Lem me have a self’, and he created the mind. As he moved about in worship, water was generated. Froth formed on the water and the froth eventually solidified to become earth.”

The Gods created the elements: “He thought, ‘Let me have a self’, and he created the mind... After resting, he divided himself in three parts, and one is fire, one is sun, and one is in the air.”

The elements and humans were created by the same being: “He divided himself in three parts, and one is fire, one is the sun, and one is the air... then took the shape of a person... he grew as large as two persons embraces, and he caused himself to split into two matching

The Sky-Spirit broke his staff into pieces creating living beings (40).

One being created everything: The animals helped the grandmother build the earth on the turtle’s back (40). The Sky-Spirit broke his staff into pieces creating living beings. “He had all this... he had created immortal gods.”

The first being (not a god) created everything from humans to animals and even immoral gods: “He had created all this... he had created immortal gods.”

Social Customs

Giving birth was solely dependent on the woman: “The woman became hungry for all kinds of strange delicacies, as women do when they are with child” (38).

The woman was needed to give birth: “The woman became hungry for all kinds of strange delicacies, as women do when they are with child” (38). “Two matching parts, like two halves of a split, pea and from them arose husband and wife. They mated, and from their union arose the human beings of the earth.”

Giving birth was just as dependent on the man as it was for the woman: “Two matching parts, like two halves of a split, pea and from them arose husband and wife. They mated, and from their union arose the human beings of the