Creation myths and origin stories are often symbolic narratives about how the world was created and how the first human beings,plants, animals and other living things came to inhabit the earth and the heaven. These stories are often passed on through oral traditions and have different versions. Some form the basis of religions such as the seven day creation story in the judeo-christian faith, some like the Japanese creation story give basis and legitimacy to the ruling family (the japanese emperors are believed to be direct descendants of the sun god) and others remain as they are. Although they are called myths and stories many cultures see it as the genuine way their world was created. The creation stories are not just accounts of how the world came into being but also offer spiritual and profound truths about life. More often than not, there is a parable hidden in the creation stories that give lessons to mortals on how to lead their lives. Almost all of the creation stories have a common beginning, i.e in the beginning there is either nothingness or chaos out of which the universe is born. They also have events that defy scientific explanations.Most usually have a story that has many sub plots. This could possibly have been a result of the story being passed on orally through generations with each generation adding to it. Creation stories are also a reflection of a specific culture and their worldview. It gives them their self identity and helps them place themselves as a group and as an individual in the world. Although creation stories from around the world have a lot in common,they also have their culture specific differences. For instance the judeo-christian creation myth has God creating the universe and the earth in six days and resting on the seventh. The Greek creation story has a completely different version of how the world was created. A comparative study of both the creation stories enable the reader to understand the commonalities in both the cultures and their respective worldviews as well as the different ways through which they saw the world around them and made sense of it.
In the greek creation story, there was just darkness in the beginning except for the black winged bird Nyx. Nyx gives birth to Eros with the wind. One half of the egg shell that Eros comes out of becomes the sky while the other becomes the earth, named uranus and Gaia respectively. Eros makes them fall in love and they in turn populate the heaven. Although heaven is now full, the earth is relatively empty of humans and animals. Zeus,the son of Cronus and Rhea sends two of his sons, prometheus and epimetheus to the earth to make humans and animals. Prometheus angers Zeus by giving fire to humans for which he is punished by being chained to the mountains. Still angry with the humans, Zeus sends Pandora to Epimetheus with a box that is filled with all the evils but with a condition never to open it. However she opens it out of curiosity and out comes all the evils to plague the world. The last one to come out is hope that gives hope to men to survive and go on (Greek Creation Myth, n.d). Unlike greek mythology with their many Gods and Goddesses, the judeo-christian creation story has just one God who creates everything out of nothingness. He creates light and day, earth and the sky, sun, moon and the stars. Plants and animals are created. He saves man for the end who he creates in his own likeness. Knowing man is lonely he also creates a woman out of the man’s rib. They then live happily in the Garden of Eden he had created for them (Hebrew/Christian creation myth, n.d).
Both these creation myths are similar in the fact that everything was created out of nothingness. They also have a female character in their creation stories who happens to be the cause of evil. In the Greek mythology it is pandora who cannot contain her curiosity and opens the box of evils into the world. In the Bible, it is Eve who gets tempted by the serpent and eats the apple and gives it to Adam. Zeus sends the box to the world because he is angry with the humans and God punishes Adam and Eve because they disobeyed him. In both these stories Gods or God is the supremebeing and humans are beneath them. They are omnipotent and the rule makers. They are happy as long as everything goes according to their plan and get angry when the humans disobey them. While Zeus sends hope so the humans will have some reason to live and look forward to another day, God in the Judeo-christian story shows them how sacrifices would please God whenever the humans have erred. And around the time of Noah he sends a rainbow which is a symbol of hope. It could be argued that these two creation stories are quite sexist as it is the women who are the cause for all of the world’s miseries. The God is always a man. Even though the Gods are decidedly different from the humans they also show human emotions such as anger and sadness. It is a combination of these emotions that makes them punish humans as well as save them in their time of need.
The Greek creation story created a polytheistic religion which led to the belief in many Gods and Goddesses. Each God was assigned a specific realm or role and humans prayed to them when in distress. On the other hand, Christianity and Judaism has always been monotheistic with their belief in one God. In the biblical tradition man and God shared a friendly relationship. It says that God spoke to Adam everyday and it was only when he disobeyed him that he lost his ability to see him and speak to him directly. He was ashamed. On the other hand, the Greek gods were always different from the humans. Except for Prometheus who became friendly with humans and stole fire for them, the Gods chose to make heaven their abode. The Greek creation story also does not follow a pattern unlike the christian creation story.
Both these creation stories were a product of the people and their times. The people who lived centuries ago had a difficult life and were constantly ravaged by the forces of nature and had to fight constantly in order to survive. It was the fear of the unknown that led to their belief in God and the assignment of different Gods to the different elements of nature. By the time these creation stories came into existence man had also ended his nomadic hunter gatherer existence and settled down to a farming life. This changed the power equation between the men and the women. Women no longer played an important role in gathering the resources for the house or in protecting them. They were relegated to the house. This perhaps reflects in the creation stories where men are shown as the all powerful Gods and women are usually the cause for trouble. Since men constantly fell out of favor with their Gods, they tended to sacrifice in order to please them. Thus these creation stories also offer a life lesson. Human beings are not forever condemned because of their discretions but that there is always a hope for redemption. These creation stories also ensure that there is a higher being that is above all human and earthly life and that human beings have to follow a certain code in order to reach heaven. It is a result of the respective societies and cultures to bring in a certain sense of order to the chaotic life of the human beings at that time. It also enabled certain men to rule over the others. Those who found favor with Gods or who could commune with the Gods became the leaders- spiritual and political. The rulers either descended from the Gods or were from families that served God in the beginning.
Creation stories often cater to the fear of the unknown and the need for an order in the lives of human beings. When they become an established religion, religious texts replace the oral tradition and certain codes are formed for the people to follow. These are a result of the society and culture of the people. Although most creation myths have a common element of miracle births, creation of the universe and fear of the unknown, they also have differences owing to their specific cultures and time periods. They appeal to the emotions of the people, their primal fears, their reasoning. Legitimacy is created through the incomprehensibility of the creation stories.
Works Cited
“ Hebrew/Christian Creation Myth.” dept.cs.williams.edu. N.d Web. 3 Apr 2016.
“ Greek Creation Myth.” dept.cs.williams.edu. N.d Web. 3 Apr 2016.
