CREATION MYTHS

Introduction

The big bang is just one theory among many. Cultures across the world, from before the ancient Babylonians to modern times, have theories about how the universe, and life within it, began. These myths have helped people understand the big questions of life for thousands of years.

America

According to the native American Madoc tribe, the old man of the ancients, whose name was Kumush, created the world. Kumush journeyed to the end of the Earth and returned with a daughter. He made her ten dresses, the tenth of which was her burial dress and the most beautiful. When she died, kumush followed her to the house of death, where they stayed for many years. Eventually he returned to the sunlight a basketful of bones, which he planted. These became the first tribes, and kumush became the sun.




Egypt

According to ancient Egyptian mythology, the fundamentals of life- air and moisture came from the spittle of Re, the sun god. From the union of Shu and Tefnut came Geb, the Earth god, and Nut, the sky goddess. The first human beings were born from Re's tears.

China

In the beginning of time, according to Chinese mythology, everything was chaos, and the chaos was in the form of a chicken's egg. The two opposing forces of Yin and Yang lived inside this egg, constantly fighting, until one day their violence split the egg in two. Heavy elements inside the egg became the Earth, and lighter elements became the sky. In between was the first being, P'an-ku. Humans were born from P'an-ku's fleas!

Australia

According to the mythology of Australian Aborginals, the Earth started life as a bare plain, with the sun, the moon, the stars and the Eternal Ancestors sleeping beneath the Earth. The Eternal Ancestors rose from their slumber and roamed the Earth in different forms, sometimes as animals and sometimes as plants. Two self created beings, the Ungabikula, found many unfinished people made from pieces of plant and rock. Using their knives, they finished carving the people,and humankind was born.

Serbia

Serbian mythology has it that the universe was born when god, who had always slept awoke. As he looked around himself, stars and planets formed wherever his eyes fell. God explored the celestial bodies that he had created until he was exhausted and drenched in sweat. When he arrived on Earth, a drop of sweat fell onto the soil and created the first human.