Popol Vuh And The Creation Story

In the beginning there was nothing. The world at first was an endless space and the earth was unfinished. This is how many creation stories begin. The creation of the world is something many try to decipher. People create myths and legends about the first days of the vast universe and anything that pertains it. It is fascinating how the human mind can come up with many ideas of the birth of the world. In the story of The World on a Turtle’s Back there is mention that in the beginning there was no world, or land; but there was a great ocean and above it a great void of air. That void of air was the Sky World where the story commences. Then there is The Four Creations and The Tohono O'odham Creation Story. All three of these have their similarities and the differences on how the world was built. Each of these stories have a representation of a creator and the way humankind was born.

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.”

When we ask people about their thoughts on how the world was created, the first idea that comes to mind is the story of Genesis. Most people generally assume that there is only one account of creation, the account that portrays God as the sole creator since in the Genesis account he creates heaven, earth, man/woman, and other living things. However, Genesis is not the only face of creation because religious texts from different cultures tell us otherwise. In ancient near east religions, there are two creation myths that give their own different accounts. While some details of the Genesis account are similar to the Enuma Elish of Babylon and the Memphite Theology of Egypt, each account individually brings their own nationalistic pride and personal touch. Each culture establishes their own story of creation, as well as their own portrayal of who is “the supreme creator”.

Jacob Lawrence is an African-American artist born September 7th, 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When Lawrence was 7 he and his family moved from Atlantic City to Harlem, where he experienced the Harlem Renaissance and the Depression. In 1935 Lawrence studied at the Harlem Art Workshop under Charles Alston, where he started creating art with crayons and markers. Alton said that Lawrence was basically teaching himself and all he needed was someone to show him certain techniques and give him encouragement. In 1937 Lawrence received a two-year scholarship to the American Artists School in New York. While in attendance of the American Artists School, Lawrence began to lock down his style, which resembles block printing. Although Jacob Lawrence has created a lot of noteworthy work, his series The Migration of the Negro” is what got Lawrence to be the first

One of the most prominent similarities between Hesiod’s creation and Christianity’s creation story is that they both claim the universe came out of chaos and darkness. Hesiod says that Chaos or rather a void came into being. The meaning of Chaos comes from the verb Cha’ein which means “to lie open”. It is interpreted as meaning openness, emptiness, and space. (Farrow 174) The Bible also claims something very similar “In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate.” (Genesis 1:1) The bible also describes the earth as being uninhabited, and a deep void. Much like the story of the Theogony it was in need of divine purpose to fill it. (Guenther 1977) Both are claiming that creation came from disarray. In

Hesiod’s account of creation, as outlined in the Theogony offers one of the most detailed and accepted theories of creation in the Greek culture. On the other hand, the Biblical account of creation, regarded as a Hebrew culture creation account, is to date one of the most widely acknowledged and accepted versions across various cultures seeking explanations for the origin of life and the earth. However, even though these creation accounts originate from two different cultures, they share some thought-provoking parallels in terms of their content and intentions, as well as some contrasts that make each of the creation accounts unique.

The Popol Vuh is the ancient story of the creation of the Quiche Maya, who were located in modern day Guatemala. It is estimated that the Popol Vuh was written between 1554-1558 CE. The “ Popol Vuh Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya People” was translated by Allen J. Christenson and his translation gave a much clearer interpretation of the story that helps identify how both myth and reality connect. The first and only preserved copy was transcribed in Spanish by a friar named Francisco Ximenez who was serving as the Parish Priest at the time. The Original piece was written in the same form as a poem and was made into books onces it was translated by the priest. The poetry seemed to be a traditional way of telling stories in this civilization. The

For example in the the Iroquois Creation story it states “ the turtle increased every moment and became a considerable island of earth, and apparently covered with small bushes”(David Cusick). In this section of writing it states that the earth was formed on the back of a large turtles shell. In the Bible in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 it states “ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. In this part of writing it states that God had created the heavens and the earth.

“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” Following up the debates about God is the Genesis debate. The Genesis debate could be one of the most controversial of all. It discusses how old the earth is and whether a day means a literal 24-hour day or not. The two largest views are the Young Earth View and the Day-Age View. The bible suggests that the earth is a Young Earth and that it was created in literal 24-hours days. But some people believe that the earth was slowly created over thousands of years. If the bible indicates that it is a young earth, humanity doesn’t have the option to believe that it is old. God is the Word, therefore what is read in the bible should be true, with some exceptions when something is not supposed to be taken

similar events. So it is very likely that there was an original story or event

Floating about in all types of literature, there are many legends as to how the earth was created; these legends are known as creation myths. A creation myth offers answers to questions that ask how the earth was created, and explains the social customs of today as well as the workings of the natural world by telling an elaborate story. The Cherokee Indians have spread their beliefs on this topic throughout generations through oral tradition. Recent authors have taken these myths to paper to preserve history and to spread them even further around the world. “How the World Was Made” is a creation myth that not only offers an abundance of information regarding the origin of earth, but also supports the social traditions of today’s society and attempts to explain the intangible, natural workings of the world.

Creation is something people have different opinions about worldwide, this is a topic that has many different theories. There have been many different ideas that people have thought of in order to try to get people to think that it wasn’t God who created the earth. Almost always the new story got its ideas, based off the story of God’s creation of earth. Some of these crazy theories even try to show that humans were originally monkeys, before they were humans.

One is called the Iroquois story of creation, which is about the woman that fell from the sky. Then we have the Genesis Creation story which is about how god created the earth.

The story of Popol Vuh and the book of Genesis are almost the same. These stories have so much in common you would think they were written by the same person. They also have their differences that help tell them apart. The similarities and differences suggest some things about myths around the world.

In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting the creation myths of Brahma, the Hindu Creator God, and The Ennead of Heliopolis of Ancient Egypt. I will be highlighting the following; how, according to these cultures, did the world begin, how did humans originate, are there any thematic similarities between the creation myths of these two cultures, what are the most striking differences and do they have any beliefs about how the world will end, or do they believe in some kind of cyclical renewal of creation.