Cross Cultural Overview on the Creation Myths,

8/2/2019 Cross Cultural Overview on the Creation Myths,

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Cross Cultural Overview on The

Creation Myths, Based on TheWalum Olum of The Delaware,

The Navaho Origin Legend andOther European Myths.

Presentation in American LiteraturePintilii Alina


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Creation myths are characteristic for

almost all ancient tribes, but they

didnt disappeared, on the contrary,

they still can be found in thepeculiarities of the values and mores

of each actual culture.


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It reveals the creation of the world in the Delaware

culture. It is based on three powerful beings. First was

the great Manito that made the land, the sky, the sun,the moon, the stars, the nature, the fish, the turtles, thebeasts and the birds. The evil Manito created monsters,

the flies and the gnats. Both of them were active andkindly and they fetched wives to first men and gave

them food. But there was another evil being, a mightymagician, that brought six troubles to the earth:

badness, quarreling, unhappiness, bad weather, sicknessand death.


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Short presentation of The

Navaho Origin LegendIt reveals in details the origin of the human itself.

The First Man and Womans appearance was

attended by four gods: White Body, Blue Body,Yellow Body and the Black one. Also, this rite wasaccomplished by the wind which has a great

creation power. In this rite, they used twobuckskins, two ears of corn (one was white, another

yellow) and two feathers of the same colours. Thewhite ear of corn changed into a man, the yellow

one into a woman and they were supposed to livetogether.


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Short presentation of the Finns myth

Ancient Finns believed the world was formed from an eggthat was broken. They assumed a bird was flying above the

sea, seeking a place to make a nest and lay her eggs. Shesearched everywhere, but found nothing but water. Then,she noticed the first dry place and because it was unstable

for a nest, a big wave came and broke the eggs. So, theupper part of the egg covers formed the sky, yolk became

the sun and the lower parts of egg formed the mother earth.They believed the first human was born from the maiden ofair that was made pregnant by the sea. This human ordered

forests to be planted, and in this way the human culture

started.


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Common features:

All of them are creation myths;

The act of separation;

The use of colours (less used in the WalumOlum, but abundantly used in the NavahoOrigin Legend white, blue, yellow, black andin Finns myth the same colours, except for

black); The use of wind;

The use of numbers (e.g. number four in TheNavaho Origin Legend).


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Distinctive features: The form of the text (e.g. the Delaware myth is attended

by pictographs);

The most important character in creation (the greatManito in the Walum Olum, the bird in the Ancient

Finns myth, the 4 gods and the wind in The NavahoOrigin Legend);

What was created (in the Walum Olum the entireworld was created, but in The Navaho Origin Legend only the first man and the first woman);

The impact of wind (directly in the Navaho myth andindirectly in the Delaware and Finns myths);

The things that are created (only good things in theNavaho Legend and in Finns myth, but good and

negative things in the Delaware myth).


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At the foundation of nearly every culture is a

creation myth that explains how the wondersof the earth came to be. The Walum Olum,

The Navaho Origin Legend and the Finns

myth discover the way all these tribes saw the

creation of the world, thus revealing thegeneral values, mores and norms that

dominate in each of these cultures.


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Cross Cultural Overview on the Creation Myths,

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Transcript of Cross Cultural Overview on the Creation Myths,