Here is my chance to write about a very deep subject, creation stories. There are many different ones. Many different tribes of people have stories about their creation which date back to their beginning and this could be thousands of years ago. The Australian Aboriginals believe in the beginning there was only darkness and bare land. Their beliefs are interesting, because they are said to be the oldest known surviving culture on earth. They believe there was a Dreaming Era for spirit beings before us and these beings created us. They also believe in the beginning there was no form to the land, but heroes who may have been gods gave it form and created sacred sites across the earth. They believe the creator was named Wandjina and this creator brought all life to earth.

According to some Native American stories there were only Tepeu and Gucumatz in the beginning. Gucumatz was a feathered serpent also named Quetzalcoatl. They would sit together and whatever they thought about would come into being. They thought about there being a sky and it was. They thought about trees and animals and each became real. Finally they decided to form more advanced beings out of clay, but there was a problem, when it rained they fell apart so Tepeu and Gucumatz decided to made these advanced beings out of wood, but this was unsatisfactory and caused problems. The gods sent a great flood to wipe out these wooden beings so they could start over. With the help of the Mountain Lion, Coyote, Parrot and Crow new beings were created. The people who were created were the Quich who are the first Maya people.

The Inuit people believe there was a trickster who took the form of a raven and created the world. The waters were said to have forced the land up from the deep and when this happened the raven stabbed it with his beak and set the land into place. They believe the first piece of land was only large enough for one house. A single family occupied this house. There was a man, his wife and their son the raven. The man had a bladder hanging over his bed and the raven pleaded with the man to let him play with it and the man finally gave in. While playing with the bladder the raven damaged it and light appeared. The father took the bladder from his son, because he didn’t want light to always be shinning and was afraid the bladder would be further damaged and this would happen. This struggle represents the origin of day and night.

Ancient Hawaiians believed the dark was the place of creation. They believe the world was created over many cosmic nights. The priests of the ancient Hawaiian religion would recite the Kumulipo (a chant telling about the creation) during the makahiki (the ancient Hawaiian New Year Festival) season. The chant honored the creation god Lono. Interesting the chant has a total of 2102 lines which is a lot to remember. There are sixteen sections. The first seven sections deal with the darkness and the age of the spirit. It is not clear if the earth existed yet when these events took place, but the events did not take place in the physical universe. They speak of the time when the earth became hot, the heavens turned about, when the sun darkened and the moon began to shine. The second part contains nine sections and signals the arrival of light and the gods. The sections are known as wa and one of the most important to the Hawaiian people is the 12 wa, because it honors the lineage of Wakea whose son is Haloa the ancestor of all people.

The Hindu creation story states before time began there was no heaven, earth and nothing in between. There was a vast dark ocean which would wash up on the shores of nothingness and touched the edges of the night. A giant Cobra floated on these waters and asleep in its coils was the Lord Vishnu. He watched over the serpent. Lord Vishnu was able to sleep, because everything was quiet but then a humming sound began to be heard, it was Ohm. It grew and spread filling the emptiness and it throbbed with energy. Lord Vishnu woke up and as dawn broke a beautiful lotus flower began to grow from Lord Vishnu’s navel. In the middle of the flower Brahma the servant of Lord Vishnu waited for Lord Vishnu to command him. He was told to create the world and he did. After he created the world he created everything on it.

The ancient Sumerians had their own creation story. It was found on a tablet and dated to about 1,600 B.C. The tablet states the gods An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursanga create black-headed people along with animals. There is a missing section of the tablet, but after that the next section states the gods decided not to save mankind from the impending floor which is about to cover the earth. The god of the waters warns Atra-hasis about the flood and gives him instructions for the construction of an ark. The tablet then talks about the flood and tells of a terrible storm which tosses the large boat around for seven days and seven nights. Utu (the sun god) appears and Zi-us-sura creates an opening in the boat, prostrates himself and sacrifices animals. There is a break in the text but it resumes when the flood is over and states the animals disembark and Zi-us-sura then prostrates himself before An who is the sky god and Enlil the chief god who then give him eternal life and they take him to live in Dilmun as a reward for preserving the animals. The rest of the text is lost.

Our creation is one of the things humans have been struggling to understand ever since they appeared on earth. Some of us base it on religion while others call it evolution, but evolution leaves so many unanswered questions it is quietly being questioned by quite a few scientists today. Religion is based on faith and asks us to accept the fact we were created by God. It is interesting to note the ancient Babylonians had a flood story which seems to predate the one in the bible. I find part of the Hawaiian story to be fascinating. It has to do with the line “They speak of the time when the earth became hot, the heavens turned about, when the sun darkened and the moon began to shine.” This line almost sounds like scientific theory.