Mayan and Egyptian Myth of Creation Comparison

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The creation myth is a philosophical, cosmogonist and theoretical explanation of the belief in creating a particular community. Mythology refers to what is apprehended as reality or imaginative expression in the narrative form of the experience. Creation is the beginning of things through emanation from the ultimate source or act (Jacob 132). The belief that creation occurred is a narrative of how the world began, explained by a specific community. The later doctrines of creation interpret these beliefs in light of community needs and subsequent history. For instance, all speculation and theology understanding of creation is based on the biblical story in genesis. Doctrines concerning creation are based on beliefs that embody all possibilities for thinking about this subject based on a specific community. Hence, the paper will compare the elementary ideas within the Egyptian and Mayan creation stories.

Like other creation stories, Egypt’s creation myth is intertwined and offers different versions of how the universe started. The early Egyptians understood that the gods at creating the world enhanced nature, basic principles of life and society. The myth is explained through the sacred hieroglyphic writings on temples, papyrus sheets, pyramids and tombs. These articles explain how the land was formed out of battles by Atum. The land was speculated as a sacred ground that mirrors the sky universe where the gods lived.

The First Gods

The book of how creation took place describes how Atum, the god of Heliopolis, formed the universe. In the beginning, the world appeared as an extensive mass filled with water. Nun is characterized as four pairs of female and male delites. Each team represented the personalized Nun’s four principles: darkness or lack of light, straying or lack of direction, invisibility or hiddenness and infinite water. The Atum god formed himself out of Nun by pronouncing his name or stating as through his efforts (Spencer 108). As the creator of humans and gods, he had the initiative to bring order to earth and the heavens.

The Creator God’s Offspring

Atum also formed two springs, the son Shu, a representation of dry air, and the daughter Tefnut, an indication of moist air. The two siblings were a symbol of universal principles of human existence: justice and life. The two offspring separated the waters from the sky and gave birth to Geb, who represented the dry mass and Nut, who defined the sky. Nut and Geb had four Nephthys, Isis, Osiris, and Seth offspring. The new generation completed the nine delites with Atum (Jacob 133). The sun god ruled over the earth where human and divine beings lived. Human beings were formed from the Eye of Re when he separated from the other gods and failed to go back. When Tefnut and Shu went to get him, he rebelled, and during the struggle, he shed tears that led to the formation of humans.

The Rebellion

When Re became old, the humans and delites plotted against him and tried to take advantage of his old age, leading to their fall from divine grace. He transformed into a powerful goddess Sekhmet (described as a lion), to fight his rivals in reaction to the rebellion. After punishing those against him, he transformed into a contended god Hathor (defined as a cow). Re retreated from the world in the pain of these issues, transforming into a cow; he climbed on Nut (sky), who uplifted him to the sky. Humans were separated from gods through this occurrence.

Mayans Creation Story

The Popul Vuh tells the creation myth of the Mayan residents who live in the present-day Yucatan peninsula. Like other creations narratives, the Mayan initializes that in the beginning, the earth was void as it consisted only of the sea and the sky. The god realized the goodness on earth and decided to create the universe. The planet’s formation was through dialogue among the gods and their form. Their creation still signified how crucial agriculture was to the people as they described the earth as sewn that would provide. Firstly, the plants and the mountains were formed; however, the lack of sound bothered the Gods, leading to animals’ creation. The animals would only bark and grunt; hence could not worship the gods; thus, they decided to form human beings.

The first experiment to create the human-made from the mud was disapproval as they would dissolve when exposed to water. The second trial was the use of wood as to create humans. The physical formation was intact, but they had issues as they could not speak or express emotions. A hurricane was sent floods to destroy the wooden person, which was resulted from the gods’ failure to create a sufficient human race. The myth claims that the monkeys were the only wooden people left as they resembled humans, whereas there mare manikin’s (Spencer 108). The third or the final experiment was expected to thrive; thus, the gods sent the fox, parrot, coyote, and a cow to locate a thriving location for the human formation. Once the animal had found a suitable environment, they brought back with them a grainy paste. The first being was molded out of this paste; they created a human from it indicated agriculture’s significance in Mayan society.

Four beings were evolved and identified as mothers-fathers as they represented both male and female components in a race. At first, the gods were satisfied with their creation until human knowledge rivaled that of gods. Through this, the gods dictated that the humans would not respect and worship the gods; thus, they clouded the human vision. The humans began to fill and multiply through the other; however, they still lived in darkness as the sun rose. Lack of light forced the people to migrate to the east and pray to the gods to give them sun. The people prayers enticed the gods; thus, they granted them their wish, and the sun started shining.

The Mayan myth of creation is similar to that of Egypt as it contains the same elements as that of Egypt. For instance, the earth was formless and void in both creation stories as the gods started to indulge in innovation when the land was empty (Spencer 107). Moreover, on both levels, some events led to the massive death of people. For instance, Re killed people in Egyptian myth after rebelling against him, and the floods in Malayans narrative destroyed the wooden people. However, Mayan mythology places an origin spin on how every element evolved.

On the contrary, Egyptian mythology discusses the events that took the initiative in the ancient days while Mayans emphasize people’s culture, such as the importance of maize in the Mayan diet. Thus, myths express the fundamental valuation of a religious community, creation, while creation expounds on how the earth was formed (Jacobs 311). The creation myths narratives specify humanity place in the universe and regard that humans must have other humans’ nature; they set the stylistic tone that determines actions and gestures in cultures. The celebration and recollection of the myths enable the community to participate and think of space and orientation that enhances their cultural life in a particular way.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Jessica.The Massachusetts Review, vol 62, no. 2, 2021, pp. 300-330. Project Muse, Web.

Spencer, Clayton. “Creation Myth, and: The Faith of Withered Seeds”. Appalachian Heritage, vol 48, no. 1, 2019, pp. 107-109. The University of North Carolina Press, Web.

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