Cross Cultural Overview on The Creation Myths, Based on The Walum Olum of The Delaware, The Navaho Origin

Legend and Other European Myths.

Presentation in American Literature Pintilii Alina

   



Creation myths are characteristic for almost all ancient tribes, but they didnt disappeared, on the contrary, they still can be found in the peculiarities of the values and mores of each actual culture.

 

       

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, the beasts and the birds. The evil Manito created monsters, the flies and the gnats. Both of them were active and kindly and they fetched wives to first men and gave them food. But there was another evil being, a mighty magician, that brought six troubles to the earth: badness, quarreling, unhappiness, bad weather, sickness and death.

Short presentation of The Navaho Origin Legend

It 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 was accomplished by the wind which has a great creation power. In this rite, they used two buckskins, two ears of corn (one was white, another yellow) and two feathers of the same colours. The white ear of corn changed into a man, the yellow one into a woman and they were supposed to live together.

Short presentation of the Finns myth

Ancient Finns believed the world was formed from an egg that was broken. They assumed a bird was flying above the sea, seeking a place to make a nest and lay her eggs. She searched 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, the upper 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 of air that was made pregnant by the sea. This human ordered forests to be planted, and in this way the human culture started.

Common features:
All of them are creation myths; The act of separation; The use of colours (less used in the Walum Olum, but abundantly used in the Navaho Origin Legend white, blue, yellow, black and in Finns myth the same colours, except for black); The use of wind; The use of numbers (e.g. number four in The Navaho Origin Legend).

Distinctive features:
The form of the text (e.g. the Delaware myth is attended by pictographs); The most important character in creation (the great Manito in the Walum Olum, the bird in the Ancient Finns myth, the 4 gods and the wind in The Navaho Origin Legend); What was created (in the Walum Olum the entire world 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 and indirectly in the Delaware and Finns myths); The things that are created (only good things in the Navaho Legend and in Finns myth, but good and negative things in the Delaware myth).

  
At the foundation of nearly every culture is a creation myth that explains how the wonders of 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 the general values, mores and norms that dominate in each of these cultures.