The creation myth is a story that explains the beginnings of earth, humanity, life, and the universe. These stories that describe creation are prominent in different cultures of the world. Creation myths are important since they answer questions about the origin of mankind and the universe. This essay will focus on a creation myth of the Native Americans which explains how the world was created and how mankind came into existence. The creation myth story like any other creation story shows how nature and the world were formed. Myth creation stories have been told since the beginning of time, passed down from generation to generation.
The myth begins with mass chaos and darkness covering all of Earth. The earth was everything watery chaos. It was dark and without light, so there were no days. The water stirred up storms that often caused floods. The living creatures could only see the sky above them, but because of the darkness, they did not know day from night. The creation story shows that humans do not have control over nature, but are subject to its force. The myth of creation describes the significance and power of water in their daily lives, which is a theme throughout other stories as well. In this story creatures attempted to imitate nature, showing that nature has always been the creature’s primary interest.
It was not until two beings emerged from the darkness did the world begin to take its form. They were Galunlati, who represented sky and earth, and Atagahi, who represented water along with being the father of all aquatic life. Because there was no land or any solid substance, these two created mud hills for landmasses to be on top of the water which became land. According to the creation myth story, the world was covered by a great ocean. Therefore, the earth according to this myth story was a great island floating in a sea of water. In the water, there was an island with a little old woman, who lived in a house made of accumulated sand and dirt. Human beings were not mentioned in this story at first; only the great spirits that existed in the world.
Earth came into existence as a journey of accomplishment. Greatly satisfied by what they had created, Galunlati and Atagahi eventually went out on a journey of observation to see what else they could accomplish. This is when Galunlati saw Atagahi’s daughter underwater. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, so he decided that he wanted to marry her. After being questioned about his decision, it was apparent that Atagahi approved but only if Galunlati could catch her with his fish hook. A battle ensued between the man and water creatures for this promise, which is why some creatures today still have an affinity toward one or the other. Finally, after catching her in his net, she relented and agreed to be with him.
Conclusion
The creation myth story tells about the existence of nature and the existence of creatures. According to the myth story, earth resulted from the human desire to accomplish. Some myth creation stories are more intriguing than others. For example, this creation myth is a very interesting and complex mythology compared to other cultures. By nature of being mythological stories or legends passed down through generations by word-of-mouth, they are not historically accurate by any means. They represent only one version of events as told through the filter of time and culture among many different accounts which can be found if one were to search for them. Nonetheless, these types of stories likely do derive from actual events in human history at some point in time or even if distorted over the years.
