Creation myth
A creation myth is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, cultures regard their creation myths as true to varying degrees. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truths, metaphorically, symbolically and sometimes in a historical or literal sense. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical myths—that is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness.
Creation myths often share a number of features. They often are considered sacred accounts and can be found in nearly all known religious traditions. They are all stories with a plot and characters who are either deities, human-like figures, or animals, who often speak and transform easily. They are often set in a dim and nonspecific past, what historian of religion Mircea Eliade termed in illo tempore ("at that time"). Creation myths address questions deeply meaningful to the society that shares them, revealing their central worldview and the framework for the self-identity of the culture and individual in a universal context.
Creation myths develop in oral traditions and therefore typically have multiple versions and are the most common form of myth, found throughout human culture.
(Wikipedia)
The Creation of Adam
The Creation of Adam
Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
Reference: en.wikipedia.org The Creation of Adam
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Animated picture of Chinese world conception
Animated picture of Chinese world conception
In Daoist creation myth, "The Way gave birth to unity; unity gave birth to duality; duality gave birth to trinity; trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures." (Daodejing, 4th century BCE)
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Australian Aboriginal art rock painting of the Creation Ancestors
#2: Australian Aboriginal art rock painting of the Creation Ancestors
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Pangu: Chinese creation myth
#4: Pangu: Chinese creation myth
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
Reference: Pangu
Sky goddess Nut
#5: Sky goddess Nut gives birth to the sundisk through her mouth
Image source: photobucket.com
Roman Mosaic depicting Mithras
#6: Roman Mosaic depicting Mithras
Image source: www.flickr.com
Reference: Mithraic Mysteries
Creation myth of the Bunun tribe of Taiwan
#8: Creation myth of the Bunun tribe of Taiwan
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Creation Story Totem
#9: Creation Story Totem, North Quinault Road, Olympic Peninsula, Washington
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Creation myth, Papua New Guinean sculpture
#10: Creation myth, Papua New Guinean sculpture, carved at Stanford.
Image source: www.flickr.com
Statue of Coatlicue
#11: Statue of Coatlicue displayed in National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
Reference: Coatlicue
Aztec mythology
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Creation Story. National Museum of the American Indian.
#13: Creation Story. National Museum of the American Indian.
Image source: www.flickr.com
Reference: Creation Story & The Importance Of Dreaming
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Maori creation myth
#13b: Maori creation myth
In one Maori creation myth, the primal couple are Rangi and Papa, depicted holding each other in a tight embrace.
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In Maya religion, the dwarf was an embodiment of the Maize God's helpers at creation
#14: In Maya religion, the dwarf was an embodiment of the Maize God's helpers at creation
Dwarfs were important members of royal Maya courts. They are portrayed serving food, playing musical instruments, holding sacred objects for the ruler, and as diviners and scribes. Their elevated social roles were steeped in cosmology and religious mythology, especially that of the maize god, who was assisted by a dwarf when the deity set the Three Stones of the cosmic hearth at the beginning of Creation. The Classic Maya viewed dwarfs as the living embodiment of the maize god's supernatural helpers, who continued their sacred duty in the regal court. Maya peoples today believe that earlier creations were populated by a race of dwarfs who now reside inside the earth, living below the ruins of the ancient cities. The ornate turban worn by this dwarf is typical of the courtly garb of key individuals serving the ruler. This so-called spangled turban headdress is especially connected to gods and humans associated with Creation and scribal duties. A curious feature of this dwarf is what may be a halved cacao pod held in his right hand. His cheeks are covered with what appears to be a thin, woven fabric; this recalls other figurines, many of which are dwarfs, with an unidentifiable material plastered to the lower half of their face. These features suggest the depiction of a formal rite. The graceful rendering of this figure and the exceptional attention to detail reveal the work of a master artist.
Image source and reference: commons.wikimedia.org
World Turtle and World Elephant
An 1876 drawing of the world supported on the backs of four elephants, themselves resting on the back of a turtle.
The World Turtle (also referred to as the Cosmic Turtle, the World-bearing Turtle, or the Divine Turtle) is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world. The mytheme, which is similar to that of the World Elephant and World Serpent, occurs in Chinese, and Native American mythology.
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Reference: en.wikipedia.org World Turtle
Tortoises as the supporting agent
Tortoises as the supporting agent
Bronze’s tortoises. Obelisk at Santa Maria Novella square. Giambologna. Florence
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Turtle and Elephants as world supporters
Turtle and Elephants as world supporters
This drawing illustrates a Hindu creation myth. The tortoise supports elephants that hold up the world, and everything is encircled by the world serpent.
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blog.eternalvigilance.me
Discworld (world)
Discworld (world) The Discworld as appears in Sky One's adaptation of 'The Colour of Magic'.
The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin (similar to Chukwa or Akupara from Hindu mythology) as it slowly swims through space. The Disc has been shown to be heavily influenced by magic and, while Pratchett has given it certain similarities to planet Earth, he has also created his own system of physics for it.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org bessinboots.wordpress.com
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Image source: fantasyinmotion.wordpress.com
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churning of the Ocean of Milk
churning of the Ocean of Mil
The churning of the Ocean of Milk was an elaborate process. Mount Mandaranchal (or Mount Meru)-it's mythologically the very same)-was used as the dasher (churning tool), and Vasuki, the king of serpents, became the churning rope. The gods held the tail of the snake, while the demons (Asuras) held its head, and they pulled on it alternately causing the mountain to rotate, which in turn churned the ocean. However, once the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Vishnu in his second incarnation, in the form of a turtle Kurma, came to their rescue and supported the mountain on his back.
Image source and reference: www.native-science.net
www.iskcondesiretree.com
it is "turtles all the way down"
The humorous anecdote holds that the world is carried by a chain of increasingly large turtles, and beneath each one is yet another: it is "turtles all the way down".
"Turtles all the way down" is a jocular expression of the infinite regress problem in cosmology posed by the "unmoved mover" paradox. The metaphor in the anecdote represents a popular notion of the myth that Earth is actually flat and is supported on the back of a World Turtle, which itself is propped up by a chain of larger and larger turtles. Questioning what the final turtle might be standing on, the anecdote humorously concludes that it is "turtles all the way down".
The phrase has been commonly known since at least the early 20th century. A comparable metaphor describing the circular cause and consequence for the same problem is the "chicken and egg problem". The same problem in epistemology is known as the Münchhausen trilemma.
The origins of the turtle story are uncertain. It has been recorded since the mid 19th century, and may possibly date to the 18th. One recent version appears in Stephen Hawking's 1988 book A Brief History of Time, which starts:
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"
—Hawking, 1988
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Reference: Wikipedia Turtles all the way down
