Myths often relate the creation of the world and
sometimes its future destruction as well. They tell
how gods created men. They depict the relationships
between various gods and between gods and men.
COUNTRY HOW THE WORLD BEGAN
In the beginning there was only Chaos, an empty void. But
somehow this enormous vacancy gave birth to Gaea, the
GREEK earth, to Tartarus, the great region beneath the earth, and
MYTHOLOGY to Eros, the shining god of love and attraction. Chaos also
bore Erebus, the darkness of the netherworld, and Night,
the darkness over the earth. Then Erebus slept with Night,
who gave birth to Ether, the heavenly light, and to Day, the
earthly light. Later Night alone produced such beings as
Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Nemesis, and a long list
of other atrocities that steal upon men in darkness.
Chaos, the dark, silent abyss from which all things were
created, first produced Gaia, or Earth. Gaia (also spelled Ge)
brought forth Ouranos, or the Heavens. The offspring of Gaia
and Ouranos are divided loosely into two generations of
"Titans." The first generation of Titans were twelve in number:
six of whom were male and six females. The second generation
of Titans consisted of the offspring of Hyperion (from the first
generation) and included Eos (Dawn), Helios (Sun), and Selene
(Moon); and the offspring of Iapetus (also from the first
generation), which included Atlas, Prometheus, and
Epimetheus—among others. These Titans mated with each
other and produced a multitude of gods and goddesses.
Donn and Danu were locked into a loving
embrace from which they could not be separated.
When they bore children, the children were caught
CELTIC between their interlocked parents and couldn’t
MYTHOLOGY escape so one of the sons slayed his father and
was cut into nine parts. Earth was comprised of
only land and sea; and where the sea met the land,
a mare was born, white and made of sea-foam.
And her name was Eiocha.
Before there was soil, or sky, or any green thing, there
NORSE was only the gaping abyss of Ginnunggagap. This chaos
MYTHOLOGY of perfect sislence and darkeness lay between the
homeland of elemental fire, Muspelheim, and the
homeland of elemental ice, Niflheim. Frost from
Niflheim and billowing flames from Muspelheim crept
toward each other until they met in Ginnunggagap.
Amid the hissing an sputtering, the fire melted the ice,
and the drops formed themselves into Ymir, (Screamer),
the first of the godlike but destructive giants.
For Hindus the universe was created by
INDIAN Brahma, the creator who made the universe
MYTHOLOGY out of himself.After Brahma created the
world, it is the power of Vishnu which
preserves the world and human beings.A
lotus flower grew from Lord Vishnu’s navel
with Brahma sitting on it. Brahma
separated the flower into three parts -
the heavens, the Earth and the sky. Out of
loneliness, Brahma split himself into two
to create a male and a female. From this
male and female all beings were created.
Out of the lifeless waters of chaos or the
EGYPTIAN watery silence called Nu, the first thing
MYTHOLOGY that emerge from it is the ben-ben, the
pyramid-shaped mound or the primordial hill.
In this hill, stood the great god Atum who
mated with his own shadow and gave birth to
Shu and Tefnut. Together, they gave the world
the first principles of life and the
principles of order. The sun was also
associated with the creation of the world as
it rose from the mound and the sun-god Ra
represented it.
The most popular story of the creation myth
in Chinese mythology is the story of Pan Gu,
the first-born semi-divine human. Pan Gu was
born in the middle of the egg-like Heaven and
earth. The limpid that was Yang became
the heavens, the turbid that was Yin became
the earth. Each day, Pan Gu grew tall while
the Heavens rose and the earth grew thicker.
When Pan Gu died, his skull became the top of
the sky, his breath became the wind and
clouds, his voice the rolling thunder. Other
parts of his body became the living and non-
living things on earth.
At the beginning the universe was in chaos
and is immersed in silence. Later on, there
JAPANESE were sounds and movement of some particles
MYTHOLOGY that arose. The light moved at the top and
under it formed the Heaven which was called
Takamagahara. The rest of the particles that
have not risen became the earth. Standing
between the heaven and the earth are the two
gods named Izanami and Izanagi. They formed
and created the islands of Japan. In the
first island that they have formed called
Onogoro-shima, they build their house and
conducted their wedding ceremony.
PHILIPPINE Since there are a lot of creation myths from
the different ethnic groups in the
MYTHOLOGY Philippines, each ethnic groups had multiple
versions of creation stories/myths depending
on their locality and their culture. There is
the story from the Tagalog, wherein a sacred
kite have caused the sky and the sea to a
war. The sky threw boulders in the sea which
have formed the islands. Moreover, the Story
of Bathala is also common which explains how
Bathala became the ruler of the universe and
how every single thing on earth came to be.
There are varied stories of the creation myth
in Africa. One story tells the Fon creation
myth from the Fon peoples in West Africa. The
creator was either Mawu, the moon being or
Mawu-Lisa, the sun being who is both male and
female.
AFRICAN
MYTHOLOGY
Other stories also explains the creation of
the world from a drop of milk wherein the god
Doondari emerged and created a stone which
have also created the iron, then the fire,
the water, the air, and lastly the man.
