11/18/19 Acewin Tam Period 8

Modern Mythology 2020

11.18.2019

Acewin Tam Pd 8 #27

Aim: Creation Story Presentations

Notes: 

Egyptian Creation Story - Group 5

In the beginning, there was an infinite expanse of dark and directionless water. Nun was personified as 4 pairs of male and female deities. Atum created himself out of Nun by effort of will. He created 2 offspring, Shu (dry air) and Tefnut (corrosive moist air). The twins produced children, Geb (dry land) and Nut (the sky). Geb became the first solid dry land for Ra (sun god) to rest. Atum is the same being as Ra. 

Ra didn't want Geb and Nut to have children, so he didn't allow Nut to give birth on any of the original 360 days of the year. However, Thoth stole some moonlight from Khonsu (moon god) to create 5 extra days so that Nut could have her 5 children. Ra was angry, of course, so he forced Shu to physically keep them apart forever. 

In one version of the story of the creation of humans, Ra's eye ran away and didn't want to return, so Ra sent Tefnut and Shu to retrieve it. The eye resisted and in the ensuing struggle, it shed tears, from which humans were born. In another version, the eye just wandered off, so Ra sent Thoth to get it. When the eye returned, it saw that another eye had replaced it, so it got jealous and cried. To calm the eye down, Ra put it in his brow in the shape of a uraeus (cobra goddess), where it could rule the whole world.

As Ra became older, the humans plotted a rebellion against Ra, who got angry. He sent his eye to punish the humans by transforming into Sekhmet. Later on, out of mercy, Ra decides Sekhmet has caused enough destruction and makes her so drunk that she can't destroy anything else. He then transforms into Hathor (protective goddess).

The Egyptians gradually evolved a concept of synthesis beteween Osiris and Ra, so that Ra is the ruler of the Underworld as well as sun god. Apep, a huge serpent that lived in the waters of Nun, tries to stop Ra from going on his daily journey, but Ra is ultimately victorious every day. He sails across the sky before returning to Underworld, where the battle begins again. 

They also believed that one day, Ra will dissolve the entire universe. From the nothingness that comes after that, something will be created again. This is similar to the star cycle, where stars are created and destroyed, with their remains forming new stars. 

Hinduism - Group 4

From water and darkness came Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma, who is told by Lord Vishnu to create the universe and all that lives in it. Lord Shivu comes and destroys everything.

Lord Vishnu has 4 arms and 10 forms, including a fish that led humans to safety in a flood, turtle that found the belongings of other gods, a boar to fight a demon, a half lion-half human to fight another demon, a dwarf that tricked a human into giving it all the land it could cover in 3 steps, and the last form is still debated over. Lord Vishnu was the first of the three gods and floated along a dark river in the emptiness. 

Lord Brahma came next and created the universe. He has 4 faces and 4 hands. Each of the 4 faces looks at each of the 4 main directions and represents self confidence, ego, mind, and intellect. In his 4 hands, he holds 4 different books, containing poems, songs, etc. Lord Brahma is a servant of Lord Vishnu, so whenever Lord Vishnu tells him to create the universe, Lord Brahma does as he says. 

Lord Shivu is the destroyer of the world and universe. He has blue skin and a third eye. His third eye is said to open only when the world is going to be destroyed. Lord Shivu's powers include destruction and renewal, medicine and poison, and herdsman and slaughter.

Reincarnation in modern Hinduism ties back to the concept that the world comes in cycles and Lord Shivu will always eventually destroy what Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma created. 

Reflection: 

I learned about two different cultures' creation stories. This ties back to what we were learning in class, about Greek mythology and the Greek creation story, because it shows how the main gods often represented things that were essential to that region. For example,  in Egyptian mythology, Ra, the sun god, was the main god. He was essential to the Egyptians because without them, there would be no food grown. It also ties into the concept that everything stems from nothing. Humans can't bear the fact of not knowing where they came from, so they just make everything come from nothing. I can use what I learned to draw parallels to other cultures so that I can understand why certain things in different cultures are the way they are. For example, it was much easier to draw a parallel between the Hindu, Egyptian, and Greek creation story of nothing to everything, than think about it from scratch again with every single culture.