creation myth A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Cre ...

(or creation story) is a cultural, religious or traditional

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

which attempts to describe the earliest beginnings of the present world. Creation myths are the most common form of myth, usually developing first in

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

s, and are found throughout human culture. A creation myth is usually regarded by those who subscribe to it as conveying profound truths, though not necessarily in a

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

or literal sense. They are commonly, though not always, considered '' cosmogonical myths'', that is, they describe the ordering of the

cosmos The cosmos (, ; ) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos is studied in cosmologya broad discipline covering ...

from a state of

chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Science, technology, and astronomy * '' Chaos: Making a New Science'', a 1987 book by James Gleick * Chaos (company), a Bulgarian rendering and simulation software company * ''Chaos'' (genus), a genus of amoebae * ...

or amorphousness.

Basic type

Creation from chaos

* Enûma Eliš ( Babylonian creation myth) *

Eridu Genesis Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth or Sumerian Flood Myth, offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities in Mesopotamia, how the o ...

* Greek cosmogonical myth *

Jamshid Jamshid () (, ''Jamshēd''; Middle- and New Persian: جم, ''Jam''), also known as ''Yima'' (Avestan: 𐬫𐬌𐬨𐬀 ''Yima''; Persian/Pashto: یما ''Yama''), is the fourth Shah of the mythological Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to ' ...

* Korean creation narratives * Kumulipo * Mandé creation myth *

Pangu Pangu or Pan Gu (also sometimes spelled Peng Gu and P’an-ku) ( zh, t=盤古, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology and in Taoism. According to legend, Pangu separated heaven and earth, and his body later became ge ...

* Raven in Creation *

Serer creation myth The Serer creation myth is the traditional creation myth of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. Many Serers who adhere to the tenets of the Serer religion believe these narratives to be sacred. Some aspects of Serer religious ...

* Tungusic creation myth * Unkulunkulu *

Väinämöinen () is a deity, demigod, hero and the central character in Finnish folklore and the main character in the national epic ''Kalevala'' by Elias Lönnrot. Väinämöinen was described as an old and wise man, and he possessed a potent, magical sing ...

* Viracocha

Earth diver

Ainu creation myth The Ainu historically have their own language and a rich repertoire of oral literature. The stories are particularly delivered through the genre of Kamui Yukar, which are long narratives of heroic exploits involving spiritual beings such as anima ...

* Cherokee creation myth * Iroquois creation myth *

* Yoruba creation myth (Nigeria, Africa) * Ob-Ugric creation myth

Emergence

* Hopi creation myth * Maya creation of the world myth * Diné Bahaneʼ (Navajo) * Zuni creation myth

''Ex nihilo'' (out of nothing)

Debate between sheep and grain The "Debate between sheep and grain" or "Myth of cattle and grain" is a Sumerian disputation and creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC. Disputations Seven "debate" topics are known from the Sumerian literat ...

* Barton cylinder *

Ancient Egyptian creation myths Ancient Egyptian creation myths are the ancient Egyptian accounts of the creation of the world. The Pyramid Texts, tomb wall decorations, and writings, dating back to the Old Kingdom (c. 2700–2200 BC) have provided the majority of informati ...

* Genesis creation (Judaism, Christianity,

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, and

Rastafari Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...

) * Kabezya-Mpungu * Māori myths * Mbombo * Ngai *

Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people of Guatemala, one of the Maya peoples who also inhabit the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, ...

Raven Tales

World parent

* Coatlicue * Enûma Eliš * Greek cosmogonical myth * Heliopolis creation myth * Hiranyagarbha creation myth * Kumulipo *

Rangi and Papa In Māori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatūānuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world and the Māori people (though there are many different versions). In some South Island dialects, Ran ...

Völuspá ''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...

Divine twins

* Proto-Indo-European creation myths

Regional

Africa

* Fon creation myth * Kaang creation myth (San) * Kintu myth (Bugandan) * Mandé creation myth * Mbombo (Kuba, Bakuba or Bushongo/Boshongo) * Ngai (Kamba, Kikuyu and Maasai ) *

(cosmogony of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania) * Unkulunkulu (Zulu) * Yoruba creation (Nigeria, Africa)

Americas

Caribbean * Taíno creation myths

Mesoamerica

* Coatlicue (Aztec) * Maya creation of the world myth *

(Quiché Mayan)

Mid North America

* Anishinaabeg creation stories * Cherokee creation myth * Choctaw creation myth * Creek creation myth * Hopi creation myth * Iroquois creation myth * Kuterastan (Plains Apache) * Diné Bahaneʼ (Navajo) * Raven in Creation (Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian) * Zuni creation myth

South America

* Legend of Trentren Vilu and Caicai Vilu (Chilean) * Viracocha (Incan) * Xolas (Chilean)

Asia

Central Asia

* Ergenekon * Mongolian creation myth * Tungusic creation myth

East Asia

(Japan) * Au Co (Vietnamese) *

Chinese creation myth Chinese creation myths are symbolic narratives about the origins of the universe, earth, and life. Myths in China vary from culture to culture. In Chinese mythology, the term " cosmogonic myth" or "origin myth" is more accurate than "creation myth ...

Japanese creation myth In Japanese mythology, the is the creation myth, story that describes the legendary birth of the celestial and creative world, the birth of the first gods, and the birth of the Japanese archipelago. This story is described at the beginning of th ...

* Korean creation narratives * Vietnamese creation myth *

Nüwa Nüwa, also read Nügua, is a mother goddess, culture hero, and/or member of the Three Sovereigns of Chinese mythology. She is a goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. She is credited with creating humani ...

(Chinese) *

(Chinese)

Indian subcontinent

* Ajativada *

Buddhist cosmology Buddhist cosmology is the description of the shape and evolution of the Universe according to Buddhist Tripitaka, scriptures and Atthakatha, commentaries. It consists of a temporal and a spatial cosmology. The temporal cosmology describes the ...

* Folk Hindu creation myth * Hiranyagarbha creation (India) *

Jainism and non-creationism According to Jain doctrine, the universe and its constituents—soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion—have always existed. Jainism does not support belief in a creator deity. All the constituents and actions are governed by un ...

(India) *

Meitei mythology Meitei mythology (or Manipuri mythology) () is a collection of myths, belonging to the religious and cultural traditions of the Meitei people, the predominant ethnic group of Manipur. It is associated with traditional Meitei religion of Sanam ...

(India) * Mimamsa eternalism (India) *

Nyaya Nyāya (Sanskrit: न्यायः, IAST: nyāyaḥ), literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment", is one of the six orthodox (Āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy. Nyāya's most significant contributions to Indian philosophy ...

Vaisheshika Vaisheshika (IAST: Vaiśeṣika; ; ) is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy from ancient India. In its early stages, Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and soteriology. Over t ...

atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

ic theory (India) *

Samkhya Samkhya or Sankhya (; ) is a dualistic orthodox school of Hindu philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, '' Puruṣa'' ('consciousness' or spirit) and '' Prakṛti'' (nature or matter, including the human mind a ...

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

theory (India) * Sanamahi creation myth (India)

Europe

Slavic creation myth The Slavic creation myths are myths in Slavic paganism that explain creation myth, how the world was created. These myths, in their Interpretatio Christiana, Christianized form, survived until the nineteenth and twentieth century in various parts o ...

* ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...

'' (Greek) * Book of Invasions (Celtic, specifically Irish) *

(Finnish) *

(Norse)

Middle East

* Enûma Eliš (Babylonian) *

(Sumerian) * Genesis creation (Hebrew) * Islamic creation myth (Arabic) *

Leviathan Leviathan ( ; ; ) is a sea serpent demon noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. Leviathan is of ...

(

Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...

38-41 creation myth) * Mashya and Mashyana (Persian)

Pacific Islands/Oceanic

* Areop-Enap (Nauruan) * Kumulipo (Hawaiian) * Lafaek Diak (Timorese) * Māori myths (Māori) *

(Māori) * Sureq Galigo (Buginese)

Australian

The Australian Aboriginal concepts of "

The Dreaming The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by hi ...

" or "

Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...

In mythopoeia

mythopoeia Mythopoeia (, ), or mythopoesis, is a subgenre of speculative fiction, and a theme in modern literature and film, where an artificial or fictionalized mythology is created by the writer of prose fiction, prose, poetry, or other literary forms. T ...

, an artificial mythology created by writers of

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

or other fiction, traditional mythological themes and

archetypes The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...

are integrated into fiction. Some works of mythopoeia also feature creation myths: *

Ainulindalë The (; "Music of the Ainur") is the creation account in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, published posthumously as the first part of '' The Silmarillion'' in 1977. The sets out a central part of the cosmology of Tolkien's legendarium, tellin ...

from Tolkien's ''

The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a book consisting of a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited, partly written, and published posthumously by his son Christopher in 1977, assisted by G ...

References

* * {{cite book , title=A Dictionary of Creation Myths , first1=David Adams , last1=Leeming , first2=Margaret Adams , last2=Leeming , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=2009 , edition=Oxford Reference Online , isbn=978-0-19-510275-8 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcrea00leem * Creation