Creation of Life/Humans from Clay, seen around the World, loosely related as many other Myths do

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Cultures with Clay Human Myths

Sumerians

Ancient Egyptians

Bible

Qur’an

Ancient Greek

Ancient Iran

Ancient Chinese

Ancient Korean

Ainu (north Japan, Indigenous people)

Hindu people

Birhor tribal/Adivasi forest people of India

Garo people, a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group in Northeast India and Bangladesh

Andamanese are Indigenous peoples of India’s Andaman Islands

Indigenous people of Borneo

Tai “Laotian” folk religion

Altaic and Mongolian

Buryat Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia

Yoruba people, the West African ethnic group of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo

Efé Indigenous pygmy people Democratic Republic of Congo

Malagasy peoples of Madagascar

Songye people, a Bantu ethnic group from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Dinka people are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan

Dogon people ethnic group Indigenous to Mali in West Africa

Ijaw people in Nigeria in West Africa

Hawaiian people

Māori Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand

Polynesian peoples

Norse people

Some Indigenous peoples of the Americans:

Inupiat Alaska Natives roughly Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to Canada–United States border.

Kʼicheʼ one of the Maya people

Incan people

Aymaran-speaking people in Bolivia and Peru

etc.

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Creation of life from clay

“The creation of life from clay can be seen as a miraculous birth theme that appears throughout world religions and mythologies. It can also be seen as one of gods who craft humans out of earthly materials. As such, this class of story falls within a larger set of divine or cosmogonic origin stories about creation, whether through divine emergence or divine craft.” ref

“Many religions carry this ‘creation of human beings from clay’ story. The earliest are the pre-cursors of the Abrahamic faiths – namely the early Mesopotamian religions. Other faiths that postulate the ‘creation of human beings from clay’ stories include the ancient Egyptians, some African tribes and the Incas. The ‘creation of humans from clay’ stories are common throughout the world, including places like Australia and the Pacific Islands which were not in contact with Islam or any of the other Abrahamic faiths until recent times. It is apparent that folkloric tales about the creation of humans from clay/earth/mud are very common throughout the world.” ref

• “The Epic of Gilgamesh states that the goddess Aruru created humans out of clay. The epic goes on to narrate how Aruru also creates Enkidu out of clay as an equal partner in strength for Gilgamesh, “mighty in strength.”

• The Sumerian myth of Enki and Ninmah (Ninhursag) states that humans were fashioned from clay to serve the gods (see Enki and the Making of Man). Of note, the creation of humans is portrayed as a contest between Enki and Ninhursag, who take turns finding the correct places in society for the newly created humans. Note further that creation follows a period of gestation lasting nine days, the poet being careful to note that each day corresponds to a month in the human period of gestation.

• The Babylonian Epic of Atrahasis states that humans were created by Nintu (Ninhursag) from mixing clay with the blood of a sacrificed god. In context, the elder gods forced the younger gods to do all the hard labor, so the younger gods devised a plan to create humans to do their bidding instead. The sacrificed god Ilawela (also written as Geshtu-(E), Geshtu, Gestu, or We-ila) is a minor god of intelligence (the text states this quite clearly: “Ilawela …had intelligence”).

• Contrary to what is commonly claimed, the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish does not state that humans are created from clay nor are they created by Ninhursag in this particular version. Rather, they are created from blood and bone. The first tablets uncovered suggested the blood was Marduk’s, but later tablets state the blood comes from Tiamat’s fallen consort, Kingu. Similarly, it is oft claimed that Enki (Ea) creates humans from this blood, but it is only because he received instructions to do so from the supreme deity, Marduk (in other words, this was Marudk’s will or plan). Regardless, Tablet 6 of the Enuma Elish does not reference Ninhursag, Ninma, or Aruru at all, and there is no reference in it to humans being created from clay.” ref

Sumerian

• “According to Samuel Noah Kramer (Tablets of Sumer, Colorado,1956) Nammu and Ninmah, assisted by deities who are the ‘good and princely fashioners’, mixed clay which was ‘over the abyss’ and brought man into existence. Gods were having difficulty in finding food, and their problems have increased when the later born goddesses joined them. Enki the water god – he was the god of wisdom and in a position to help them – was fast asleep in the sea and did not hear their complaints. Enki’s mother Mother of all Gods Nammu brought the tears of the complainants to Enki and told him in their presence: “O! my son, get off your bed… do what is wise. Give shape to (make some) servants to gods. Let them make their own copies.(?)” Enki thinks, decides to head the ‘union of good and bright modelists’ and says to Nammu: ‘O! mother, the creature you have mentioned exists: Put the image of gods(?) on him. Shape his heart from the clay on the surface of the Bottomless Deep. Good and bright modelists will thicken this clay. You make its organs; Ninmah (Goddess of Earth) will work in front of you. While you are making a model…goddesses of birth will be with you. O! mother decide on the faith of the newborn, let Ninmah put the image of gods on it: This is the human.”
• “Enki and Ninmah” She is the mother goddess and, as Ninmah, assists in the creation of man. Enki, having been propted by Nammu to create servants for the gods, describes how Nammu and Ninmah will help fashion man from clay. Prior to getting to work, she and Enki drink overmuch at a feast. She then shapes six flawed versions of man from the heart of the clay over the Abzu, with Enki declaring their fates. Enki, in turn also creates a flawed man which is unable to eat. Ninmah appears to curse him for the failed effort. (Kramer 1963 pp. 149-151; Kramer 1961 pp. 69-72)” ref

Assyro-Babylonian

• “Aruru (Ninmah, Nintu, Ninhursaga, Belet-ili, Mami) -She is the mother goddess and was responsible for the creation of man with the help of Enlil or Enki. She is also called the womb goddess, and midwife of the gods. On Ea’s advice, she acted on his direction and mixed clay with the blood of the god Geshtu-e, in order to shape and birth seven men and seven women. These people would bear the workload of the Igigi. She also added to the creation of Gilgamesh, and, at Anu’s command, made Enkidu in Anu’s image by pinching off a piece of clay, throwing it into the wilderness, and birthing him there. Ea called her to offer her beloved Ninurta as the one who should hunt Anzu. She does so.” ref

Canaan-Ugaritic

• “(Gibson p. 68) men are considered made of ‘clay.” ref

Egyptian

• “The Egyptian god Khnum is said to have created human children from clay before placing them into their mother’s womb. In context, though, Egyptians more generally believed in a cyclical view of time and rebirth. This meant humans were seen as part of a continuous cycle of creation and destruction, not necessarily originating from a single pair. Just as often, for example, the god Ptah was said to have created the world, including humans, from an act of speech.” ref
• “Khnum, the ram-headed god of Elephantine, the potter, fashioned men on his wheel, making use of the clay in his locality as his basic material.” ref

Bible and Quran

• “The Book of Genesis 2:7 states, “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being“ [New Revised Standard Version translation]. In context, though, it is important to note that there are two creation stories in Genesis: the one just mentioned in 2:7, and the preceding one in 1:26-27, which simply states, “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;’ … So God crated humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” [New Revised Standard Version].

• The word adam may refer to that this being was an “earthling” formed from the red-hued clay of the earth (in Hebrew, adom means “red”, adamah means “earth”). And in Jewish folklore, a golem (Hebrew: גולם) is an animated anthropomorphic being that is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud.

• The Qur’an (Qur’an 23:12), states, “Man We did create from a quintessence of clay” [A. Yusuf Ali translation].” ref
• “Alongside humans being made from clay, the jinn are described as being made from a fire, which interestingly Harun does not apply the same problematic methodology to claim jinn are made of fire, in which we would expect to find living fire beings on Earth. We created man from sounding clay, from mud moulded into shape; And the Jinn race, We had created before, from the fire of a scorching wind. Quran 15:26-27 He created man of a clay like the potter’s, and He created the jinn of a smokeless fire.” ref

Iran

• In Zoroastrian mythology, first the primordial ox, Gavaevodata, and subsequently the primordial human, Gayomart are created from mud by the supreme deity Ahura Mazda.” ref

Greek

• In Greek mythology, according to Pseudo-Apollodorus, Prometheus molded men out of water and earth. Near the town of Panopeus, the remaining used clay was allegedly still present in historical times as two cart-sized rocks that smelled like a human body. Myths about Prometheus were inspired by Near Eastern Myths about Enki.

• Also in Greek mythology, Prometheus moulds a clay statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom to whom he is devoted, and gives it life from a stolen sunbeam.

• Pandora, from Greek mythology, was fashioned from clay and given the quality of “naïve grace combined with feeling.” ref

Asia

• “Thus the Karens of Burma say that God “created man, and of what did he form him? He created man at first from the earth, and finished the work of creation. He created woman, and of what did he form her? He took a rib from the man and created the woman.”
• The aborigines of Minahassa, in the north of Celebes, say that two beings called Wailan Wangko and Wangi (created humans from earth). Said Wailan Wangko to Wangi, “Return and take earth and make two images, a man and a woman.”
• The Dyaks of Sakarran in British Borneo say that the first man was made by two large birds. At first they tried to make men out of trees, but in vain. Then they hewed them out of rocks, but the figures could not speak. Then they moulded a man out of damp earth and infused into his veins the red gum of the kumpang-tree. After that they called to him and he answered ; they cut him and blood flowed from his wounds, so they gave him the name of Tannah Kumpok or “moulded earth.
• The supreme god of the Island of Nias, Luo Zaho, took a handful of earth as large as an egg, and fashioned out of it a figure like one of those figures of ancestors which the people of Nias construct. Having made it, he put it in the scales and weighed it; he weighed also the wind, and having weighed it, he put it on the lips of the figure which he had made; so the figure spoke like a man or like a child, and God gave him the name of Sihai.
• The Bila-an, a wild tribe of Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands, relate the creation of man … (by) a certain being named Melu. He fashioned them accordingly in his own likeness out of the leavings of the scurf whereof he had moulded the earth, and these two were the first human beings.
• The Bagobos, a pagan tribe of South-Eastern Mindanao, say that in the beginning a certain Diwata made the sea and the land, and planted trees of many sorts. Then he took two lumps of earth, shaped them like human figures, and spat on them; so they became man and woman.
• The Kumis, who inhabit portions of Arakan and the Chittagong hill tracts in eastern India, told Captain Lewin the following story of the creation of man. God made the world and the trees and the creeping things first, and after that he made one man and one woman, forming their bodies of clay.
• According to the Korkus, an aboriginal tribe of the Central Provinces of India: Thereupon the god (Mahadeo aka Shiva) repaired to the spot, and taking a handful of the red earth he fashioned out of it two images, in the likeness of a man and a woman.
• A like tale is told, with a curious variation, by the Mundas, a primitive aboriginal tribe of Chota Nagpur. They say that the Sun-god, by name Singbonga, first fashioned two clay figures, one meant to represent a man and the other a woman.
• (According to) the Santals of Bengal… Some say ‘ she (Malin Budhi) made them (humans) of a kind of froth which proceeded from a supernatural being who dwelt at the bottom of the sea, but others say she made them of a stiff clay.” ref

• “Central Asian mythology, including Altaic and Mongolian, have stories about how the god Ulgen created the first man, Erlik, from clay floating on the surface of water. 

• Buryatian mythology has the god Sombov create humans from clay and wool.” ref

East Asian

• • “According to Chinese mythology, (see Chu Ci and Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era), Nüwa molded figures from the yellow earth, giving them life and the ability to bear children.

South Asian

• “According to Hindu mythology, Parvati, the mother of Ganesha, created her son from clay and turned the clay into flesh and blood.

• The Birhor of India believe that a leech was responsible for bringing the creator god mud which would later be made into humans.

• The Gondi people believe that Nantu (the moon) was made of mud that Kumpara spat onto his son.

• The Garo people in India believe that a beetle gave clay to the creator god Tatara-Rabuga, who made humanity from it.

• Andamanese Mythology women were fashioned from clay (while the men emerged from split bamboo).” ref

Southeast Asian

• “According to some Laotian folk religion, there are stories of humans created from mud or clay.

• In Vietnamese mythology, the Ngọc Hoàng and the Twelve Bà mụ created people from clay.

• Ara and Irik, two bird spirits from Bornean myth, created humans from clay and the sound of their own voices.” ref

Australia

• Thus the Australian blacks in the neighborhood of Melbourne said that Pund-jel, the Creator, cut three large sheets of bark with his big knife. On one of these, he placed some clay and worked it up with his knife into a proper consistence. He then laid a portion of the clay on one of the other pieces of bark and shaped it into a human form; first he made the feet, then the legs, then the trunk, the arms, and the head. Thus, he made a clay man on each of the two pieces of bark, and being well pleased with his handiwork, he danced around them for joy. Next, he took stringy bark from the eucalyptus tree, made hair of it, and stuck it on the heads of his clay men. Then he looked at them again, was pleased with his work, and again danced round them for joy. He then lay down on them, blew his breath hard into their mouths, their noses, and their navels; and presently they stirred, spoke, and rose up as full-grown men.” ref

Pacific Islands

• • “The Maoris of New Zealand say that a certain god, variously named Tu, Tiki, and Tane, took red riverside clay, kneaded it with his own blood into a likeness or image of himself, with eyes, legs, arms, and all complete, in fact, an exact copy of the deity; and having perfected the model, he animated it by breathing into its mouth and nostrils, whereupon the clay effigy at once came to life and sneezed. “Of all these things,” said a Maori, in relating the story of man’s creation, “the most important is the fact that the clay sneezed, forasmuch as that sign of the power of the gods remains with us even to this day in order that we may be reminded of the great work Tu accomplished on the altar of the Kauhanga-nui, and hence it is that when men sneeze the words of Tu are repeated by those who are present”; for they say, “Sneeze, O spirit of life.” So, like himself, was the man whom the Maori Creator Tiki fashioned that he called Tiki-ahua, that is, Tiki’s likeness.
  • A very generally received tradition in Tahiti was that the first human pair was made by Taaroa, the chief god. They say that after he had formed the world, he created man out of red earth, which was also the food of mankind until bread-fruit was produced. Further, some say that one day, Taaroa called for the man by name, and when he came, he made him fall asleep. As he slept, the Creator took out one of his bones and made of it a woman, whom he gave to the man to be his wife, and the pair became the progenitors of mankind.
  • In Nui, or Netherland Island, one of the Ellice Islands, they say that the god Aulialia made models of a man and a woman out of earth, and when he raised them up they came to life. He called the man Tepapa and the woman Tetata. The Pelew Islanders relate that a brother and sister made men out of clay kneaded with the blood of various animals, and that the characters of these first men and of their descendants were determined by the characters of the animals whose blood had been mingled with the primordial clay.
  • According to a Melanesian legend, told in Mota, one of the Banks’ Islands, the hero Qat moulded men of clay, the red clay from the marshy riverside at Vanua Lava.
  • The inhabitants of Noo-hoo-roa, in the Kei Islands, say that their ancestors were fashioned out of clay by the supreme god, Dooadlera, who breathed life into the clay figures.
  • The Marindineeze, a tribe who occupy the dreary, monotonous treeless flats on the southern coast of Dutch New Guinea, not far from the border of the British territory: They say that one day a crane or stork (dik) was busy picking fish out of the sea. He threw them on the beach, where the clay covered, and killed them. So the fish were no longer anything but shapeless lumps of clay. They were cold and warmed themselves at a fire of bamboos. Every time that a little bamboo burst with a pop in the heat, the lumps of clay assumed more and more the shape of human beings.” ref

Europe

• The Cheremiss of Russia, a Finnish people, tell a story of the creation of man which recalls episodes in the Toradjan and Indian legends of the same event. They say that God moulded man’s body of clay and then went up to heaven to fetch the soul, with which to animate it.” ref

Norse

• “In Skaldskaparmal, the god Thor encounters a giant named Mokkurkalfe [sv], who was made from clay.” ref

The Americas

• “…the Eskimo of Point Barrow, in Alaska, tell of a time when there was no man in the land, till a certain spirit named á sê lu, who resided at Point Barrow, made a clay man, set him up on the shore to dry, breathed into him, and gave him life. Other Eskimo of Alaska relate how the Raven made the first woman out of clay, to be a companion to the first man; he fastened water-grass to the back of the head to be hair, flapped his wings over the clay figure, and it arose, a beautiful young woman. The Acagchemem Indians of California said that a powerful being called Chinigchinich created man out of clay which he found on the banks of a lake; male and female created he them, and the Indians of the present day are the descendants of the clay man and woman.
• The Maidu Indians of California the first man and woman were created by a mysterious personage named Earth-Initiate, who descended from the sky by a rope made of feathers. His body shone like the sun, but his face was hidden and never seen. One afternoon he took dark red earth, mixed it with water, and fashioned two figures, one of them a man and the other a woman.
• The Diegueño Indians or, as they call themselves, the Kawakipais, who occupy the extreme south-western corner of the State of California, have a myth to explain how the world in its present form and the human race were created…. Tcaipakomat took a lump of light-colored clay, split it partly up, and made a man of it.
• The Hopi or Moqui Indians of Arizon… Thereupon the eastern goddess took clay and moulded out of it first a woman and afterwards a man; and the clay man and woman were brought to life just as the birds and beasts had been so before them.
• The Pima Indians, another tribe of Arizona, allege that the Creator took clay into his hands, and mixing it with the sweat of his own body, kneaded the whole into a lump. Then he blew upon the lump till it began to live and move and became a man and a woman. A priest of the Natchez Indians in Louisiana told Du Pratz ” that God had kneaded some clay, such as that which potters use, and had made it into a little man; and that after examining it, and finding it well formed, he blew upon his work, and forthwith that little man had life, grew, acted, walked, and found himself a man perfectly well shaped.”
• The Michoacans of Mexico said that the great god Tucapacha first made man and woman out of clay.
• The Lengua Indians of Paraguay believe that the Creator, in the shape of a beetle, inhabited a hole in the earth, and that he formed man and woman out of the clay which he threw up from his subterranean abode.” ref

• “According to the beliefs of some Indigenous Americans, the Earth-maker formed the figure of many men and women, which he dried in the sun and into which he breathed life.
• In the K’iche’ creation story Popol Vuh, the first humans are made of clay, although they soak up water and disintegrate.

• Iñupiat mythology has Raven create a human out of clay, who would later become Tornaq, the first demon.
• According to Inca mythology, the creator god, Viracocha, formed humans from clay on his second attempt at creating living creatures.

• The Aymaran creation myth involves the making of humans from clay.” ref

Inca

• “… the God Viracocha created the earth and the sky and peopled the earth with men. There was no sun and the people walked in darkness. But they disobeyed their Creator and he chose to destroy them, turning some into stone and drowning the rest in a flood which rose above the highest mountains in the world. The only survivors were a man and a woman who remained in a box and who, when the water subsided were carried by the wind to Tihuanaco, the chief abode of the Creator. There he raised up all the people and nations, making figures of clay and painting the clothes each nation was to wear. To each nation he gave a language, songs and the seeds they were to sow. Then he breathed life and soul into the clay and ordered each nation to pass under the earth and emerge in the place he directed.” ref

African

• “The Yoruba culture holds that the god Obatala, likewise, created the human race from clay.

• The Efé people have a creation story in which the first man was made of clay and skin.

• According to Malagasy mythology, the sky deity Zanahary and the earth deity Ratovantany created the Malagasy people by breathing life into clay dolls.

• The Songye people have a creation myth involving two gods, Mwile and Kolombo, creating humans out of clay as part of a rivalry.

• Some of the Dinka of Sudan believe Nhialac, the creator, formed the humans Abuk and Garang from clay. The clay was put into pots to grow, and eventually came out as fully-grown adults. Other narratives attribute the creation of humanity to Nhialac blowing his nose or believe that humans came from the sky and were placed upon a river as full-grown adults.

• The Dogon people believe the Earth goddess was made when Amma flung earth into the primordial void.

• In a Madagascar myth, two gods create human beings: the earth god forms them from wood and clay, the god of heaven gives them life. Human beings die so that they may return to the origins of their being.
• Woyengi, in Ijaw tradition, created humans from earth that fell from the sky before granting them identities.” ref

African

• “The Shilluk, who live along the Nile in the Sudan, say that Juok (God) created men out of clay. He traveled north and found some white clay, out of which he fashioned Europeans. The Arabs were made of reddish-brown clay, and the Africans from black earth.
• The Pangwe of Cameroun say that God first created a lizard out of clay which he placed in a pool to soak. He left it there for seven days, and then called ‘Man, come out’, and a man emerged instead of a lizard.” ref

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“As for the Salinan belief, when the world was ready, the Bald Eagle, who was the chief of the animals, created the first man out of clay.” ref

“Clay People: Pueblo Indian potters made figurines based on the human form for centuries, often for ceremonial use or for personal ritual observations. By the mid-nineteenth century potters were making figurines that were clearly intended to be used as toys or for sale to non-Indians.” ref 

“An elaborate Earth-Maker Story of Creation is a myth that comes from the Native Americans of California, also called the “Story of Creation.” This myth describes Earth-maker creating day and night, land, water, and all living things. Men and women were created out of soft clay into which Earth-Maker “breathed life”. He also created the seas with his tears. The creation begins:

“In the beginning there was no land, no light, only darkness and the vast waters of Outer Ocean where Earth-Maker and Great-Grandfather were afloat in their canoe… Earth-Maker took soft clay and formed the figure of a man and of a woman, then many men and women, which he dried in the sun and into which he breathed life: they were the First People.” (Kroeber 1968:62).” ref

CLAY OLD WOMAN AND CLAY OLD MAN – A Hopi Legend

“In the beginning, the Pueblo people did not know how to make pottery. They had no bowls to cook their rabbit stew. They had no jars to carry cool water. The people had no pots to store their seeds for next year’s planting. The Wise One in the Land Below saw how hard their life was. Taking some clay, she made one man and one woman. The Wise One named them Clay Old Woman and Clay Old Man. She sent them onto the earth with a big ball of clay and her blessing for the Pueblo peoples. Clay Old Woman and Clay Old Man found themselves in a pueblo. They sat down in the middle of the plaza and the wife set to work with the clay. Curious children crowded close. Women with their babies peered from the rooftops of the houses around the plaza.” ref

“Clay Old Woman rolled the clay into long coils between her two rough hands. Around and around she wound the coils to build a pot. The men standing on the log ladders propped against the houses leaned closer for a better look. Clay Old Woman made pot after pot. Her husband began to sing and dance. The longer his wife worked, the louder Clay Old Man sang. The more pots she made, the harder he danced. Puffs of dust danced in his footsteps. Clay Old Man became so caught up in his dance that he tripped. He fell hard against the largest, most beautiful pot. The pot shattered. The people held their breath, wondering what would happen next.” ref

“Clay Old Man collected all the potsherd. He handed them to Clay Old Woman and apologized. Clay Old Woman soaked the pieces of the broken pot in water and rolled them back into a ball of clay. Clay Old Man gave a piece of it to every woman in the pueblo. “You have watched my wife work,” he said. “You know what to do.” The women began to knead their clay. Clay Old Woman nodded to herself as she watched the women work. She was very pleased. “The Wise One has given you a gift to treasure for all time,” said Clay Old Woman. “Do not lose her gift. Never forget how to make pottery.” ref

The Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Creation Story

“After the Good Spirit completed the earth, he created man out of red clay. Placing the man upon the earth, the Good Spirit instructed the man about how he should live.” ref 

“Aztec myth, In the beginning was only Tepeu and Gucumatz (Feathered Serpent) who also wintry the name Quetzalcoatl . These two sat together and thought, and whatever they thought came into being. They thought Earth, and there it was. They thought mountains, and so there were. They thought trees, and sky, and animals etc, and each came into being. But none of these things could praise them, so they formed more advanced beings of clay.” ref

“The Muscogee/Creek people believe that the world was originally entirely underwater. The only land was a hill, called Nunne Chaha, and on the hill was a house, wherein lived Esaugetuh Emissee (“master of breath”). He created humanity from the clay on the hill.” ref

“Navajo Changing Woman went to live in the western sea on an island made of rock crystal. Her home was made of the four sacred stones: Abalone, White Shell, Turquoise, and Black Jet. During the day she became lonely and decided to make her own people. She made four clans from the flakes of her skin. These were known as the Near Water People, Mud People, Salt Water People, and Bitter Water People. When these newly formed clans heard that there were humans to the east who shared their heritage, they wanted to go meet them.” ref

Blackfeet Creation Myth

“The Blackfeet believe that the Sun made the Earth–that he is the creator. One day, Old Man decided to make a woman and a child, and he modeled some clay in a human shape. after he had made these shapes and put them on the ground, he said to the clay, “You shall be people.” He spread his robe over the clay figures and went away. The next morning, he returned to the place, lifted the robe, and saw that the clay shapes had changed slightly. When he looked at them the next morning, they had changed still more, and when on the fourth day he went to the place and took off the covering, he said to the images, “Stand up and walk,” and they did so. They walked down to the river with him, who had made them, and he told them his name.” ref 

“Potawatomi story of the origin of humans, of the Ojibwe, and Ottawa peoples. Earthmaker scooped out a hole in a stream bank and lined the hole with stones to make a hearth, and he built a fire there. Then he took some clay and made a small figure that he put in the hearth. Earthmaker nonetheless realized that it was only half-baked. That figure became the white people. Earthmaker decided to try one more time. He cleaned the ashes out of the hearth and built a new fire. Then he scooped up some clay and cleaned it of any twigs or leaves, so that it was pure. He made a little figure and put it on the hearth, and this time he sat by the hearth and watched carefully as the figure baked. When this figure was done, he pulled it out of the fire and let it cool. Then he moved its limbs and breathed life into it, and it walked away. This figure was baked just right, and it became the red people.” ref

Old Man

“Old Man, also known as Napi, is a creator god and trickster figure in the mythology of the Blackfoot Indians of North America. He is said to have created the world and all the creatures in it. To make humans, Old Man fashioned figures out of clay and breathed life into them. …  Similar stories, in which a trickster throws an object into water to determine whether humans will live forever, appear in the mythologies of other Native American cultures.” ref

Melanesian mythology

“In one version from the same area, while the first man was made of red clay by Qat, he created the first woman of rods and rings of twigs covered with the spathes of sago palms, which are used to make the tall hats used in sacred dances. A tale of the creation of man from earth is told in the New Hebrides.  It involves a godlike figure, Takaro, who made ten male figures from mud, and breathed life into them. He then threw a fruit at one of them, which transformed the man into a woman. Melanesian mythology refers to the folklore, myths, and religions of Melanesia, a region in Southwest Oceania that encompasses the archipelagos of New Guinea (including Indonesian New Guinea and Papua New Guinea), the Torres Strait Islands, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji.” ref 

How The First Men Came to Be: A Filipino Tale of Creation

“A long, long time ago, God created Earth and filled it with plants and animals and all sorts of wonderful things. He was very pleased with what he had done. After awhile, though, He realized that Earth was still a lonely place without somebody to enjoy it and take care of it. He decided to make what he called Man, a being more special than any he had ever created, because it would be made in His image. He took some clay, molded it in His likeness, and put it inside the oven to bake. He was very anxious, pacing back and forth like an impatient dad. Unable to contain his excitement any longer, he took it out of the oven after only a short period of time. When he looked at his creation, he realized that he had taken it out of the oven too early. Its hair was very light, its skin was doughy white, and its lips were thin and pale. It appeared half- baked.” ref 

“He gave it the breath of life to show how pleased He was with it. He intended for this man to live on Earth and have dominion over everything on it. God decided to try again. Again, he took some clay, molded it in His likeness, and put it inside the oven to bake. He was still very eager to see what he had created, but this time, he restrained himself. He decided to wait just a little bit longer. Finally, he opened the oven door and took it out. Too late, he realized that he had left it in a little too long. Its hair was curly and brittle, its skin was dark, and its lips thickened from the heat. It appeared almost burnt. It was a product of His being overcautious, but He loved it nonetheless. He gave it the breath of life to show how pleased He was with it. He placed it next to the first man, to be his brother and equal, and for them to live on Earth and have dominion over it.” ref

“God decided to try one more time. Again, he took some clay, molded it in His likeness, and put it inside the oven. This time, God wanted to do it just right. He did not want to be too impatient nor did he want to be overly cautious. He waited by the oven, and he watched it carefully. As soon as it had turned a beautiful color, God took it out. He looked at his creation. Its hair was dark and straight, its color a golden brown, and its lips were neither too thin nor too thick. It was a product of the careful balance between caution and impatience. He loved it as much as the others. He gave it the breath of life as he had done with the other two. He placed all three side-by-side, brothers and equals, for them to live on Earth and have dominion over everything on it. God made many more men after that, and filled the Earth with them, each one as beloved and as special as the other. … And that is how our forefathers explained how it came about that men come in different shades, but, as they made sure to point out, no matter what color, all men were meant to be brothers and equals, for they were all made in the likeness of God.” ref 

“Nüwa created humanity due to her loneliness, which grew more intense over time. She molded yellow earth or, in other versions, yellow clay into the shape of people. These individuals later became the wealthy nobles of society, because they had been created by Nüwa’s own hands. However, the majority of humanity was created when Nüwa dragged string across mud to mass-produce them, which she did because creating every person by hand was too time- and energy-consuming. This creation story gives an aetiological explanation for the social hierarchy in ancient China. The nobility believed that they were more important than the mass-produced majority of humanity, because Nüwa took time to create them, and they had been directly touched by her hand.” ref 

The Island Taiwan: “Humans Create Poo, Poo Create Humans” 

“After talking about how the sky, earth, flora, and fauna came into being, now let’s talk about something important: how “we” came to this world. Stories about how human beings appeared show how different civilizations envision their ancestors. In many human creation myths that we are familiar with, the ancestors are usually made out of clay. For example, Nüwa made people out of clay, and God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. Many indigenous creation myths also mention how humans were created. The most popular versions being humans came from rocks, bamboo, or from a clay pot. In the Tsou Creation myth, the god Hamo created humans, and the Bunun people believe that man was born from insects and feces. Both are very unique stories. After all, nowadays it’s hard to believe that people would think their ancestors were born from insects or feces.” ref

AYMARA Bolivia, Peru, and Chile

“Kun, the god of snow, began the work of creation. Once he had finished, he became annoyed at the early humans, which led him to cover his work with snow and ice. Thereafter, the gods of fertility send the Eagle Men, their sons, to create a new race of men, known as the Paka-Jakes, who dwell near Lake Titicaca. Another creator, who is closely associated with the enigmatic and advanced builders of the Tiwanaku complex, was Pachacamac. Pachacamac had his origins within Lake Titicaca, from where he emerged to create the universe from nothing. His early creations included rebellious giants, who he destroyed by means of flood, before creating the first humans from clay. These then emerged from a number of openings in the earth, forming the tribes.” ref

MOSETÉN Bolivia

“The creator of the cosmos as we know it was Dobitt, who lived in heaven, which took the form of a raft floating through space. Dobitt fashioned the first humans from clay and placed them on earth, sending his son Keri, in the form of a white condor, to check on the planet. Sadly, the rope by which Keri was descending broke, resulting in his falling to his death. From Keri’s head, Dobitt made a fish, before going to the earth to complete his work of creation, forming all the animals and plants, and teaching humans the necessary skills to survive. The sky was raised from the earth by means of a gigantic serpent.” ref

SHUAR (JIVARO) Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazonia

“In the beginning, the creator Kumpara lived with Chingaso, his wife. Together, they had a son, Etsa, who was the sun. One night, Kumpara spat forth some mud onto Etsa, producing Nantu, the moon. Etsa then prepared to marry Nantu – the manner in which she had been conceived meant that there was nothing incestuous about their relationship. Nantu, however, had other ideas, and escaped from his advances by going into the sky and painting herself in dark hues. Another who wished for her hand was the bird Auhu, but his attempt to follow her was curtailed when she cut the vine on which he was trying to reach the sky. By now incensed, Etsa decided to go to the sky himself to retrieve his bride, by means of parrots and parakeets. He caught up with Nantu and the pair fought, resulting in eclipses. Eventually, having been brought to heel, Nantu wept, which caused her face to grow red. Nantu later left and produced a child, Nuhi, by breathing on some clay…” ref

Slavic Mythology

“In different Slavic regions, there are variations of this creation story. They almost always include two deities, one dark and one light, representing the underworld and the heavens. In some tales, life is formed from an egg, and in others it comes out of the sea or the sky. In further versions of the story, mankind is formed from clay, and as the god of light forms angels, the god of darkness creates demons to provide balance.” ref 

“The Siberian pantheon is as diverse as the region itself, with each group worshipping a multitude of gods and goddesses. For instance, the Buryats’ Numi-Torem is not only a god of wisdom but also a creator figure who formed the first humans from clay. He is said to live in the Upper World, a realm of light and purity, and is often depicted as an old man with a long beard, signifying his eternal wisdom.” ref 

Siberian Folklore and the Na-Dené Origins

“Six folklore motifs shared by the native Na-Dené speakers in North America and in Southern Siberia are revealed. In such combination, these motifs are known nowhere else. The spread of the Na-Dené languages to North America was related to the migration of the bearers of the Dyuktai culture. The lack of parallels for the Na-Dené folklore in Yakutia, Kolyma, Chukotka, and Kamchatka is understandable: the Dyuktai people had gone to Alaska and their heritage was erased by the waves of newcomers. The folklore motifs that are shared both by Na-Dené and Siberian peoples go back to the traditions of the southern neighbors of the Dyuktai people. The population density across the area between Altai and Trans-Baikal region was higher than in northward territories; therefore, the remains of the “Paleolithic” folklore could survive, notwithstanding the multiple language changes.” ref 

Athabaskan–Siberian Folklore Links: In Search of Na-Dene Origins

“Abstract: The North American Na-Dene languages, most of them belonging to the Athabaskan branch, are possibly related to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia. A series of episodes of traditional narratives link the Na-Dene with the Altai-Sayan region. The creators of the Sumnagin culture of eastern and north-eastern Siberia, who possibly reached Alaska in the Early Holocene, seem the most plausible candidates for the proto-Na-Dene speakers, although interpretation of corresponding archaeological materials remains controversial.” ref

The Mythological Explanations of Human Mortality and the Problem of the Origin of Na-Dene

“Russian scholar, Yuri Berezkin, on cataloging mythological motifs from around the globe and analyzing their patterns of geographic distribution in light of the mainstream out-of-Africa model of modern human dispersals. By analogy with Johanna Nichols’s “population linguistics,” Berezkin’s approach to mythology can be called “population folkloristics.” Importantly, Berezkin collects and maps only those folkloric motifs that are wide-spread and recognizable enough to potentially shed light on modern human dispersals and the origin of American Indians. Most of Berezkin’s macropopulational interpretations of folkloric distributions are unfounded and frivolous because the underlying data that he cherry-picks from population genetics, archaeology and paleobiology is messy and inconclusive and because the nature of cultural transmission of folkloric motifs has not been clarified. But the database that he amassed (available in Russian here) and the geographical regularities that he identified are invaluable. Contrary to Berezkin’s beliefs, comparative mythology provides an important piece of evidence in favor of the out-of-America model of human dispersals and its geographic patterning is broadly similar to the one observed in linguistics and kinship studies.” ref

“Berezkin is a prolific writer who regularly publishes populational interpretations of individual motifs and small motif clusters in various Russian ethnological journals and volumes. The paper under discussion came out on the heels of the 2008 Dene-Yeniseian Symposium in Fairbanks, Alaska in which Edward Vajda’s proposal of the genetic relationship between Na-Dene and Yeniseian languages was discussed and endorsed by a team of linguists. At the symposium, Berezkin presented another paper, “Selecting Separate Episodes of the Peopling of the New World: Beringian-Subarctic-Eastern North American Folkloric Links” in which he argued that, despite the linguistic link, Na-Dene and Kets do not share any particular folkloric motifs. The Russian paper takes a different approach. Berezkin looks at Na-Dene mythology from a global and pan-American perspective. Importantly, for the out-of-America scenario.” ref

“[M]otif diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa is limited compared with the Indo-Pacific edge of Asia and Oceania as well as with continental Eurasia from the Balkans to South Siberia. These two macroregions of the Old World are characterized by the richest and most mutually divergent sets of motifs. Both complexes are represented in the Americas, although the degree of their penetration in the different parts of the New World varies. The Indo-Pacific set of motifs is well pronounced in South and Central America and especially in Amazonia and Guiana. The Continental Eurasian set of motifs, on the other hand, is nearly missing in Latin America but is much more common in North America, especially on the Great Plains and near the Great Lakes.” ref

“What is highly significant about Berezkin’s finding is that such a natural language-based semiotic system as “folklore” shows the same pattern of global diversity as linguistics – Africa has very limited linguistic diversity as measured by the number of independent language stocks, while the opposite end of the globe – the New World and Oceania are highly diverse on this parameter. (Contrast it with the interpretation of world musical traditions by Victor Grauer – Africa presumably contains a great richness of polyphonic styles, whereas America is rather uniformly monophonic with rare pockets of polyphony.)” ref

“Berezkin notes the “stunning diversity of New World mythologies” but then instantly walks away from this critical finding to declare that the “New World was a recipient of both Continental Eurasian and Indo-Pacific traditions.” In another Russian paper, “Nanaj Folklore and the Homeland of American Indians” (2011) Berezkin notes the contradiction between population genetic and folkloristic evidence: while genetically Amerindians are homogeneous, their mythological motifs show “diverse links with many Asian motifs” (I would add “and Oceanic, and West Eurasian and African,” as Berezkin’s own work documents.) This observation makes Berezkin question the popular “Beringian Standstill” model for the peopling of the Americas because it’s unlikely that the Continental Eurasian and Indo-Pacific clusters would have preserved their distinctiveness after thousands of years of intermingling that such a refugium would have of necessity created. He envisions more of a continuous streaming of populations first from Far East Siberia (that’s where the parallels between Amerindian and Siberian motifs are apparently the strongest) and then from all over Siberia.” ref

“As these populations relocated to the New World, they were replaced by populations migrating to Siberia from further down south. It remains unclear how this massive, systematic, and wholesale sharing was possible considering Berezkin’s belief in the late (15,000 years ago at the maximum) dates for the peopling of the Americas compared with the 40,000-50,000 years ago timeframe for the initial peopling of the Sahul and the onset of geographic isolation of Papuans and Australian aborigines), the poor accessibility of the New World to Old World populations, the paucity of genetic evidence for multiple migrations to the New World and the reduced genetic diversity in the New World suggestive of a small original pool of Asian migrants and, finally, the existence of specific genetic signatures among New World populations not found in Siberia or in the Old World. All existing models of the peopling of the Americas can explain one or two of the unique patterns of variation in the New World, but only out-of-America provides a good explanation for the whole picture.” ref

“Berezkin (2010) focuses on the origins of Na-Dene and only on the motifs explaining the origin of death. Death origin myths form a dozen of distinct motifs possessing clear geographic patterning worldwide (see here). Most of them are found in Sub-Saharan Africa and Berezkin considers them part of the original motif repertoire of behaviorally modern humans. The motif of spilled elixir of immortality, the motif of jealous animals, and the images of domesticated animals (dogs, goats, sheep) responsible for the loss of immortality are likely of recent Asian origin. In sharp contrast to generally low motif diversity in Africa, Africa is very rich in death-origin motifs, and in this, it is rivaled only by eastern South America. Remarkably, outside of Africa, death-origin motifs are mostly concentrated in the Indo-Pacific region and in the New World, while Continental Eurasia has much fewer of those. Pacific Northwest, the area generally believed to be homeland to Na-Dene Indians, is also rich in death origin motifs.” ref

“Berezkin uses the universal frame of reference implied in death origin motifs to assess what myths can tell us about the origin of Na-Dene. Berezkin noticed that there are two death-origin motifs in America that are polar logical opposites of each other. In one, “Strong and Weak,” the Creator makes humans first out of stone. They are immortal but unwieldy for the earth. He then remakes them out of wood, they become light but mortal at the same time. In the other one, “Stone Sinks, Wood Floats,” protagonists argue whether humans should die or live forever. They place bets on a stone vs. a piece of wood. When it turns out that a stone sinks in the water, while a piece of wood floats, humans are declared mortal. Variations in these two basic themes abound and the geographical clustering is very different. The Strong-and-Weak motif is found among Ingalik, Koyukon, Athna, Taltan, Upper Tanana, and Tlingits (among Na-Dene) as well as in Tsimshian, Haida, and Chugach, who presumably borrowed it from Na-Dene. Southern Athabascans lack this motif, which Berezkin attributes to Pueblo influence. But, surprisingly enough, the motif is found among Cheyennes and Plains Ojibwa (see map below).” ref

“The Stone Sinks, Wood Floats motif is more pervasive. It’s found among Tagish, Hare, Kaska, Dogrib, Carrier, Apache, and Navajo (all – Athabascans) and Blackfoot, Grosventres, Arapaho, Cheyennes (all – Algonquin) and Comanche (Uto-Aztecan). Unlike the Strong and Weak motif, this other one is found in Northern and Southern Athabascans and is more completely represented among Plains Algonquins. Berezkin considers both of them ancient Na-Dene and Athabascan motifs. Both of them are relatively rare in North America but are attested in Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, Oceania and the Sahul. Strong and Weak is weakly attested in western Siberia, and Stone Sinks, Wood Floats is completely unknown in Continental Eurasia (see below).” ref

ref

“The lack of Siberian affinities for Na-Dene death origin myths (and the presence of those affinities with South America and the Indo-Pacific region) is a very intriguing finding, which speaks to the relic nature of the Na-Dene population. (Importantly, Na-Dene show high frequencies of Y-DNA C3b lineage, which comes off of hg C which is one of the most ancient non-African haplogroups. Y-DNA hg C3b is also very rare in North America, just like the two death origin motifs under discussion, but then “reappears” in northwest South America again as hg C*). In his Dene-Yeniseian Symposium paper, Berezkin associated Na-Dene with the last, fourth (in his model) wave of the colonization of the New World. In the Russian paper, he argues that “the mythology of historic Athabascans did not come from Siberia” (p. 44). He is leaning more toward a long chronology for Na-Dene origins tying it to Dyuktai and Denali cultures of the terminal Pleistocene (which is a pure speculation) and, linguistically, to the Dene-Caucasian macrophylum in which the separation of the Na-Dene cluster is independent of (and likely predates) the separation of the Yeniseian cluster.” ref

Siberian Ket/Yeniseian Mythology

“As is typical of many peoples, the Ket regarded the sky as a sacred realm and considered the mysterious underworld to be an abode of the dead. Both sky and underworld contained seven layers. Between these stood the tangible world inhabited by humans, which the Ket referred to as ilbang, or ordinary earth, as opposed to the extraordinary realms of the heavens and the underworld. The earth itself was believed to float upon a vast sea, with seven seas surrounding its perimeter on all sides. The underworld was a mysterious place, only fuzzily conceptualized. Among the Ket, a kind of medicine man called the bangos professed a special connection with the earth and its nether regions. The mole and the bat, thought to be among the underworld’s few living denizens, were his helpers, as were the myriad ilbangdeng, or earth spirits, whom the bangos alone could perceive and harness. Conversely, Ket shamans (senang) possessed a special connection with the sky and with certain birds. The sky itself was the abode of Es, the all-powerful male creator deity, who tended to keep aloof from humans on earth. It was assumed that the sky contained rivers and lakes and mountains mirroring those of the earth. The stars and planets were regarded as the roots of heavenly trees.” ref

“The Ket believed that the polar star was anchored to the earth in the precise vicinity of where they camped and roamed by a sort of cosmic umbilical cord. Humans too were believed to have developed their navels from a similar connection with the earth. Legend has it that the first humans created by Es were not subject to death. When one man became old and tired and lost consciousness, Es sent down his son to instruct the Ket to place the body on a platform raised above the ground and leave it undisturbed until it revived. The son mixed everything up and told the people to bury the body in the ground. As punishment, Es turned his son into the first dog, doomed ever after to serve humans and eat the scraps they left behind. As for the people, they began to die and return to the earth. Ket sky burials, on raised wooden platforms, came to be reserved for shamans, while most people were simply buried in the ground.” ref

“Dead newborns were laid to rest inside a cavity in a tree trunk or stump. Burial grounds were traditionally set inland, away from campsites. The Ket had seven souls, unlike animals, who had only one. The seventh human soul was immortal and thought to return in the body of a child born soon after the person’s death. This endless process of reincarnation continued humanity, linking underworld with earth in a temporal-geographic union symbolized by the person’s navel. The navel and umbilical cord were symbolic of the connection between mortal humans or animals and Mother Earth. When a person died, the oldest woman in the family group stripped the leather cords from the deceased’s clothing, reserving them for incorporation into clothing made for the next child born. These strips of reindeer hide symbolized the umbilical connection between the body and its earthly life force, or ulvej, thought to be immortal. Both were renewed and reinvigorated through the earth in the cycle of dying and rebirth. The earth was the source of both life and death for all living beings.” ref

“The cosmic connection between underworld, earth, and sky was also conceptualized in the form of a giant tree. Images of this World Tree appear on the backboard of a woman’s snow sled. Trees in general were regarded as powerful forces. In the Ket language, tree words belong to the masculine noun class, usually reserved for positive, useful, or powerful objects as well as for male humans and animals (Vajda 2004). Trees were anthropomorphized to some degree and even thought to possess their own language. The crown of branches was the ‘head’. The thinner bark on the south-facing side was referred to as the tree’s ‘stomach’, while the opposite, northfacing bark was called the ‘back’. Trees that grew on higher land, such as the Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica, commonly referred to as ‘cedar’), the larch, and the white birch were the most revered. The alder or aspen, as trees that grew in low swampy areas, were thought to be closer to the underworld and associated with negative forces. Alderwood was called ‘blood wood’ and an alder branch could be used to disperse evil spirits when entering an abandoned dwelling.” ref

“The most beloved and most useful tree was the birch. Its wood and bark, which cannot become waterlogged, provided covering for the qu’s, a type of conical summer tent constructed on a frame of poles. A young birch was cut and stood near the tent as an offering tree upon which were placed scraps of cloth and other small sacrifices. After the camp was broken, this tree was carefully laid away from areas where it might be trampled. Birch branches provided a favorite perch for benevolent spirits. Evil spirits preferred to nestle in spruce and fir (Anuchin 1914: 18). Pinewood (i.e., cedar wood) provided all of the shaman’s wooden attributes as well as most images of the allel, or Ket family guardian spirit doll. These dolls were usually about 6 inches long and clothed in scraps of cloth or fur, with beads for decorations. Allels were carved out of living trees so they would be ‘alive’. “Cedar” wood was also used for coffin planks. In certain key rituals, trees were even transformed into spirits and other beings.” ref

“Other upright objects, such as poles, posts, ships’ masts, and pillars likewise belonged to the masculine gender. The upward direction represented the sacred sphere of shamanism. The sky was inhabited by sundry esdeng – heavenly spirits capable of coming to the aid of shamans when called. The name of the legendary first shaman, Doh, possibly derives from a homonymous morpheme meaning ‘to fly’. In one Ket version of the cosmos, the Milky Way is referred to as Doh’s trail, Dohara qo’t. Shamans, whose training involved seven stages, each of which lasted three years (Anuchin 1914), were able to fly up into the seven layers of the sky with the assistance of increasingly powerful spirit allies. The Ket also practiced a sort of divination in which a spoon would be thrown into the air and a question asked. If the spoon landed face down, toward the underworld, the answer was negative; if it landed face up, toward the open sky, the answer was positive. Family members used their Allel dolls in the same way.” ref

“The same sort of ritual was also performed using a bear’s paw during the Bear Ceremony when the Ket asked the spirit of the slaughtered bear to reveal its former human identity. Analogically parallel to the vertical axis was an opposition based on the horizontal direction of south to north. Because the Ket had lived so long in the vicinity of the Yenisei River, which flows from the Altai due northward to the Arctic Circle, the direction ‘south’ was conceptualized as upriver, and ‘north’ as downriver. The north was a land of darkness, cold, and death. There was no clear division between it and the underworld. The mysterious downriver portion of the Yenisei and the frozen seas beyond it were inhabited by the evil witch Hosedam, the former wife of Es, who had been thrown down from the sky by Es for committing adultery with the moon.” ref

“At first she lived in the south, where she and her servants, evil spirits called kyns, preyed upon the Ket, sending them all manner of misery and devouring their souls. When the great Ket culture hero Alba drove her northward, he established the course for the Yenisei in the process by breaking through a narrow place in the hills, the scene of today’s Osinov Rapids on the upper course of the Yenisei. The rapids themselves are thought to be the remains of Alba’s elk and reindeer. The relentless Alba pursued Hosedam past the mouth of the Yenisei into the frozen seas of the Arctic, where he burned her up. Unfortunately, the smoke and ashes from her spilt blood generated the endless swarms of biting insects that plague the taiga during the brief period of summer heat. Analogous myths exist among native peoples of the Pacific Northwest of North America. Unfortunately, Hosedam herself regenerated and remains in the north to send afflictions upriver to the Ket in their taiga home. One Ket myth identifies the Milky Way as the path left by Alba in his pursuit of Hosedam. Another tells that Alba dripped blood on his journey south from Hosedam to the land of the Ket.” ref

“The south, in great contrast to the north, was a place of warmth and plenty. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ket still retained ancient memories of being driven northward by fiercer tribes and having to adapt to their present sub-arctic climate (Anuchin 1914: 5). The benevolent goddess Tomam resides in some unidentified mountainous land (perhaps the Altai-Sayan?) located south of where the Ket now live. Embodying the south as one of the four corners of the world, Tomam brings forth the wild spring thunder that signals the coming of warm weather. Every spring she stands atop her mountains and shakes her feathery cape. The fuzz that falls from her sleeves and cape becomes the migratory geese and ducks that rescue the Ket from starvation in late spring. She also sends swans, one of the most sacred shamanistic birds, as well as loons, another bird associated with shamanistic power that is taboo to kill.” ref

“The geographic opposition between east and west was similarly configured in terms of a positive and negative pole. The east was the direction of the rising sun, the direction of life, whereas the west was associated with darkness and death. In a Ket encampment, tents were erected with the most prominent member’s dwelling standing closest to the east. The tent opening faced west, since the western side through which everyone entered was regarded as the profane side of the tent. The back inner portion, reserved for adult males, was the cleanest, most sacred area. Snow sleds normally were parked facing east. A sled parked facing west signaled that its owner had died. A kettle tipped toward the west symbolized death. A red sunset was thought to be a harbinger for a deterioration of the next day’s weather, a manifestation of Deles, spirit of the blood-red sky. Together with the north and the underground spaces, the west represented yet another image of death and the underworld.” ref

“The low-lying forests on the western side of the Yenisei were thought to be infested with lytis, evil spirits of the dead sometimes regarded as servants of Hosedam. It was also the abode of Bissimdes, the eldest son of Es who had failed to heed his father’s warnings and froze to death in the swampy lowlands. There he dwells still, sending storms, warfare, and all manner of ill will to the Ket from that direction. Bissimdes was also thought to send storms, so that the color red, which symbolized both blood and the sunset, were linked in this way. The role of Bissimdes in the west and Hosedam in the north therefore overlapped. Hosedam was also known as tygilam, or ‘Downriver Mother’. Along the Yenisei, the notions ‘downriver’ and ‘north’ were basically synonymous. The east, like the upriver south, had no such negative connotations.” ref

“After the Bear Ceremony, in which a bear was ritually slaughtered and eaten to propitiate success in the hunt, the bear’s bones and certain organs were secreted in a cavity of a tree facing east, as it was believed this direction fostered reincarnation of the bear’s spirit. Bones of animals killed for food on the hunt were likewise placed on the east side of trees in the hope of facilitating their abundant reappearance during the next hunting season. When a Ket woman gave birth, the midwife would take from the tent in an eastward direction a birchbark box containing the afterbirth, tying it to the eastern side of a pine (i.e., “cedar”) tree. The positioning of this box facing the eastern exposure was designed to invoke the life-giving properties of this direction. The box also contained a miniature bow fashioned from willow twigs and designed to protect the infant from evil spirits. Clockwise motion also played a positive role in many rituals, during which the participants moved in an east to west motion.” ref

“All of these facts linked the east/west, south/north, and up/down dichotomies into one geographic unity. The east, the south, and the sky were the positive poles of their respective axes. The west, the north, and the mysterious dark spaces underground were places associated with cold, death, darkness, and the imprisonment of human souls. A fourth extremely important geographic conceptualization concerned the opposition between river water and the inland forest. The Ket world was thought to float on an enormous sea and be surrounded by seven seas. These expanses of water were associated with the underworld or with Hosedam, who was thought to live at the place where the Yenisei emptied into the frozen sea. But bodies of fresh water on the land, particularly rivers, were familiar places of plenty and benevolence. In the Ket language, the adverb igda means both ‘down to the river’s edge’ as well as ‘downriver’ and ‘downhill’, while at means ‘into the forest’ as well as ‘upriver’ and ‘uphill’. The riverbank, in particular, was a zone of life-giving support, while the forest interior was more forbidding, though likewise vital during the winter months when the water was thickly frozen over.” ref

“The Ket traditionally passed the warmer months near rivers and the winter months hunting upland in the forest. The positive image of the river vis-à-vis the forest was later partly erased by the increasing need for the Ket to meet the demands of the Russian yasak, or fur tax, by going deep into the taiga to hunt fur-bearing animals. Originally, the Ket were a riverine folk, or at least a major component of their ethnicity appears to have been. The river as a destination was therefore highly positive. Encampments near the riverbank were set up in a way analogous to those established on an east/west axis. The most prominent member of the camp pitched tent closest to the water, with less senior members occupying places increasingly more inland. Rivers were envisioned as feminine beings that could be counted on to yield bountiful life in the form of edible fish.” ref

“It was forbidden to throw garbage into the water. One Ket folktale tells of a woman who carelessly tossed rotting fish heads into a river, only to have the offended river stop yielding up its fish. The rivers themselves, like the earth, were regarded as feminine beings and offerings of tea, tobacco, food or coins were made to them. Spring flooding often exposed the tusks of wooly mammoths. The Ket, apparently preserving no recollection of these beasts from real-life prehistory, regarded the bones and tusks as having been left by a huge underground tunneling creature, the tel, who was though to have gouged out the deep bends in the rivers. The tel was regarded as a denizen of the underworld.” ref

“CHUKCHI MYTHOLOGY The symbols of the Earth complement those of the sky and represent the Great Mother (Mother Earth) who is fertilised by rain and gives birth to plants that give food to other living beings. The mythological theme of Mother Earth stretches back to thousands of years. There have been discovered clay figures of big-breasted women representing their reproductive and feeding role dating back to over 20,000 years BCE. According to beliefs seas, lakes and rivers are a part of the bountiful gifts of the universe, sharing feminine and nourishing qualities with the earth.” ref 

“The totemic concepts of the aborigines of the Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas about animal ancestors of man in this case find reflection in their narrative traditions. Later the animal “personages” of the tales with a similar subject matter change into human beings. The tales themselves acquire a social aspect (see no. 37 in this publication and also the Chukchi tale “The Dog Who Proposed Marriage” in Bogoras 1900, no. 108).” ref

Raven and The First Men

“There are different stories about how Raven created the world and the first men. Some of them have the Raven forming the first people out of clay.” ref

“Raven Tales are the traditional human and animal creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They are also found among Athabaskan-speaking peoples and others. Raven stories exist in nearly all of the First Nations throughout the region but are most prominent in the tales of the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Tahltan people. Raven and eagle are known by many different names by many different peoples and is an important figure among written and verbal stories. It’s important to note that, from some storytellers’ perspective, indigenous myths such as the Raven Tales, as opposed to tall tales and little stories for children.” ref

“While each culture’s stories of the Raven are different, there are even those that share the same title; certain attributes of Raven remain the same. The Raven is always a magical creature able to take the form of human, animal, even inanimate objects. Tales that feature the Raven as the hero are specific to areas in the north of the continent such as northern British Columbia and Alaska and their peoples,  such as the Tsimshian and the Haida. Similar tales about Kutkh appear in Chukchi cultures in the north-east of Asia and it is probable that they are influenced by Native American stories.

“The Haida people credits Raven with finding the first humans hiding in a clam shell; he brought them berries and salmon. The Sioux tell of how a white raven used to warn buffalo of approaching hunters. Eventually an angry hunter caught the bird and threw it into a fire, turning it black. While Raven tales tell the origins of human beings, they do not address the origins of organized society. In tales which mirror development and organization of Native American societies, the hero is often humanity itself. Raven tales do not offer a detailed picture about the social relations and realities of life.” ref

“The Cahto are an indigenous Californian group of Native Americans. The Cahto lived farthest south of all the Athapascans in California. Creation story: One version of the Raven creation story is that of the Cahto in California. In one variant, Raven is taught by his father, Kit-ka’ositiyi-qa, to be a creator, but Raven is unsatisfied with the result. He creates the world but is unable to give it light or water. On hearing that light could be found hidden in a far-off land, Raven decides to travel there and steal it. In the house of light, he finds a young woman living with her father and plays the first of many tricks. He turns himself into a speck of dirt, slips into her drinking water, and is swallowed. The daughter becomes pregnant and she gave birth.” ref

“In the myth, How Raven Lost His Beak: Raven stole some trees a beaver had cut down for a dam and in two days he had built a raft. He took branches and mud and dried grass and shaped them into figures. When he set the figures on the raft, they looked like people paddling. Now all he had to do was wait for the right wind.” ref 

“Raven told Man to walk away a few steps, and in astonishment exclaimed again: “From where did you come? I have never seen anything like you before.” To this Man replied: “I came from the pea-pod.” And he pointed to the plant from which he came. “Ah!” exclaimed Raven, “I made that vine, but did not know that anything like you would ever come from it. Now wait for me here.” Raven then led Man to a small creek nearby and left him while he went to the water’s edge and molded a couple of pieces of clay into the form of a pair of mountain sheep, which he held in his hand, and when they became dry he called Man to show him what he had done. Man thought they were very pretty, and Raven told him to close his eyes. As soon as Man’s eyes were closed Raven drew down his mask and waved his wings four times over the images, when they became endowed with life and bounded away as full-grown mountain sheep.” ref

Raven and “The clay became a beautiful girl”

“He took two pieces of clay at the water’s edge, and shaped them like a pair of mountain sheep. Then Raven pulled down his beak-mask, and waved his wings four times over the pieces of clay. At once they bounded away as full-grown mountain sheep. Raven took two more pieces of clay and shaped them like tame reindeer. Again Raven took two pieces of clay and shaped them like the caribou or wild reindeer. He took white clay and shaped it like a bear. Then he waved his wings over it, and the clay became a bear.” ref

“Raven said one day to Man, “You are lonely by yourself. I will make you a companion.” He went to some white clay at a spot distant from the clay of which he had made animals, and made of the clay a figure almost like Man. Raven kept looking at Man while he shaped the figure. Then he took fine water grass from the creek and fastened it on the back of the head for hair. When the clay was shaped, Raven drew down his beak-mask and waved his wings over it. The clay became a beautiful girl. The girl was white and fair because Raven let the clay dry entirely before he waved his wings over it. Raven took the girl to Man. “There is a companion for you,” he said.” ref

“When the first baby came on the earth plain, Raven rubbed it all over with white clay. He told Man it would grow into a man like himself. The next morning the baby was a big boy. He ran around pulling up grass and flowers that Raven had planted. By the third day the baby was a full-grown man. Then another baby was born on the earth plain. She was rubbed over with the white clay. The next day the baby was a big girl, walking around. On the third day she was a full-grown woman.” ref