View source for Creation myth

{{Short description|Symbolic narrative of how the world began}}
{{about||the series of sculptures by Tom Otterness|Creation Myth (sculpture)}}
{{Redirect|Creation stories|the 2021 biopic of Alan McGee|Creation Stories (film){{!}}''Creation Stories'' (film)}}
[[File:Tissot The Creation.jpg|thumb|''The Creation'' (c. 1896–1902), painting by [[James Tissot]]<ref>An interpretation of the [[Genesis creation narrative|creation narrative]] from the first book of the [[Torah]] (commonly known as the [[Book of Genesis]]), [http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=26663&lefttxt=tissot painting from the collections] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130416014825/http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=26663&lefttxt=tissot |date=2013-04-16}} of the [[Jewish Museum (New York)]]</ref>]]
A '''creation myth''' or '''cosmogonic myth''' is a type of [[cosmogony]],<ref>{{citation |title=The Pregnant Male as Myth and Metaphor |last=Leitao |first=David D. |date=2012 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=daCZ-_cRK64C&pg=PA106 106] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=[[Cambridge, England|Cambridge]] |isbn=9781107017283 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=daCZ-_cRK64C}}.</ref> a [[symbol]]ic [[narrative]] of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it.<ref name=britannica>{{harvnb|Encyclopædia Britannica|2009}}</ref><ref name=womack>{{harvnb|Womack|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MQi5x7_-eksC&pg=PA81 81]}}, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and therefore typically have multiple versions."</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Signs & Symbols – An Illustrated Guide to Their Origins and Meanings |publisher=DK Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-1405325394 |chapter=Creation Stories |page=157 |quote=For many they are not a literal account of events, but may be perceived as symbolic of a deeper truth.}}</ref> While in popular usage the term ''[[myth]]'' often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths.<ref>"In common usage the word 'myth' refers to narratives or beliefs that are untrue or merely fanciful; the stories that make up national or ethnic mythologies describe characters and events that common sense and experience tell us are impossible. Nevertheless, all cultures celebrate such myths and attribute to them various degrees of literal or symbolic ''truth''." ({{harvnb|Leeming|2010|p=xvii}})</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Long|1963|p=18}}</ref> In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound [[truth (religious)|truths]]{{snd}}[[metaphor]]ically, [[religious symbolism|symbolically]], [[historicism|historically]], or [[literal and figurative language|literally]].<ref name=kimball/><ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|2010|pp=xvii–xviii, 465}}</ref> They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical myths{{snd}}that is, they describe the ordering of the [[cosmos]] from a state of [[chaos (cosmogony)|chaos]] or amorphousness.<ref>''See:''
* {{harvnb|Leeming|2010}}
* {{harvnb|Weigle|1987}}
* {{harvnb|Leonard|McClure|2004}}
* {{harvnb|Honko|1984|p=50}}</ref>

Creation myths often share several features. They often are considered [[sacred]] accounts and can be found in nearly all known [[religion|religious traditions]].<ref name=johnston>{{harvnb|Johnston|2009}}</ref> They are all stories with a [[plot (narrative)|plot]] and [[character (arts)|characters]] who are either [[deity|deities]], human-like figures, or animals, who often speak and transform easily.<ref>''See:''
* {{harvnb|Johnston|2009}}
* {{harvnb|Encyclopædia Britannica|2009}}
* {{harvnb|Leeming|chapter="Creation"|2011a}}
* {{harvnb|Long|1963}}</ref> They are often set in a dim and nonspecific past that historian of religion [[Mircea Eliade]] termed ''in illo tempore'' ('at that time').<ref name=johnston/><ref>{{harvnb|Eliade|1963|p=429}}</ref> Creation myths address questions deeply meaningful to the society that shares them, revealing their central [[worldview]] and the framework for the self-identity of the culture and individual in a universal context.<ref>''See:''
* {{harvnb|Johnston|2009}}
* {{harvnb|Long|1963}}
* {{harvnb|Encyclopædia Britannica|2009}}
* {{harvnb|Leeming|2010}}
</ref>

Creation myths develop in [[oral tradition]]s and therefore typically have multiple versions;<ref name=womack/> found throughout human [[culture]], they are the most common form of myth.<ref name=kimball>{{harvnb|Kimball|2008}}{{page needed|date=November 2011}}</ref>

==Definitions==
[[File:suomalaisten maailma.jpg|thumb|Structure of the world, according to [[Finnish mythology#The origins and the structure of the world|Finnish mythology]]]]
Creation myth definitions from modern references:
* A "symbolic narrative of the beginning of the world as understood in a particular tradition and community. Creation myths are of central importance for the valuation of the world, for the orientation of humans in the universe, and for the basic patterns of life and culture."<ref name=mwewr>{{harvnb|Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions |1999|p=267}}</ref>
* "Creation myths tell us how things began. All cultures have creation myths; they are our primary myths, the first stage in what might be called the psychic life of the species. As cultures, we identify ourselves through the collective dreams we call creation myths, or [[cosmogony|cosmogonies]]. ... Creation myths explain in metaphorical terms our sense of who we are in the context of the world, and in so doing they reveal our real priorities, as well as our real prejudices. Our images of creation say a great deal about who we are."<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|2010|p=84}}</ref>
* A "philosophical and theological elaboration of the primal myth of creation within a religious community. The term myth here refers to the imaginative expression in narrative form of what is experienced or apprehended as basic reality ... The term creation refers to the beginning of things, whether by the will and act of a transcendent being, by emanation from some ultimate source, or in any other way."<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/142144/creation-myth creation myth], ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2009)</ref>

Religion professor [[Mircea Eliade]] defined the word ''myth'' in terms of creation: 
<blockquote>
Myth narrates a sacred history; it relates an event that took place in primordial Time, the fabled time of the "beginnings." In other words, myth tells how, through the deeds of Supernatural Beings, a reality came into existence, be it the whole of reality, the Cosmos, or only a fragment of reality – an island, a species of plant, a particular kind of human behavior, an institution.<ref>{{harvnb|Eliade|1964|pp=5–6}}</ref>
</blockquote>

==Meaning and function==
[[File:Ba-Gua animated.gif|thumb|left|upright|In [[Chinese creation myth|Daoist creation myth]], "[[Tao|The Way]] gave birth to unity; unity gave birth to duality; duality gave birth to trinity; trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures." (''[[Daodejing]]'', 4th century BCE)<ref>{{harvnb|Mair|1990|page=9}}</ref>]]

Creation myths have been around since [[ancient history]] and have served important societal roles. Over 100 "distinct" ones have been discovered.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bohan |first1=Elise |title=Big History |last2=Dinwiddie |first2=Robert |last3=Challoner |first3=Jack |last4=Stuart |first4=Colin |last5=Harvey |first5=Derek |last6=Wragg-Sykes |first6=Rebecca |last7=Chrisp |first7=Peter |last8=Hubbard |first8=Ben |last9=Parker |first9=Phillip |collaboration=Writers |date=February 2016 |publisher=[[DK (publisher) |DK]] |others=Foreword by [[David Christian (historian) |David Christian]] |isbn=978-1-4654-5443-0 |edition=1st American |location=[[New York City |New York]] |pages=18 |oclc=940282526 |author-link6=Rebecca Wragg Sykes |author-link7=Peter Chrisp |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/940282526}}</ref> All creation myths are in one sense [[etiological]] because they attempt to explain how the world formed and where humanity came from.<ref name=Leeming2005/> Myths attempt to explain the unknown and sometimes teach a lesson.<ref>[https://www.ushistory.org/civ/5c.asp Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes]. ''Ancient Civilizations''. US History.org - Ancient Greece: "Myths were used to help explain the unknown and sometimes teach a lesson."</ref><ref>[https://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/CoursePack/culture.htm Culture, Religion, & Myth: Interdisciplinary Approaches]. Cora Agatucci. Central Oregon Community College. - " A mythology or belief system often concerns supernatural beings/powers of a culture, provides a rationale for a culture's religion and practices, and reflects how people relate to each other in everyday life. "</ref>

[[Ethnologists]] and [[anthropologists]] who study origin myths say that in the modern context theologians try to discern humanity's meaning from [[revelation|revealed truths]] and scientists investigate [[cosmology]] with the tools of [[empiricism]] and [[rationality]], but creation myths define human reality in very different terms. In the past, [[history of religion|historians of religion]] and other students of myth thought of such stories as forms of [[primitive culture|primitive]] or [[protoscience|early-stage science]] or [[origin of religion|religion]] and analyzed them in a [[wikt:literal|literal]] or logical sense. Today, however, they are seen as symbolic narratives which must be understood in terms of their own cultural context. [[Charles H. Long|Charles Long]], for example, writes: "The beings referred to in the myth – [[god]]s, animals, plants – are forms of power grasped existentially. The myths should not be understood as attempts to work out a rational explanation of deity."<ref>{{harvnb|Long|1963|page=12}}</ref>

While creation myths are not literal [[explication]]s, they do serve to define an orientation of humanity in the world in terms of a birth story. They provide the basis of a worldview that reaffirms and guides how people relate to [[nature|the natural world]], to any assumed [[astral plane|spiritual world]], and to [[society|each other]]. A creation myth acts as a cornerstone for distinguishing primary reality from [[relativism|relative]] reality, the origin and nature of [[being]] from non-being.<ref>{{harvnb|Sproul|1979|page=6}}</ref> In this sense cosmogonic myths serve as a [[meaning of life|philosophy of life]] – but one expressed and conveyed through [[symbolic anthropology|symbol]] rather than through systematic reason. And in this sense they go beyond [[etiological myth#Mythology|etiological myths]] (which explain specific features in religious rites, natural phenomena, or cultural life). Creation myths also help to orient human beings in the world, giving them a sense of their place in the world and the regard that they must have for humans and nature.<ref name=britannica/>

Historian [[David Christian (historian)|David Christian]] has summarized issues common to multiple creation myths:

{{blockquote|How did everything begin? This is the first question faced by any creation myth and ... answering it remains tricky. ... Each beginning seems to presuppose an earlier beginning. ... Instead of meeting a single starting point, we encounter an infinity of them, each of which poses the same problem. ... There are no entirely satisfactory solutions to this dilemma. What we have to find is not a solution but some way of dealing with the mystery .... And we have to do so using words. The words we reach for, from ''God'' to ''gravity'', are inadequate to the task. So we have to use language poetically or symbolically; and such language, whether used by a scientist, a poet, or a shaman, can easily be misunderstood.<ref>
{{cite book |last1=Christian |first1=David |author1-link=David Christian (historian) |title=Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History |series=California World History Library |volume=2 |date=2004 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=17–18 |isbn=978-0520931923 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUqZl7RdNtwC |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref>}}

==Classification==
[[File:Mayan - Dwarf Figurine - Walters 20092036 - View A.jpg|thumb|upright|In [[Maya religion]], the [[dwarfism|dwarf]] was an embodiment of the [[Maya maize god|Maize God]]'s [[Maya religion#Goblins and dwarfs|helpers]] at [[Maya maize god#Cosmological creation myth|creation]].<ref>[[commons:File:Mayan - Dwarf Figurine - Walters 20092036 - View A.jpg|Description]] from [[Walters Art Museum]]</ref>]]
{{See also|List of creation myths}}
[[Mythologist]]s have applied various schemes to classify creation myths found throughout human cultures. Eliade and his colleague Charles Long developed a classification based on some common [[Motif (literature)|motifs]] that reappear in stories the world over. The classification identifies five basic types:<ref name=lm3233>{{harvnb|Leonard|McClure|2004|pages=32–33}}</ref>
[[File:Shesh shaiya Vishnu.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Brahma|Brahmā]], the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] ''[[Deva (Hinduism)|deva]]'' of creation, emerges from a [[Nelumbo nucifera|lotus]] risen from the navel of [[Vishnu|Viṣņu]], who lies with [[Lakshmi]] on the serpent [[Ananta Shesha]].]]

* [[Creatio ex nihilo|Creation ''ex nihilo'']] in which the creation is through the thought, word, dream, or bodily secretions of a divine being.
* Earth-diver creation in which a diver, usually a bird or amphibian sent by a creator, plunges to the seabed through a [[cosmic ocean|primordial ocean]] to bring up sand or mud which develops into a terrestrial world.
* Emergence myths in which progenitors pass through a series of worlds and metamorphoses until reaching the present world.
* Creation by the dismemberment of a primordial being.
* Creation by the splitting or ordering of a primordial unity such as the cracking of a [[world egg|cosmic egg]] or a bringing order from [[chaos (cosmogony)|chaos]].

[[Marta Weigle]] further developed and refined this typology to highlight nine themes, adding elements such as ''[[deus faber]]'', a creation crafted by a deity, creation from the work of two creators working together or against each other, creation from sacrifice and creation from division/conjugation, accretion/conjunction, or secretion.<ref name=lm3233/>

An alternative system based on six recurring narrative themes was designed by Raymond Van Over:<ref name=lm3233/>
* Primeval [[abyss (religion)|abyss]], an infinite expanse of waters or space
* Originator deity which is awakened or an eternal entity within the abyss
* Originator deity poised above the abyss
* Cosmic egg or [[embryo]]
* Originator deity creating life through sound or word
* Life generating from the corpse or dismembered parts of an originator deity

===''Ex nihilo''===
{{Main|Creatio ex nihilo}}
[[File:Hieronymus Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights - The exterior (shutters).jpg|thumb|upright|''Creation'' on the exterior shutters of [[Hieronymus Bosch]]'s [[triptych]] ''[[The Garden of Earthly Delights]]'' (c. 1490–1510)]]

The belief that [[God]] [[creatio ex nihilo|created the world out of nothing]] – ''ex nihilo'' – is central today to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and the medieval Jewish philosopher [[Maimonides]] felt it was the only concept that the three religions shared.{{sfn|Soskice|2010|p=24}} Nonetheless, the concept is not found anywhere in the Hebrew Bible.{{sfn|Nebe|2002|p=119}} The authors of Genesis 1 were concerned not with the origins of matter (the material which God formed into the habitable cosmos), but with assigning roles so that the cosmos should function.{{sfn|Walton|2006|p=183}} In the early 2nd century CE, early Christian scholars were beginning to see a tension between the idea of world-formation and the omnipotence of God, and by the beginning of the 3rd century creation ''ex nihilo'' had become a fundamental tenet of Christian theology.{{sfn|May|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=eu4RBwAAQBAJ&q=%22tension+between+the+idea+of+world-formation%22&pg=PA179 179]}}

''Ex nihilo'' creation is found in creation stories from [[ancient Egypt]], the [[Rig Veda]], and many [[animism|animistic]] cultures in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and North America.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|2010|pages=1–3, 153}}</ref> In most of these stories, the world is brought into being by the speech, dream, breath, or pure thought of a creator but creation ex nihilo may also take place through a creator's bodily secretions.

The literal translation of the phrase ''ex nihilo'' is "from nothing" but in many creation myths the line is blurred whether the creative act would be better classified as a creation ''ex nihilo'' or creation from chaos. In ''ex nihilo'' creation myths, the potential and the substance of creation springs from within the creator. Such a creator may or may not be existing in physical surroundings such as darkness or water, but does not create the world from them, whereas in creation from chaos the substance used for creation is pre-existing within the unformed void.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|Leeming|1994|pages=60–61}}</ref>

===Creation from chaos===
{{Main|Chaos (cosmogony)}}
In creation from chaos myths, there is nothing initially but a formless, shapeless expanse. In these stories the word "chaos" means "disorder", and this formless expanse, which is also sometimes called a void or an abyss, contains the material with which the created world will be made. Chaos may be described as having the consistency of vapor or water, dimensionless, and sometimes salty or muddy. These myths associate chaos with evil and oblivion, in contrast to "order" (''cosmos'') which is the good. The act of creation is the bringing of order from disorder, and in many of these cultures it is believed that at some point the forces preserving order and form will weaken and the world will once again be engulfed into the abyss.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|2010}}</ref> One example is the [[Genesis creation narrative]] from the first chapter of the [[Book of Genesis]].

===World parent===
[[File:WahineTane.jpg|right|thumb|upright|In one [[Māori mythology|Maori creation myth]], the primal couple are [[Rangi and Papa]], depicted holding each other in a tight embrace.]]
There are two types of world parent myths, both describing a separation or splitting of a primeval entity, the world parent or parents. One form describes the primeval state as an eternal union of two parents, and the creation takes place when the two are pulled apart. The two parents are commonly identified as [[Sky father|Sky]] (usually male) and [[Earth Mother|Earth]] (usually female), who were so tightly bound to each other in the primeval state that no offspring could emerge. These myths often depict creation as the result of a sexual union and serve as genealogical record of the deities born from it.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|2010|page=16}}</ref>

In the second form of world parent myths, creation itself springs from dismembered parts of the body of the primeval being. Often, in these stories, the limbs, hair, blood, bones, or organs of the primeval being are somehow severed or sacrificed to transform into sky, earth, animal or plant life, and other worldly features. These myths tend to emphasize creative forces as animistic in nature rather than sexual, and depict the sacred as the elemental and integral component of the natural world.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|2010|page=18}}</ref> One example of this is the [[Norse mythology|Norse]] creation myth described in "[[Völuspá]]", the first poem in the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'', and in ''[[Gylfaginning]]''.{{sfn|Leeming|2010|p=209}}

===Emergence===
In emergence myths, humanity emerges from another world into the one they currently inhabit. The previous world is often considered the womb of the [[Earth goddess|earth mother]], and the process of emergence is likened to the act of giving birth. The role of midwife is usually played by a female deity, like the spider woman of several mythologies of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Male characters rarely figure into these stories, and scholars often consider them in counterpoint to male-oriented creation myths, like those of the ''ex nihilo'' variety.<ref name=Leeming2005>{{harvnb|Leeming|chapter="Creation"|2011a}}</ref>

[[File:Sipapu (small round hole) in floor of ruined kiva in Mesa Verde National Park.jpg|thumb|upright|left|In the [[kiva]] of both [[Ancestral Puebloans|ancient]] and present-day [[Pueblo people]]s, the [[sipapu]] is a small round hole in the floor that represents the portal through which the ancestors [[Hopi mythology#Four Worlds|first emerged]]. (The larger hole is a fire pit, here in a ruin from the [[Mesa Verde National Park]].)]]

Emergence myths commonly describe the creation of people and/or supernatural beings as a staged ascent or [[metamorphosis]] from nascent forms through a series of subterranean worlds to arrive at their current place and form. Often the passage from one world or stage to the next is impelled by inner forces, a process of germination or gestation from earlier, embryonic forms.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|2010|pages=21–24}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Long|1963}}</ref> The genre is most commonly found in Native American cultures where the myths frequently link the final emergence of people from a hole opening to the underworld to stories about their subsequent migrations and eventual settlement in their current homelands.<ref>{{harvnb|Wheeler-Voegelin|Moore|1957|pages=66–73}}</ref>

===Earth-diver===
{{Other uses|Earthdivers (disambiguation){{!}}Earthdivers}}
The earth-diver is a common character in various traditional creation myths. In these stories a supreme being usually sends an animal (most often a type of bird, but also crustaceans, insects, and fish in some narratives)<ref name=hatt>{{cite book |last=Hatt |first=Gudmund | author-link=Gudmund Hatt |title=Asiatic influences in American folklore |date=1949 |publisher=I kommission hos ejnar Munksgaard |location=København |chapter=Earth-diver|pages=12–36|url=http://publ.royalacademy.dk/books/248/1508?lang=en}}</ref> into the primal waters to find bits of sand or mud with which to build habitable land.<ref>Eason, Cassandra. ''Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook''. Greenwood Press. 2008. p. 56. {{ISBN|9780275994259}}.</ref> Some scholars interpret these myths psychologically while others interpret them [[cosmogony|cosmogonically]]. In both cases emphasis is placed on beginnings emanating from the depths.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|chapter="Earth-Diver Creation"|2011b}}</ref>

====Motif distribution====
According to [[Gudmund Hatt]] and [[Tristram P. Coffin]], Earth-diver myths are common in [[Native American mythology|Native American folklore]], among the following populations: [[Shoshone]], [[Meskwaki]], [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfoot]], [[Chipewyan]], [[Nahwitti (trading site)|Newettee]], [[Yokuts]] of California, [[Mandan]], [[Hidatsa]], [[Cheyenne]], [[Arapaho]], [[Ojibwe]], [[Yuchi]], and [[Cherokee]].<ref name=hatt/><ref>{{cite book |title=Indian Tales of North America: An Anthology for the Adult Reader |editor=Tristam P. Coffin |location=New York, USA |date=1961 |publisher=University of Texas Press |page=3 |s2cid=243789306 |doi=10.7560/735064-003 |quote=The most common Indian myth begins with a primeval water, out of which some animal brings up a few grains of sand or mud which a culture hero then develops into the world}}</ref>

American anthropologist [[Gladys Reichard]] located the distribution of the motif across "all parts of North America", save for "the extreme north, northeast, and southwest".<ref>Reichard, Gladys A. "Literary Types and Dissemination of Myths". In: ''The Journal of American Folklore'' 34, no. 133 (1921): 274-275. https://doi.org/10.2307/535151.</ref> In a 1977 study, anthropologist Victor Barnouw surmised that the earth-diver motif appeared in "[[hunter-gatherer|hunting-gathering societies]]", mainly among northerly groups such as the [[Hare people|Hare]], [[Dogrib]], [[Kaska]], [[Beaver people|Beaver]], [[Carrier people|Carrier]], [[Chipewyan]], [[Tsuutʼina Nation|Sarsi]], [[Cree]], and [[Innu people|Montagnais]].<ref>Barnouw, Victor. ''Wisconsin Chippewa Myths and Tales''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977. pp. 59 (map 2), 57, 60.</ref>

Similar tales are also found among the [[Chukchi people|Chukchi]] and [[Yukaghir]], the [[Tatars]], and many [[Finno-Ugric mythologies|Finno-Ugric]] traditions,<ref>Deviatkina, Tatiana. "[https://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol48/deviatkina.pdf Images of Birds in Mordvinian Mythology]". In: ''Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore'' Vo. 48 (2011). p. 144.</ref> as well as among the [[Buryats|Buryat]] and the Samoyed.<ref>[[David Adams Leeming|Leeming, David Adams]]. ''A Dictionary of Asian Mythology''. Oxford University Press. 2001. p. 55. {{ISBN|0-19-512052-3}}.</ref> In addition, the earth-diver motif also exists in narratives from Eastern Europe, namely [[Romani people|Romani]],<ref>Kornel, Vladislav. "[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005721066&view=1up&seq=91&skin=2021 Gypsy Anecdotes From Hungary: II-How the Devil assisted God in the Creation of the World]". In: ''Gypsy Lore Journal'' Vol II, No. 2. April, 1890. pp. 67-68.</ref> Romanian,<ref>[[Marcu Beza|Beza, Marcu]]. ''Paganism in Romanian Folklore''. London: J. M. Dent & Sons LTD. 1928. pp. 120-123.</ref> [[Slavic creation myth#Creation by diving|Slavic]] (namely, Bulgarian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian), and Lithuanian mythological traditions.<ref>Laurinkienė, Nijolė. "[https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/7396 Pasaulio kūrimo motyvai lietuvių pasakojamojoje tautosakoje]" [The Motifs of creating the world in the Lithuanian narrative folklore]. In: ''Liaudies kultūra'' Nr. 5 (2002), p. 9. {{ISSN|0236-0551}}.</ref>

The pattern of distribution of these stories suggest they have a common origin in the [[East Asia|eastern Asiatic]] coastal region, spreading as peoples migrated west into [[Siberia]] and east to the [[North America]]n continent.<ref>{{harvnb|Booth|1984|pages=168–70}}</ref><ref>[[Vladimir Napolskikh]] (2012), ''[https://www.academia.edu/4918926/Diving_Bird_Myth_after_20_years_2012 Diving Bird Myth after 20 years 2012]'' (Earth-Diver Myth (А812) in northern Eurasia and North America: twenty years later)</ref> However, there are examples of this [[mytheme]] found well outside of this boreal distribution pattern, for example the West African [[Yoruba culture|Yoruba]] creation myth of [[Ọbatala]] and [[Oduduwa]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.artsmia.org/world-myths/artbyculture/kingscrown_story.html|title=King's Crown Story|website=The Minneapolis institute of Art}} citing {{cite journal|first=P. C. |last=Lloyd|title=Sacred Kingship and Government among the Yoruba|journal=Africa|volume=30|issue=3|pages= 222–223}}</ref><ref>[[Rupert Glasgow|R.D.V. Glasgow]] (2009), ''The Concept of Water'', p. 28</ref>

====Native American narrative====
Characteristic of many Native American myths, earth-diver creation stories begin as beings and potential forms linger asleep or suspended in the primordial realm. The earth-diver is among the first of them to awaken and lay the necessary groundwork by building suitable lands where the coming creation will be able to live. In many cases, these stories will describe a series of failed attempts to make land before the solution is found.<ref>{{harvnb|Leonard|McClure|2004|page=38}}</ref><ref>[[Stith Thompson|Thompson, Stith]]. ''Tales of the North American Indians''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard university press, 1929. p. 279.</ref>

Among the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the earth-diver cosmogony is attested in [[Iroquois mythology#Creation|Iroquois mythology]]: a female sky deity falls from the heavens, and certain animals, the [[beaver]], the [[otter]], the [[duck]], and the [[muskrat]] dive in the waters to fetch mud to construct an island.<ref>[[Harriet Maxwell Converse|Converse, Harriet Maxwell (Ya-ie-wa-no)]]; Parker, Arthur Caswell (Ga-wa-so-wa-neh) (December 15, 1908). "[https://archive.org/details/cu31924055492973/page/n49/mode/1up Myths and Legends of the New York State Iroquois]". Education Department Bulletin. University of the State of New York: 33.</ref><ref>Brinton, Daniel G. ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19347/19347-h/19347-h.htm The Myths of the New World: A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America]''. New York: Leypoldt & Holt. 1868. pp. 197-198.</ref>

In a similar story from the [[Seneca people|Seneca]], people lived in a sky realm. One day, the chief's daughter was afflicted with a mysterious illness, and the only cure recommended for her (revealed in a dream) was to lie beside a tree and to have it be dug up. The people do so, but a man complains that the tree was their livelihood, and kicks the girl through the hole. She ends up falling from the sky to a world of only water, but is rescued by [[waterfowl]]. A turtle offers to bear her on its shell, but asked where would be a definitive dwelling place for her. They decide to create land, and the [[toad]] dives into the depths of the primal sea to get pieces of soil. The toad puts it on the turtle's back, which grows larger with every deposit of soil.<ref>Thompson, Stith. ''Tales of the North American Indians''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard university press, 1929. pp. 14-15, 278.</ref>

In another version from the [[Wyandot people|Wyandot]], the Wyandot lived in heaven. The daughter of the Big Chief (or Mighty Ruler) was sick, so the [[medicine man]] recommends that they dig up the wild apple tree that stands next to the Lodge of the Mighty Ruler, because the remedy is to be found on its roots. However, as the tree has been dug out, the ground begins to sink away, and the treetops catch and carry down the sick daughter with it. As the girl falls from the skies, two swans rescue her on their backs. The birds decide to summon all the Swimmers and the Water Tribes. Many volunteer to dive into the Great Water to fetch bits of earth from the bottom of the sea, but only the toad (female, in the story) is the one successful.<ref>Barbeau, Marius. ''Huron and Wyandot mythology, with an appendix containing earlier published records''. Ottawa, Government Printing Bureau. 1915. pp. 303-304.</ref>

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Abiogenesis]]
* [[Anthropology of religion]]
* [[Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology]]
* [[Big Bang]]
* [[Ceremonial pole]]
* [[Chinese creation myths]]
* [[Creationism]]
** [[Young Earth creationism]]
* [[Creator deity]]
* [[Evolutionary origin of religion]]
* [[Mother goddess]]
* [[Origin myth]]
* [[Origin of death]]
* [[Religious cosmology]]
* [[Theism]]
* [[Xirang]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

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{{Refend}}

==External links==
* {{Wikiquote inline}}
* {{Commons category inline|Creation myths}}

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