The origin and creation of man according to the Mayans

The story of the creation of man according to the Mayans can be found in their Greek mythology books, where The Popol Vuh, or Popol Wuj in the Quiche language, explains that it had beginnings when the planet and the creators were created or also known as gods of the heaven, they decide they need to create a creature that will worship them and that’s when they start creating human beings with hearts and minds that could keep track of the days.

Myth of the creation of man according to the Mayans

The creation of man according to the Mayans in the Popol Vuh story. In it the world is created from nothing, at the beginning it was only water and that is when Tepeu and Gucumatz gave rise to the earth, they began with earth, then plants and finally animals of the air, water and earth and so they went until they created the last species, but when they realized that nothing created could praise them, they decided to start with a creature that did. the mayan myth of the creation of man

First attempt at creation

The gods began by creating the first couple from mud, at first they liked it but little by little they realized that they were weak if they grabbed something they would already break and the fact that if they got wet they would melt, without forgetting that these neither they were talking At first they were able to reproduce among themselves and I suppose that they managed to understand each other, but that was not what the gods wanted, they needed them to raise their voices and give thanks to their creators.

Second attempt at creation

The second prototype was made of wood, just like the ones made of clay, they managed to reproduce and spread throughout the world, the gods decided this time to take the part of the trunk from a tree for him and for her they took a plant, just like the mud at first everything was fine but they began to realize that these did not speak either and they did not have memory and as time passed they wandered the world without knowing who they were and who had created them and well with this prototype they stayed for a long time weather. Until one day dark and dense rain fell on Earth flooding everything in its path and that is how the second men disappeared.

Remaining the most similar offspring of the gods they wanted to create, which at that time were the apes and this was the one that existed for a long time.

Third attempt at creation

But Tepeu and Gucumatz decide to try it a third time. But this time they decide to interrogate their creation to be sure that it met the requirements they ask for, they realized that this third attempt to achieve the creation of man had intelligence and memory.

The gods say to instruct them, they themselves decide to teach them their origins, abilities and future obligations. For this third attempt at creation, they once again used wood for all the rigid parts of the body, with white corn they molded the features to simulate what we now call meat and with red corn they used it to fill in and simulate blood.

The creation of man according to the Mayans was going very well because it is said that 4 prototypes of man were created, to which they gave names: the 1st man was called: Balam Quitz; to the 2nd: Balam Agab; They decided to call the 3rd man: Mahu cutah; and finally to the 4th: Iqi Balam. But when the work was perfectly finished, the gods began to feel afraid and intimidated by what they created, they became so intimidated that they felt that perhaps their own creation wanted to rise above them and usurp their places.

To avoid those effects, the gods decide to spray mist on the men that destroyed part of their vision and erased a good part of their wisdom, because in this way they managed to fix the problem and a little calmer began the task of creating the woman using the same materials. and it is said that this is how men and women came to populate the entire world, of course, without the possibility of absolute knowledge, and without the way to usurp the positions of the creators.

Myth of the creation of man according to the Greeks

Each culture has its own stories of the creation and origin of man, and the Greek myths of the creation of man form part of this. For the Greeks there are 2 theories that are widely used:

1.  The supreme gods of Greek Olympus.
2. Deucalion and Pirra.

 The supreme gods of Greek Olympus

Greek myths say that in the most ancient times on earth there were only immortal gods. Zeus who was the son of the supreme God of the Greek Olympus Cronus, was the successor to the throne, or rather who usurped the throne after repeated victories. He is the representation of the power that the cosmic order possesses, Zeus had a son named Hado with the goddess Rhea who had to rescue him from being devoured by his father.

In a world where pure divine and immortal beings existed, the gods decide to create creatures to populate the earth. It was a magnificent idea for everyone, and immediately Zeus asked the titan descendants Iapetus, to endow earthly creatures with grace and strength.

It is precisely Epimetheus who begged his brother Prometheus to allow him to share some of the gifts among earthly beings. Epimetheus patiently begins to grant gifts to each of the animals, some he granted beauty, to another strength, to another speed, to another rigidity, to another insight, and so it was one by one, according to each criterion that it seemed to him or occurred to him for convenience. It is said that Epimetheus did not have the same wisdom that his brother Prometheus possessed and ultimately left the man who was lacking, defenseless and bereft.

It was just at that moment when Prometheus, seeing how injustice clothed that creature, tried to correct the mistake and perhaps defend and steal wisdom from the goddess Athena and gave that creature the gift of logic. From that moment Prometheus became the man’s friend, it seemed to him that that creature needed more protection and he steals the fire from Hephaestus, granting the human being not only the power of wisdom but also the warmth he needed to be able to live better and taught him everything he knew to that it could survive.

Zeus finds out about the gifts that were conceived for man, and it seemed to him that with them the human being would be equal to the gods, and he begins to feel jealousy and anger, and begins to throw thunderbolts and lightning, and he imposes a punishment to Prometheus who is rudely confined and is chained on Mount Caucasus, on the edge of the Universe. Every morning an eagle came to that mountain and ate his liver, and during the night it grew again to be devoured again the next day, that was the reality of Prometheus for a long time, until 30 years later, Hercules can and goes to free Prometheus from that horrible suffering to which he was sentenced.

It is Hephaestus, God of fire, who one day decides to carve the first woman, who was designed from pure metal. She was really a very beautiful sculpture and Zeus decides to bring her to life. One of the gods gave that sculpture the gifts of beauty, elegance, intelligence, skill and power of persuasion, but the god Hermes endowed it with cunning and affectation and it was Hera who gave it curiosity and restlessness. they would not allow the woman to have peace for a single moment.

Zeus decides to give Epimetheus a gift to Pandora (the first woman), when he saw her, he was enchanted by her beauty and decided to join her immediately, with her he sent a box that should never be opened because it contained all the evils of this world.

Deucalion and Pirra

Deucalion and Pyrrha is another of the best known Greek aboriginal myths of the creation of man.

At first the Gods thought that like the trees, plants and shoots of the earth, the human being would not need to be domesticated but over time this changed and the gods themselves began to model teaching them how they should build houses, what the jobs were that they could carry out such as: they learned to work metal and wood, to grow their food, they were taught everything that would benefit their lives.

When the human race began to see what it was capable of, it soon began to lose the beautiful qualities that the disappointed and angry gods originally had, they decided to finish off the human race that they had sent to earth. As strange as it may seem, they decided to forgive Deucalion and Pyrrha, who were a loyal couple to them and with virtues that were favorable to them in the eyes of the gods.

Deucalion, was the successor of Prometheus, built a ship and took shelter in it together with his wife Pyrrha for 9 days. The gods sent a strong storm during those days but when it finally calmed down and the water level dropped, that ship was stranded on Mount Parnassus. This couple decides to face and ask the oracle of Themis how they could increase their reproduction on earth and rescue the human race. That response from the oracle was not at all clear, it became an enigma that took them a long time to decipher.

For his exact answer was: “Protect your heads and throw behind you the bones of our mother.” It took some time for them to realize what the oracle meant. Defined as “bones of our mother” they were stones: the stones of mother Earth.

That was how they carried several stones on their shoulders and began to throw them one after another with their backs to them and protecting themselves so as not to be hit by them inadvertently. This is how the new men came out of the stones that Deucalion threw, and from the stones that Pyrrha threw, the new women were born. Returning to be populated by humans.

The creation of man according to the bible

The creation of man according to the bible, they have 2 stories in one they speak of the origin of heaven, earth and animal in the two narrations these great works are clearly attributed to God:

The first narration speaks of “the creation”

The second narrative speaks of the “man in the Garden of Eden.”

The creation

Day 1: the first thing that God created was the earth but it was pure water and found empty and in the darkness it really looked like an abyss. The bible tells that God decides that light should be created and seeing that it was good he decides to separate the light from the darkness in the same way he decides to call the light day and the darkness night.

Day 2: is when the creation of the sky happens. God saw how extensive the water was and decided to separate it from the water above, he called it heavens, and the water below he called seas.

Day 3: creation of the soil, God decided that the waters below should join together and that is how the dry land appeared, but this was not only what was done, seeing so much extension of land, God began to say that vegetation, grass and trees should be produced with his seed in it and that from the seed fruit be given to each one according to its kind, thus being able to reproduce the vegetation.

Day 4: and when God saw that all this was good, God created two great lights, one for the day and the other for the night, with lights that I call a star and I place it in the separation above that we had already talked about. and it’s called heaven.

Day 5: God begins to fill the water with multiple living beings and in the same way he does it with the dry wall, seeing his surroundings he began to create birds and God said to all living beings that move: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and multiply the birds on the earth.”

Day 6: is when God decides to create man, God said: let man be made in my image and according to our likeness. This will be able to exert benefit on the fish of the sea, on the birds of the sky and even on the cattle on earth. Actually on every living thing that moves. But God, as with the multiple living beings that he had already created, created two in his image and likeness, the male and the female. God gave the male and the female plants that bear seeds and told them that they would serve as food. for every living beast.

Day 7: God had already done everything and it seemed to him that everything was very good and he decided that that day would be a day of rest and he blessed the seventh day. Sanctifying him for all the works that he had created.

The man in the Garden of Eden

For God and man should be reflected in his image and likeness, many believe that man came from a lower animal form, but this is not so because the Bible clearly says that God created him. It is said that Adam was created from the dust of the ground and by the power of God, it is also explained that Adam not only has a body, but also has a soul and spirit. See in Genesis 2: how Adam and Eve were created:

“4: These are the origins of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5: and every plant of the field before it was on the earth, and every herb of the field before that he was born; for the LORD God had not yet caused it to rain on the earth, nor was there a man to till the ground, 6 but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7: Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. 8: And Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and he put there the man that he had formed. 9: And out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; also the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10: And a river came out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided into four arms. 11: The name of the one was Piso; this is the one that surrounds all the land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12: and the gold of that land is good; there is also bdellium and onyx there. 13: The name of the second river is Gihon; this is the one that surrounds all the land of Cush.

14: And the name of the third river is Hidekel; this is the one that goes to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15: So the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden, to till it and keep it. 16: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, From every tree of the garden you may eat; 17: more from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.

18: And the LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him. 19: So the Lord God formed out of the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to Adam so that he might see what he would call them; and whatever Adam called the living animals, that’s his name.

20: And Adam named every beast and bird of the heavens and every cattle of the field; but for Adam no helper was found for him. 21: Then Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and while he slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22: And from the rib that Jehovah God took from the man, he made a woman, and brought her to the man.

23: Then Adam said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called Varona, because of the man she was taken. 24: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and he shall be joined to his wife, and they shall be one flesh. 25: And they were both naked, Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

The creation of man according to science

The creation of man according to science , it is said that we are part of a biological evolution of living entities that come from the earth, although scientifically even this theory is subject to testing by different disciplines there are people who today accept this theory.

For the Catholic Church, man was not born by chance or chance. There are many Catholics who do not approve of the hypothesis that he originated from an animal form, but that it was carried out by a long process called evolution. Well, there are many who say that the theory of evolution is not only false, but is also clearly contrary to the instructions that the Bible gives us. They believe in the word and think that we were created for a purpose and that we are alive for the glory of God, and for this reason we must venerate him, we must love him and we have to have communion with him.