Essay portion of Midterm Exam, Spring 2012
Creation stories mirror the values and expectations of the cultures for which they were created. While most people “civilized” or not, are curious about their origins, creation stories serve to preserve core values. That is why these values are represented as having been of utmost importance from the very beginning of the world.
An examination of creation stories could begin with the one most familiar to many Americans, the Genesis account. There was absolutely nothing at the “beginning” except for God. He created everything. Man is presented as God’s most valuable creation; the one He entrusts to look after the Garden (and by extension, the world) He has created. Everything was great for the first humans until they disobeyed the one thing that God had forbidden. Then everything changed and life was miserable and hard. The message is crystal clear; do or don’t do what God says, whether it makes sense or not, or you’ll pay a big price.
The Genesis account reveals the mindset of superiority in the early Hebrew and (later) Christian cultures. A note of caution is in order here. The cultures may not necessarily follow the religious teachings and it’s important to discern the difference between the two. These two cultures were solidly Patriarchal at the family level. They developed into Authoritarian societies over ensuing centuries. The Patriarch figures gave way to Kings, Popes and other authority figures who must be obeyed at all costs.
There are consequences involved in the Japanese creation story as well, but even the Gods are secondary when the proper order of things is involved.
It seems that the deities who were commanded to create Japan had their protocol backwards. When they met to procreate, the female would greet the male first. Their couplings resulted only in the births of malformed, even monstrous children.
“Disappointed by their failures in procreation, they returned to Heaven and consulted the deities there. The deities explained that the cause of their difficulties was that the female had spoken first when they met to procreate. Izanagi and Izanami returned to their island and again met behind the heavenly pillar. When they met, he said, "What a fine young woman," and she said "What a fine young man". They mated and gave birth to the eight main islands of Japan and six minor islands…” 1
Japanese society in the past (and near past) was overwhelmingly androcentric and focused on a myriad of social factors. Social harmony and cultural expectations are still valued above all, accomplished by adherence to social conventions. Politeness and etiquette demand that everything be done in the proper order. 2 The Japanese creation story illustrates the dire consequences of ignoring protocol.
Expectations of harmony figure largely in the Hopi, Native American creation account, with implications for cultures beyond theirs. The beginning of the story shares many elements with other cultures, including a featureless void holding only God and subsequent creation of the earth and its inhabitants.
The account varies from others then as it describes the destruction of the earth, first by fire, then ice and flood. This destruction was called for when people forgot the only instructions that God had given them—to remember and live in harmony with Him. They began to quarrel, mistrust and separate from other people in each instance, forgetting God in the process. At the end, the Hopi found their present home in the United States’ Southwest. “They chose that place so that the hardship of their life would always remind them of their dependence on, and link to, their Creator.” 3
Native American “spirituality” has become almost a fad in the United States and elsewhere over the past few years. Much has been written about it, much of it sensationalized misinformation. What is clear from the Hopi creation story is the core value of harmony with the Creator God, with nature and with all people everywhere. As our modern societies intermingle in global contact, ethnocentrism fights against real harmony. Financial gain conflicts with care of the Earth. We all stand at a point in history where we can choose harmony in the name of God or risk another annihilation.
Creation stories exist in most cultures worldwide. Many contain similar elements and themes. Variations can be valuable clues to the Anthropologist seeking to understand the core values of each culture.
References
1 Donald L. Philippi, trans., 1969, Kojiki: Princeton, Princeton University Press, 655 p., and Joseph M. Campbell, 1962, The Masks of God: Oriental Mythology: New York, Viking Press, 561 p. Cited at
http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CS/CSJapan.html by Bruce Railsback, Creation Stories from around the World Encapsulations of some traditional stories explaining the origin of the Earth, its life, and its peoples Fourth Edition July 2000
2 http://www.hichumanities.org/AHproceedings/Elena%20Silvestri.pdf Elena Maria Silvestri, PhD., Implications of Cultural Diversity in Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL): a case study, McMaster University (no date given)
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