Creation Myth of the World - A Pima Legend

At the moment im doing a bit of research on a topic called I'itoi - The Man in the Maze, and i always had a fascination of Creation Myths, mostly for my own research purpose, but i also know people in here enjoy another story than the one we all know..

So here is a Native American creation story " The Creation of the world, A Pima legend "

In the beginning there was nothing at all except darkness. All was darkness and emptiness. For a long, long while, the darkness gathered until it became a great mass.

Over this the spirit of Earth Doctor drifted to and fro like a fluffy bit of cotton in the breeze. Then Earth Doctor decided to make for himself an abiding place. So he thought within himself, "Come forth, some kind of plant," and there appeared the creosote bush. He placed this before him and set it upright. But it at once fell over. He set it upright again; again it fell. So it fell until the fourth time it remained upright. Then Earth Doctor took from his breast a little dust and flattened it into a cake. When the dust cake was still, he danced upon it, singing a magic song.

Next he created some black insects which made black gum on the creosote bush. Then he made a termite which worked with the small earth cake until it grew very large. As he sang and danced upon it, the flat World stretched out on all sides until it was as large as it is now. Then he made a round sky-cover to fit over it, round like the houses of the Pimas. But the Earth shook and stretched, so that it was unsafe. So Earth Doctor made a gray spider which was to spin a web around the edges of the Earth and sky, fastening them together. When this was done, the Earth grew firm and solid.

Earth Doctor made water, mountains, trees, grass, and weeds made everything as we see it now. But all was still inky blackness. Then he made a dish, poured water into it, and it became ice. He threw this round block of ice far to the north, and it fell at the place where the Earth and sky were woven together. At once the ice began to gleam and shine. We call it now the sun. It rose from the ground in the north up into the sky and then fell back. Earth Doctor took it and threw it to the west where the Earth and sky were sewn together. It rose into the sky and again slid back to the Earth. Then he threw it to the far south, but it slid back again to the flat Earth. Then at last he threw it to the east. It rose higher and higher in the sky until it reached the highest point in the round blue cover and began to slide down on the other side. And so the sun does even yet.

Then Earth Doctor poured more water into the dish and it became ice. He sang a magic song, and threw the round ball of ice to the north where the Earth and sky are woven together. It gleamed and shone, but not so brightly as the sun. It became the moon, and it rose in the sky, but fell back again, just as the sun had done. So he threw the ball to the west, and then to the south, but it slid back each time to the Earth. Then he threw it to the east, and it rose to the highest point in the sky-cover and began to slide down on the other side. And so it does even today, following the sun.

But Earth Doctor saw that when the sun and moon were not in the sky, all was inky darkness. So he sang a magic song, and took some water into his mouth and blew it into the sky, in a spray, to make little stars. Then he took his magic crystal and broke it into pieces and threw them into the sky, to make the larger stars. Next he took his walking stick and placed ashes on the end of it. Then he drew it across the sky to form the Milky Way. So Earth Doctor made all the stars.

Thank you for reading

a reply to: tikbalang

The Pima Tribe are very interesting and the lands they call home are both majestic and harsh. I find it interesting that their creator from the story used insects as accomplices in the generation of the environment. I know very little about these people, but found the following tidbit quite intriguing:

The Akimel O'odham associate great importance to the names of individuals. From age ten until the time of marriage, neither boys nor girls were allowed to speak their own names out loud. The Pima Indians believed such an act would bring bad luck to the children and their future. Similarly, people in the tribe do not say aloud the names of deceased people, in order to avoid bad luck by calling their spirits back among the living. But the word or words in the name are not dropped from the language.[citation needed] The people gave their children careful oral instruction in moral, religious and other matters. Their ceremonies often included set speeches, in which the speaker would recite portions of their cosmic myth. Such a recounting was especially important in the preparation for war. These speeches were adapted for each occasion but the general context was the same.

WIKIPEDIA SOURCE
Thank you for sharing this!

I love a good myth as well
This is from the tribe of religious believers called scientists, it has been adopted by a larger tribe called atheists
Once there was nothing, then from this zero somehow unexplained there was a Big Bang, that made everything exist, every single chemical, every single density, even light from nothing, energy, new lots of it even
Somehow even gravity, don't know how but this big bang did gravity, maybe even consciousness, maybe not yet, but maybe
Then for some reason all these elements. Ame together no reason, just did

Eventually life formed from dust and water, drip drip

Some very wierd tribal beliefs out there that's for sure

a reply to: Raggedyman

I agree, we all have belief in something,

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Pima /ˈpiːmə/[3] (or Akimel O'odham, also spelled Akimel O'otham, "River People", formerly known as Pima) are a group of Native Americans living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona. The majority population of the surviving two bands of the Akimel O'odham are based in two reservations: the Keli Akimel O'otham on the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) and the On'k Akimel O'odham on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC).

They are closely related to other river people, the Ak-Chin O'odham, now forming the Ak-Chin Indian Community. They are also related to the Sobaipuri, whose descendants reside on the San Xavier Indian Reservation or Wa:k (together with the Tohono O'odham), and in the Salt River Indian Community. Together with the kindred Tohono O'odham ("Desert People", formerly known as the Papago) of Eastern Papagueria, and the Hia C-ed O'odham ("Sand Dune People", formerly known as Sand Papago) of the Western Papagueria, the Akimel O'odham form the Upper O'otham or Upper Pima (also known as Pima Alto).

The short name, "Pima," is believed to have come from the phrase pi 'añi mac or pi mac, meaning "I don't know," which they used repeatedly in their initial meetings with Spanish colonists. The latter referred to them as the Pima.[2][4] This term was adopted by later English speakers: traders, explorers and settlers.

Please use the correct name for these great people: Akimel O'odham.

Yes most 'older' texts will refer to them by the misnomer, but 'we' have no excuse for using the wrong name.

a reply to: rnaa

Would Humans be better?

a reply to: rnaa

This might be the most hipster thing I have ever read.