Interesting how this identification of human flesh with maize would live on into Aztec belief - so often the sacrificial figures were made of corn dough as a substitute for flesh-and-blood human sacrifices. Sometimes they would be mixed.
As I understand it from the meso-American POV the Toltecs made the first creation myth and everyone else derived from them.
On a more global scale there are constant themes, since I guess everyone wants to know the following: Why couldn't the gods just do their god-stuff, why did they have to create something when they would be just fine with nothing? (Answer: boredom or need for adoration). Why do we have sexes? Why do we die?
Yes. I was thinking more globally with my comment. And, yes, I believe it’s the adoration part that mattered. Strange, though, that all-omnipotent creators would need a throng of fallible beings to worship them, right?
Thank you for this creation story. I find it interesting that the God's created 4 of each sex. Was this to account for racial or tribal differences? I wonder.
While I’m not a scholar on Mayan myths I’ve found, the deeper I’ve probed, is the reasonings are far from explainable. In some ways (maybe this is true about most religious texts as well) the Popol Vuh sometimes resembles The Winchester Mystery House in architecture: staircases that lead to nowhere, doors that don’t open.
Interesting how this identification of human flesh with maize would live on into Aztec belief - so often the sacrificial figures were made of corn dough as a substitute for flesh-and-blood human sacrifices. Sometimes they would be mixed.
I found it fascinating how quite a lot of creation stories overlapped, like they all went to the same seminar.
As I understand it from the meso-American POV the Toltecs made the first creation myth and everyone else derived from them.
On a more global scale there are constant themes, since I guess everyone wants to know the following: Why couldn't the gods just do their god-stuff, why did they have to create something when they would be just fine with nothing? (Answer: boredom or need for adoration). Why do we have sexes? Why do we die?
Yes. I was thinking more globally with my comment. And, yes, I believe it’s the adoration part that mattered. Strange, though, that all-omnipotent creators would need a throng of fallible beings to worship them, right?
God-babies
Fascinating, such a cool creation story
Thank you for this creation story. I find it interesting that the God's created 4 of each sex. Was this to account for racial or tribal differences? I wonder.
While I’m not a scholar on Mayan myths I’ve found, the deeper I’ve probed, is the reasonings are far from explainable. In some ways (maybe this is true about most religious texts as well) the Popol Vuh sometimes resembles The Winchester Mystery House in architecture: staircases that lead to nowhere, doors that don’t open.