THE CREATION ACCORDING TO BIBLE

1 In the beginning, when God created the universe,[a] 2 the earth was formless and desolate.
The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of
God[b] was moving over the water. 3 Then God commanded, “Let there be light”—and light
appeared. 4 God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness,
5 and he named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night.” Evening passed and morning came—
that was the first day.
6-7 Then God commanded, “Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two
separate places”—and it was done. So God made a dome, and it separated the water under it
from the water above it. 8 He named the dome “Sky.” Evening passed and morning came—that
was the second day.
9 Then God commanded, “Let the water below the sky come together in one place, so that the
land will appear”—and it was done. 10 He named the land “Earth,” and the water which had
come together he named “Sea.” And God was pleased with what he saw. 11 Then he
commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear grain and those that bear
fruit”—and it was done. 12 So the earth produced all kinds of plants, and God was pleased with
what he saw. 13 Evening passed and morning came—that was the third day.
14 Then God commanded, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show
the time when days, years, and religious festivals[c] begin; 15 they will shine in the sky to give
light to the earth”—and it was done. 16 So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over
the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars. 17 He placed the lights in
the sky to shine on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and the night, and to separate light from
darkness. And God was pleased with what he saw. 19 Evening passed and morning came—
that was the fourth day.
20 Then God commanded, “Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let the
air be filled with birds.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters, all kinds of creatures that
live in the water, and all kinds of birds. And God was pleased with what he saw. 22 He blessed
them all and told the creatures that live in the water to reproduce and to fill the sea, and he told
the birds to increase in number. 23 Evening passed and morning came—that was the fifth day.
24 Then God commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild,
large and small”—and it was done. 25 So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he
saw.
26 Then God said, “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us.
They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild,[d] large and
small.” 27 So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them
male and female, 28 blessed them, and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants
will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish,
the birds, and all the wild animals. 29 I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for
you to eat; 30 but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy
plants for food”—and it was done. 31 God looked at everything he had made, and he was very
pleased. Evening passed and morning came—that was the sixth day.
THE CREATION ACCORDING TO PHILIPPINE MYTHOLOGY
(MALAKAS & MAGANDA)
When the world first began there was no land; there was only the Sea and the Sky, and
between them flew a huge, beautiful Kite (a bird similar to a hawk). One day, the bird, which had
nowhere to land and rest, grew tired of flying about, and in frustration stirred up the Sky in a
quarrel against the Sea. The Sky threw rain, thunder, and lightning that reached the Sea, who in
turn rose up and hurled waves and hurricanes that reached the Sky.
In order to restrain its fury, the Sky showered a multitude of massive boulders down upon the
Sea, which became the islands that formed the Philippines. These islands prevented the waters
from rising any more - instead causing them to flow back and forth, and thereby creating the
tides. Afterwards, the Sky then ordered the Kite to light on one of the newly-formed islands to
build her nest, and to leave the Sea and the Sky in peace.
Now at this same time the Land Breeze and the Sea Breeze were married, and they had a child
which they named Bamboo. One day, when Bamboo was floating against the sea, it struck the
feet of the Kite. Shocked, hurt, and angered that anything should strike it, the bird furiously
pecked at the bamboo until it split in half. Out of one section came a golden-bronze colored
man, named Malakas (Strong One) and from the other half came a similarly hued woman,
named Maganda (Beautiful One).
The earthquake then called on all the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea to see what should
be done with these two, and the animals decided that they should marry each other. Together,
Malakas and Maganda had many children, and from them eventually came all the different
races of people.
After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children around.
They wished to be rid of them, but they knew of no other place to send them off to. Time went
on and the children became even more numerous that the parents could no longer enjoy any
peace. One day, in an act of pure irritation and desperation, Malakas seized a stick and began
beating them on all sides.
THE CREATION ACCORDING TO GREEK MYTHOLOGY
We know the Greek origin story from some of the earliest Greek literary sources that have
survived, namely The Theogony and Works and Days, by Hesiod. This oral poet is thought to
have been active sometime between 750 and 650 BCE, within decades of when the Homeric
epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, took the form in which we know them. Archeological findings
support the creation story recorded in Hesiod’s work; pottery from the eighth century BCE
depicts the gods and goddesses he describes. Before Hesiod told this patriarchal version, in
which the first woman is the cause of much trouble, Pandora, whose name means “gift giver,”
was known in oral tradition as a beneficent Earth goddess.
In the beginning there was Chaos, a yawning nothingness. Out of the void emerged Gaia (the
Earth) and other divine beings — Eros (love), the Abyss (part of the underworld), and the
Erebus (the unknowable place where death dwells). Without male assistance, Gaia gave birth to
Uranus (the Sky), who then fertilized her.
From that union the first Titans were born — six males: Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion,
Iapetus, and Oceanus, and six females: Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, and
Tethys. After Cronus (time) was born, Gaia and Uranus decreed no more Titans were to be
born.
Cronus castrated his father and threw the severed genitals into the sea, from which arose
Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty and sexuality. Cronus became the ruler of the gods with his
sister-wife, Rhea, as his consort. The other Titans became his court. Because Cronus had
betrayed his father, he feared that his offspring would do the same. So each time Rhea gave
birth, Cronus snatched up the child and ate it. Rhea hated this and tricked him by hiding one
child, Zeus, and wrapping a stone in a baby’s blanket so that Cronus ate the stone instead of
the baby.
When Zeus was grown, he fed his father a drugged drink, which caused Cronus to vomit,
throwing up Rhea’s other children and the stone. Zeus then challenged Cronus to war for the
kingship of the gods. At last Zeus and his siblings, the Olympians, were victorious, and the
Titans were hurled down to imprisonment in the Abyss.
Zeus was plagued by the same concern as his father had been and, after a prophecy that his
first wife, Metis, would give birth to a god greater than he, he swallowed Metis. But she was
already pregnant with Athena, and they both made him miserable until Athena, the goddess of
wisdom, civilization and justice, burst from his head — fully grown and dressed for war. Zeus
was able to fight off all challenges to his power and to remain the ruler of Mt. Olympus, the
home of the gods.
One son of Titans, Prometheus, did not fight with fellow Titans against Zeus and was spared
imprisonment; he was given the task of creating man. Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and
Athena breathed life into the clay figure. Prometheus made man stand upright as the gods did
and gave him fire. Prometheus tricked Zeus, and to punish him, Zeus created Pandora, the first
woman, of stunning beau- ty, wealth, and a deceptive heart and lying tongue. He also gave
Pandora a box she was commanded never to open, but eventually her curiosity got the best of
her, and she opened the box to release all kinds of evil, plagues, sorrows, and misfortunes, and
also hope, which lay at the bottom of the box.
This so frightened the children that they all fled in different directions; seeking some place to
hide both within and outside the house. Some of the children ran into hidden rooms in the
house, several concealed themselves within the actual walls, while others hid in the fireplace.
Some ran outside and the rest fled out to the sea.
Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the
chiefs of the islands (Maharlikas); and those who concealed themselves in the walls became
slaves (Alipins). Those who hid in the fireplace became the Negritos and the Aetas; and those
who ran outside turned into free men (Timawas). As for those who fled to the Sea; they were
gone many years, and when their children eventually came back, they had become the white
foreigners.
THE CREATION ACCORDING TO NORSE MYTHOLOGY
At the beginning of time, nothing existed. The earth, the gentle oceans lapping up against its
shores, man and animal had not yet been created. Only a great yawning abyss was present in
the
void of nothingness. Out of the abyss, a land of eternal mist, darkness and terrible cold was
formed to the North; to all beings, this land was known as Niflheim. In the midst of the Dark
Land surged a fountain known as Hvergelmir, from which spread the freezing glacial waters of
twelve rivers throughout the void. To the South lay the land of Fire, Muspellsheim; an infernal
region of unbearable, unsatiable heat and flames. From there poured rivers of fire whose waters
contained a bitter poison which, little by little, gathered and became a solid mass. From the ice
flowing from the North, this mass of venom was covered in a thick layer of frost. With the heat
blowing from the lands of Fire, the frost began to melt, and the giant Ymir was born from poison
and ice.
Ymir became the father of all giants. On the night of his creation, he fell asleep near the lands of
the South and became completely bathed in sweat: from under his left arm were born man and
woman, both giants like him. At the same time, the block of ice from which he was born gave
forth the great cow Audumla, the wet-nurse of the giants. Ymir refreshed himself from her
udders at the beginning of every day, which flowed with life-giving milk. Audumla began to lick
the salt from the ice to nourish herself, and the heat of her tongue and breath yielded first the
hair, then the head, and finally the entire body of a being whose name was Buri. Buri had a son
whose name was Bor, who went on to marry Ymir's daughter, Bestla. With her, he fathered the
three gods Odin, Vili and Ve.
The three sons of the Giants' race at once began to rebel against their creators, which ended in
the annihilation of the Giants. They first killed the aged Ymir. So much blood flowed from his
shattered body that the abyss was filled with it. All of the other Giants drowned in the blood,
save Beregelmir and his wife, who managed to launch a small boat and escape; it is from them
that a new race of giants issued.
After the death of Ymir, the sons of Bor raised his body from the depths of the sea of blood and
created earth with it, which became known as Midgard or the 'Middle Abode', for it was situated
halfway between Niflheim and Muspellsheim. The flesh of Ymir became the land on which we
live, and his blood became the boundless ocean. From his bones, the gods created the
mountains;
from his hair, they created the trees. They took the skull of Ymir and raised it up on four pillars
of bone and made it into the Vault of the Heavens, in which they kept the sparks of fire that
escaped from Muspellsheim. These sparks became the sun, moon and the countless stars in
the
night sky, their course throughout the sky was regulated and kept constant, creating night and
day; summer and winter. With the sun in the sky, it threw its golden rays across the barren
earth,
and the first blades of green grass appeared.
Soon other gods came to join Odin, Vili and Ve. They seemed to appear out of the abyss,
having
no father or mother. Together the gods created their dwelling place, which became known as
Asgard 'The Dwelling of the Aesir' , in which each of them have a grand mansion. This land was
created above Midgard, so that the gods could keep watch over the world that they were
creating.
To get back and forth between Midgard and Asgard they created the great Rainbow Bridge
known as Bifröst, which was guarded by Heimdall, the god of Bifröst.
As the gods gathered, they deliberated on the manner in which the earth might best be peopled.
In the rotting corpse of Ymir, grubs were beginning to form. The gods changed all of the grubs
into the dwarves, giving them human form and imbuing them with reason. Because the dwarves
were born from the flesh of Ymir, the gods decided that they shall continue to live as they had
since their birth, hidden from the light of the sun in the flesh of their creator. Soon the light of the
sun became deadly to them, turning them into stone at the slightest exposure. There were no
women among the dwarves; hence they were not able to have children. Therefore, the gods
gave
the dwarves two princes, who had the ability to mould new dwarves out of the stones of the
earth. Thus the race of dwarves endlessly continued.
Men were created from the vegetable world by the gods Odin, Hoenir and Lodur. One day the
three gods were travelling across the barren earth and came across two trees with life-less
twisted
trunks. Odin shaped each of the trees into a man and a woman, and gave each of them breath.
Hoenir gave them a soul and the ability to reason. Lodur gave them warmth and the fresh
colours
of life. The man was called Ask and his wife was Embla, and they proceeded to create the race
of
man.
The land of Niflheim (or Niflhel) became the land where the dead would go after their time on
earth had elapsed. It was known as a land of eternal sleet and frost. The goddess Hel became
the
ruler of this domain, and her faithful hound, Garm, guarded the entrance to prevent the dead
from ever leaving and the living from entering.
Out of the chaos of the abyss rose the three Norns, goddesses of Fate. Their names were Urd
(Past), Verdandi (Present), and Skuld (Future). Urd appeared in the form of a shrivelled old hag,
while Verdandi was a women in her prime. Skuld was a beautiful young maiden. Together the
three Norns cared for the Life-Tree, Yggdrasil until the day of Ragnarok when it is destined to
die.
After the creation of the different level, or planes of existence, the great ash tree Yggdrasil
began
to grow and connect all of the levels. Its first root form in the land of Niflheim, from this root
bubbled the spring of Hvergelmir, the source of the primitive rivers. The second root of the great
tree extended into the land of the giants, covered with frost and ice. This is where the fountain
Mimir flowed. This spring was a source of great wisdom from which Odin desired to drink,
however the price demanded for a few draughts was the loss of one of his eyes. The third root
extended all the way up into the heavens, and issued the spring Urd. This is where the Norns
resided, drawing water from this well at the beginning of each day and sprinkling it on the roots
of Yggdrasil so that it would not wither away.
In the highest branches of the tree sat a golden cock, which kept a constant vigilance of the
horizon to warn the gods whenever their ancient enemies, the Giants, were preparing to attack
them. Under Yggdrasil, the horn of the god Heimdall was hidden, whose sound would announce
the final battle of the Aesir against all whom wished to cause their downfall. Near the trunk of
the tree was a place of eternal peace, where the god would meet daily to render justice. In its
branches the goat Heidrun browsed; she gave Odin's warriors the milk with which they were
nourished.
There existed demons that would constantly strive to destroy Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. A
cunning monster, the serpent Nidhögg, sat at the base of the third root and gnawed at it
ceaselessly. Four stags wandered at the base of the tree and would nibble off all of the young
green shoots, preventing further growth of the tree. Thankfully, due to the careful attention given
by the Norns, the tree was able to flourish.
At the time of the creation of the world, it was foretold that it would not be eternal. In the Day of
the End, Ragnarok, the earth would be torn asunder in a mighty battle between the gods of the
Aesir and the Giants. Great battles of might and magic would be fought, reducing all life to
ashes. Yggdrasil would fall, sending the layers of the world crashing down. The hound Garm,
guarding the entrance to Niflheim would flee in terror, and the dead will escape, rising again to
the earth as plagues and disease to fight along side the gods. In the end of the battle,
everything
would be destroyed; the gods, giant
THE CREATION ACCORDING TO EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY
At first there was nothing but Nun, the primal ocean of chaos which contained the seeds of
everything to come. In this jumble of waters the sun god reposed. Finally, by an exertion of will,
he emerged from chaos as Ra and gave birth to Shu and Tefnut by himself. In turn Shu, the god
of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture, gave birth to Geb and Nut, the earth god and sky
goddess. Thus the physical universe was created.
Men were created from Ra's tears. Eons passed and Ra grew decrepit, so the ungrateful race of
men plotted against Ra. When Ra learned of these plots he angrily called a council of the gods.
The gods decided that mankind must be destroyed, and Ra despatched the goddess Hathor to
wipe out humankind. Hathor did an effective job of it, killing men by the tens of thousands until
only a tiny remnant was left. Then Ra relented, and men were spared. But Ra was thoroughly
sick of the world and retreated into the heavens, leaving Shu to reign in his place. At that time
the present world was established.
Against the orders of Ra, Geb, the earth god, and Nut, the sky goddess, married. Then Ra in his
wrath ordered Shu, the air god, to separate them. Shu defeated Geb and raised Nut aloft,
separating them permanently. However, Nut was pregnant, and Ra had decreed that she could
not give birth in any month of any year. Seeing her plight, the god of learning, Thoth, gambled
with the moon for extra light and thus was able to add five extra days to the official Egyptian
calendar of 360 days. On those five days Nut gave birth to Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis, and
Nepthys, successively. Osiris became the incarnation of good, while Set became the
embodiment of evil. In this manner the two poles of morality were fixed once and for all.
s, men and animals would cease to exist.