What Is the Mayan Creation of Earth Story?

The Mayan creation story, or the Popol Vuh, tells the story of how the Mayan people believe the Earth was created.

The Mayan people believe that the god whom they call "Heart of the Sky" is the creator of the Earth. Heart of the Sky also had other names such as Maker, Modeler, Kukulkan, and Hurricane.

• When Heart of Sky first looked around there was nothing but the sky and water. There were no mountains, valleys, hills, or any other land formations. There were no birds, no fish, and no other types of animals. There was not even sound or movement.
• So Heart of the Sky looked out over the nothingness and said let there be Earth and the Earth appeared up out of the sea. He thought of mountains, trees, grass, sand, dirt, and all the other parts of earth and they were created.

After the Creation of the Earth...

The Mayan creation of the Earth story doesn't stop there:

• After the creation of Earth, Heart of the Sky was disheartened by the fact that no one could worship Him or give Him praise. Therefore, he decided to create animals.
• He simply thought about all the animals that He wanted to create and they appeared. He thought of deer and other mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, bugs, and every other living creature.

However, Heart of the Sky was not happy with these creations because they could not think or speak to offer him praise. All the animals did was grunt and growl and make other animal noises.

Creation of People

Due to his displeasure with his non-speaking creations, Heart of the Sky thought that he would make people. He made these people out of mud from the Earth. It was not long before this first creation of people melted and withered away.

Since His first creation had failed, Heart of the Sky called upon the spirits of the Grandmother and Grandfather and consulted them for their advice on how to make people.

• The Grandmother and Grandfather agreed that Heart of the Sky should fashion people from wood and so he did. These people were called the doll people.
• Heart of the Sky was not happy with these people because they could not walk and talk and they did not offer Him respect and praise.

Heart of the Sky made the decision to destroy the wooden people He had created by calling upon Hurricane who came and created a great flood in which all the doll people were destroyed.

• The animals took revenge on the doll people for intruding upon their homes and land by destroying their faces. The remaining doll people fled into the forest and there they became monkeys.

This is the Mayan story of how the earth was created. It also supports their belief of how the human race was adapted from monkeys.