What Is the Belief of the Mayan Creation of Earth?

The Mayans believe that the Earth was created by their creator.

You can find the entire text of the Mayan religion creation tale here at Criscenzo.com. In short, the Mayans believed that God created the entire universe. However, they had different names that they prescribed to their superior being. Animals were created before humans, and the creation of humans was rather complicated. Mud and wood were first used to make them; however, neither of these substances worked out. Eventually, humans were made out of maize.

Before the Creation

There are a couple of similarities between the way in which the Mayan creation story and the creation story in Genesis begin. For example, the first words of the Mayan tale are, "Here is the story of the beginning/when there was not one bird,/not one fish,/not one mountain. Here is the sky, all alone./Here is the sea, all alone./There is nothing more/-no sound, no movement."

It emphasizes the fact that the world was virtually created out of nothing. Before something arrived, there was nothing-except for the great and powerful God. Even when we look at science, it does seem to dictate that at one point, there was nothing. Although these claims often try to argue against a creator, when we really look at what they are saying, they seem to support the idea of a creator. How can nothing spontaneously create something? These questions are the types that creation stories typically raise.

Creator

The Mayan creation story differs significantly from the one that we are the most familiar with in that it names God differently. The story reads, "And these are his names:/Maker and Modeler, Kulkukan, and Hurricane." Interestingly, the story is only stating that there was only one creator, not that there were many different gods and goddesses who created the earth.

Heart-of-Sky contemplates how he could have someone - or a group of people - to sing his praises and give glory to his name. Therefore, he decides to start the earth.

Creation

After thinking about the possibility of creating human beings to worship him, the superior being in this work says the word "Earth."

The account of how the world is actually formed reads as thus:

"and the earth rises, like a mist from the sea. He only thinks of it, and there it is.

He thinks of mountains, and great mountains come. He thinks of trees, and trees grow on the land.

And so Heart-of-Sky says, 'Our work is going well.'

Now Heart-of-Sky plans the creatures of the forest -birds, deer, jaguars and snakes. And each is given his home. 'You the deer, sleep here along the rivers. You the birds, your nests are in the trees. Multiply and scatter,' he tells them."

Creation of Humans

You might notice that the creation of animals in the Mayan creation tale has some similarities to the creation of humans in the Judeo-Christian version. Once the animals were created, the creator found that they were unable to sing praises to him. First, he attempted to make humans out of mud; however, they were lopsided and crumbling.

Next, he tried to make them out of wood. However, he found this action to be a failure, since they did not have any of the vital forces in them to make them truly alive. Therefore, he decides to destroy the wood people. In a great storm, their faces become smashed and they turn into monkeys. This action then, is why these people say that humans came from monkeys.

Although the story ends rather abruptly, it is said that eventually, the creator made the final human beings from maize, which was a very important product in their society.