Blog Four; Creation Stories and Myths of the Aboriginals and Maoris

Almost every human culture ranging from the Native Americans to the Australia Aboriginals have created and passed down a story or myth of or about their land, people, culture, ect. These stories may involve gods, or nature, or things of significant importance to the culture. I believe that these people sought to explain their culture because people seem to need to have a reason for everything. Us, being humans, have the tendency to want to explain everything. We can’t just accept “The earth was created because it just was.” Whether it be science, faith, or other thoughts, we all have our own mindset on things revolving around our culture. To put it simply, people created these myths because they desire, almost need, something to believe in. We crave the feeling of reassurance and the ability to know something greater than us. We want to know these stories and where they come from. I think that these myths are still important in today’s society, but not for everyday use. We usually use these stories for our own entertainment by stretching their accuracy to the passed down myth, and put them into books or movies. These myths can also have an effect of the way that some people act nowadays. Some that have a strong tie to their religious culture and ancestors may still participate in their culture and share with us their unique stories and past. Who knows? Even our clothing style or the food we eat may have descended from myths and stories that our ancestors created.

From simply reading the creation stories of the Maori and the Australian Aboriginals we can understand things about their culture and we can distinguish their basic values and beliefs or ideas as a culture. From reading the three different creation stories it is easy to tell that the Aboriginals value peace. Their creation story involves a more nature and animalistic theme. They also value togetherness and unity, as the text states and repeats that “the children lived together peacefully.” There is also the mention of the human mind, and how we would not want to change our shape. This is obviously not true, as many are not satisfied with their “shape,” but perhaps the Aboriginals valued their mind and themselves as they were, without the need to change themselves. The quote “[the Sun Mother] made [the humans] superior to the animals because they had part of her mind and would never want to change their shape,” is strong evidence that the Aboriginals valued themselves as human and the fact that they did not need or desire to change themselves. They were also terrified of the platypus...Just kidding. Both versions of the Maori myths have the overall same story and idea. The Maori do not so much value togetherness or peace or even nature. The Maori’s values include  the superiority of humans, mainly men. The also believe in force to achieve what needs to be done to reach creation of nothingness.the story talks about how Tane pushed his father and mother apart by physical force to create the earth. The story of the Maori’s was much darker and less graceful than the Aboriginal’s story of creation.

During class we compared and contrasted the creation myths between the Maori and the Australian Aboriginals. Both stories starts with a family, which shows a value of family in these stories, as well as creating something out of nothing. Both stories had parents before children came to play a party, gods and spirits, the importance of man, human superiority to other things in the world, and the significance of offspring and reproduction to the cultures. During the Aboriginal’s story there is a lot of mention of animals and growth in nature. There is also a “Sun Mother” and lots of caring emotions. It was a graceful story that mentioned the creation of humans because of the unhappiness with the animals created before. At the end, there was also a peaceful separation of the god’s own free will. There was little struggle, and it brought a serene inspiration to the mind. The Maori however had a much darker theme to their creation story. This story possessed an “Earth Mother” and a “Sky Father.” In this myth, humans were created before animals and already more valued than any others. This story may be in the dark, but the main goal is finding the happiness and he light. This still is no excuse to have the right to hurt others to create something for your own benefit. The Maori will do whatever need be to reach their goals and values. This story also mentioned a great separation by force, not of one’s free will. These differenced explain the different cultural behaviors and values of each different culture.

Old creation stories have less of a place in society today. With advances in sciences and different faiths these myths have dwindled in their significance to the modern world. But there are things that can be taken from these stories that science cannot explain, such as universal problems in the world. These aspects include things such as the natural presence of envy and jealousy in people. The Aboriginals show this problem through the animal spirits and their desire to change due to their arguing. This shows how people naturally argue, even over the simplest things, and how we are willing to become savage to get what we want. The Maori myth also represents war and struggle between people. It shows separation, and the ability of humans to hurt other to obtain one’s desires. It also shows the physical and emotion struggle of a person to reach “the top,” or where one wants to be. Both stories also show the failure of families and separation. These problems are still present around the world today and cannot be simply explain by physical science.

There are many creation stories still in society today, that is to say religion, faith, or your beliefs. The “creation myth” I believe in is that God created the world, nature, animals, and a man and a woman. I’m a religious Lutheran and this is our belief of creation. I believe that because I have faith in this story that I am more open to ideas and change, unlike for example people that may believe in science and the “Big Bang.” My beliefs also give me the ability be thankful for what I am given and the “story” teaches me about nature vs. man and how to make the right choices in what I do in life. This had made me come to view the world as something precious and beautiful. Sadly, I feel as though we are sometimes corrupting the world and hiding it’s beauty. Nature is one of my big values. I love the outside, and to see the world that is untouched by humans. I also value my family, because in the Christian story of creation Adam and Eve only had each other. I am very grateful for my family and friends because I have people to rely on, such as Adam and Eve were there for one another. My beliefs on the creation of the earth and man has shaped my values and views in the way that I have come to love this world and find peace in nature and my family. This is how the Aboriginals and Maori created these myths. They took their values and put it into a story to have the ability to believe in something different and true to their culture.

*An early Aboriginal creation story; the Sun Mother

*The Maori creation myth that we read in class.

*The Biblical creation myth; Adam and Eve