Interesting myths about the creation of the world. Educational and entertainment portal for schoolchildren

Any mythology is based on myths about the creation of the world and people. It is difficult to identify any specific trend in all this. The creators of the world are sometimes gods, sometimes animals, and even plants. How a primordial creature arose from primeval Chaos and how it created the world - every myth has its own story about this. This article presents several myths about the creation of the world of the Slavs, Greeks, Sumerians, Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, Scandinavians, Zoroastrians, Arikara, Huron, Mayan Indians.

Slavs.

The Slavs had several legends about where the world and its inhabitants came from. Many peoples (ancient Greeks, Iranians, Chinese) had myths that the world arose from an egg. Similar legends and tales can be found among the Slavs. In the Tale of the Three Kingdoms, the hero goes in search of three princesses in the underworld. First he finds himself in the copper kingdom, then in the silver and gold. Each princess gives the hero an egg, which he rolls into in turn and encloses each kingdom. Having emerged into the white light, he throws the eggs onto the ground and unfolds all three kingdoms.

One of the ancient legends says: “In the beginning, when there was nothing in the world but the boundless sea, a duck, flying over it, dropped an egg into the watery abyss. The egg split, and from its lower part the mother earth came out, and from the upper part arose the high vault of heaven.”

Another legend connects the appearance of the world with the hero’s duel with the serpent who guarded the golden egg. The hero killed the serpent, split the egg - three kingdoms emerged from it: heavenly, earthly and underground.

And here is how the Carpathian Slavs told about the birth of the world:
When was the beginning of the world,
Then there was neither sky nor earth, only the blue sea,
And in the middle of the sea there is a tall oak tree,
Two marvelous doves sat down on an oak tree,
Have you started thinking about how to establish a light?
We will go down to the bottom of the sea,
Let's take out the fine sand,
Fine sand, golden stone.
We will sow fine sand,
We will blow the golden stone.
From the fine sand - black earth,
The water is cold, the grass is green.
From the golden stone - blue sky, blue sky, bright sun,
The month and all the stars are clear.

Here's another myth. At the beginning of time the world was in darkness. But the Almighty revealed the Golden Egg, which contained the Rod - the Parent of all things.
The clan gave birth to Love - Mother Lada and, by the power of Love, destroying its prison, gave birth to the Universe - countless star worlds, as well as our earthly world.
The sun then came out from His face.
The bright moon is from His chest.
The frequent stars are from His eyes.
The clear dawns are from His eyebrows.
Dark nights - yes from His thoughts.
Violent winds - from the breath)..
"Book of Kolyada", 1 a
So Rod gave birth to everything that we see around - everything that comes with Rod - everything that we call Nature. The genus separated the visible, manifest world, that is, Reality, from the invisible, spiritual world - from Novi. Rod separated Truth from Falsehood.
In the chariot of fire, Rod affirmed thunder. The Sun God Ra, who emerged from the person of the Family, was established in a golden boat, and the Month - in a silver one. Rod released from his lips the Spirit of God - the bird Mother Sva. By the Spirit of God, the Rod gave birth to Svarog - the Heavenly Father.
Svarog finished making peace. He became the master of the earthly World, the ruler of the Kingdom of God. Svarog established twelve pillars supporting the firmament.
From the Word of the Most High, Rod created the god Barma, who began to mutter prayers, glorifications, and recite the Vedas. He also gave birth to the Spirit of Barma, his wife Tarusa.
The clan became the Heavenly Spring and gave birth to the waters of the Great Ocean. From the foam of the Ocean waters the World Duck appeared, giving birth to many gods - Yasuns and Dasun demons. The clan gave birth to the Cow Zemun and the Goat Sedun, milk spilled from their teats and became Milky Way. Then he created the Alatyr stone, with which he began to churn this Milk. From the butter obtained after churning, Mother Earth of Cheese was created.

Sumerians.

The Sumerians explained the origin of the universe as follows.
In Sumerian mythology, heaven and earth were originally thought of as a mountain, the base of which was the earth, personified in the goddess Ki, and the top was the sky, the god An. From their union was born the god of air and wind Enlil, himself called “ Great mountain", and his temple in the city of Nippur was called the "House of the Mountain": he separated heaven from earth and created space - Universe. Thanks to Enlil, the luminaries also appear. Enlil falls in love with the goddess Ninlil and takes possession of her by force as she sails down the river in her barge. For this, the elder gods banish him to the underworld, but Ninlil, who has already conceived son of god the moon Nannu follows him, and Nanna is born in the underworld. In the underworld, Enlil three times takes the form of guards of the underworld and gives birth to three underground gods from Ninlil. They return to the heavenly world. From now on, Nanna travels in a barge, accompanied by stars and planets, across the sky at night, and through the underworld during the day. He gives birth to a son, the solar god Utu, who wanders across the sky during the day, and at night he travels through the underworld, bringing light, drink and food to the dead. Then Enlil develops the earth: he raised “the seed of the fields” from the earth, brought into being “everything useful,” and invented the hoe.
There is another version of the creation myth.
The beginning of this story is quite beautiful. A long time ago, when there was neither heaven nor earth, there lived Tiamat, the goddess of sweet waters, Apsu, the god of salty waters, and their son, the fog rising above the water.
Then Tiamat and Apsu gave birth to two pairs of twins: Lahma and Lahama (demons), and then Anshar and Kishar, who were smarter and stronger than the elders. Anshar and Kishar had a child named Annu. Annu became the god of the sky. Ea was born to Annu. This is the god of underground waters and magic.
The younger gods - Lahma, Lahama, Anshar, Kishar, Annu and Ea - gathered every evening for a noisy feast. They prevented Apsu and Tiamat from getting enough sleep. Only Mummu, the eldest son of Apsu and Tiamat, did not take part in these amusements. Apsu and Mummu appealed to the younger gods with a request to stop the celebrations, but they were not listened to. The elders decided to kill everyone who interfered with sleep.
Ea decided to kill Apsu, who had started a conspiracy against the younger ones.
Tiamat decided to take revenge for the death of her husband. Her new husband, the god Kingu, strongly supported this idea.
So Tiamat and Kingu hatched a plan for revenge. Having learned about Tiamat's plan, Ea turned to his grandfather Anshar for advice. Anshar suggested striking Tiamat with magic, since her husband was dealt with in this way. But Ea's magical powers do not affect Tiamat.
Anu, Ea's father, tried to reason with the angry goddess, but nothing worked. Since magic and negotiations came to nothing, it remains to turn to physical force.
Who should we send to battle? Everyone decided that only Marduk could do this. Anshar, Anu and Ea initiated the secrets of divine magic into young Marduk. Marduk is ready to fight Tiamat, demanding the undivided power of the supreme god as a reward for victory.
Young Marduk gathered all the Anunnaki (as the gods called themselves) so that they would approve the war with the supreme goddess and recognize him as their king. Anshar sent his secretary Kaku to call Lakhma, Lahama, Kishara and Damkina. Having learned about the impending war, the gods were horrified, but a good dinner with plenty of wine calmed them down.
In addition, Marduk demonstrated his magical powers, and the gods recognized him as king.
The merciless battle lasted for a long time. Tiamat fought desperately. But Marduk defeated the goddess.
Marduk took the “tables of destinies” from Kingu (they determined the movement of the world and the course of all events) and put them around his neck. He cut the body of the slain Tiamat into two parts: from one he made the sky, from the other - the earth. People were created from the blood of the murdered Kingu.

Egyptians.

In the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, “the pride of the Sun,” as the Greeks called it, Atum was considered the creator and primal being. He arose from Nun, the primary ocean, which Atum called his father, when there was nothing yet - neither sky, nor earth, nor soil.
Atum rose like a hill among the waters of the world's oceans.
The prototypes of such hills were real hills that stood out on the water surface of the flooded Nile. Suitably fortified, they became a platform for the first temples, the construction of which seemed to perpetuate the act of creating the world. The shape of the pyramid is apparently associated with the idea of ​​a primary hill.
- I exist! I will create the world! I have no father and no mother; I am the first god in the Universe, and I will create other gods! With incredible effort, Atum broke away from the water, soared over the abyss and, raising his hands, cast a magic spell. At the same moment, a deafening roar was heard, and Ben-Ben Hill rose from the abyss amid the foamy spray. Atum sank down onto the hill and began to ponder what he should do next.
But the lonely creator had nothing to create from, and he copulated with his own hand and absorbed his own seed, and then spewed out of the mouth of the god of air Shu and the goddess of moisture Tefnut, the first divine couple. Ocean Nun blessed the creation, commanding it to grow. As soon as they were born, the children disappeared somewhere. Atum could not find them and sent his daughter, the Divine Eye of Atum, to search. The goddess returned the fugitives, and the overjoyed father shed tears. His tears turned into the first people.
From the first couple born of Atum came the god Geb and Nut, the goddess and embodiment of Heaven. The air god Shu and his wife separated the earth and the sky: Nut rose in the form of a firmament above Geb, leaning on it with her hands and feet, Shu began to support the firmament in this position with his own hands.
It was necessary to separate heaven and earth, because as long as they remain united, in embrace, there is no place on earth for other creatures.
But Geb and Nut managed to give birth to twins Osiris and Isis, as well as Set and Nephthys. Osiris was destined to be the first to be killed and resurrected to an eternal afterlife.
The earth and sky are surrounded on all sides by waters. Every night Nut swallows the sun, and in the morning again
gives birth to him.

Memphis had its own version of the creation myth. The creator god Ptah creates all things with the power of thought and word: “Ptah pacified himself, creating all things and divine words. He gave birth to the gods, created cities, placed the gods in their sanctuaries. All kinds of works, arts, movements of arms and legs arose, according to the order, conceived by the heart and expressed by the tongue, which created the essence of all things."
The main gods of ancient Egypt, created by Ptah, were his own incarnations. In Egyptian mythology, there is another version of the creation of the world, which arose in the city of Shmunu - the “City of Eight”. According to her, the progenitors of all things were eight gods and goddesses - Nun and Nuanet, Huh and Huakhet, Kuk and Kuaket, Amun and Amaunet. Male deities had the heads of frogs, female deities - snakes. They lived in the waters of primeval chaos and created the primordial egg there. From this egg came the solar deity in the form of a bird, and the world was filled with light. "I am a soul emerging from chaos, my nest is invisible, my egg is not broken."
During the New Kingdom (XVI-XI centuries BC), the city of Thebes became the political capital of Egypt. The main Theban deity is the sun god Amon. The Great Hymn to Amun says:
Father of fathers and all gods,
Who raised the sky and established the earth,
People came from his eyes, gods became from his mouth
The king, long live he, long live,
May he be prosperous, the head of all gods
The myth of Amun combined previously existing versions of the creation myth. It tells that in the beginning the god Amon existed in the form of a serpent. He created eight great gods, who gave birth to Ra and Atum in Iunu, and Ptah in Memphis. They then returned to Thebes and died there.
There is almost no mention of the creation of man by the gods in Egyptian mythology. According to one version, people arose from the tears of the god Ra (this is explained by the similar sound of the Egyptian words “tears” and “people”); according to another, people were molded from clay by the god Khnum.
However, the Egyptians believed that people were “the flock of God” and that God created the world for people. "He created for them the sky and the earth. He destroyed the pitchless darkness of water and created air so that they could breathe. He created for them plants, livestock, birds and fish in order to nourish them." It should be noted that in almost all traditions, legends and myths this is common...

Chinese.

Scandinavians.

According to the Scandinavians, in the beginning there was emptiness Ginungagap. To the north of it was the frozen world of darkness Niflheim, and to the south lay the fiery hot country of Muspellheim. From such proximity, the world emptiness of Ginungagap was gradually filled with poisonous frost, which began to melt and turned into the evil frost giant Ymir. Ymir was the ancestor of all frost giants.
Then Ymir fell asleep. While he slept, the sweat dripping from his armpits became a man and a woman, and the sweat dripping from his feet became another man. When a lot of ice melted, the cow Audumla emerged from the resulting water. Ymir began to drink her milk, and she liked to lick the salty ice. Having licked the ice, she found a man under it, his name was Buri.
Buri had a son Boryo Bor married the frost giantess Bestla and they had three sons: Odin, Vili and Ve. The sons of the Storm hated Ymir and killed him. So much blood flowed from the body of the murdered Ymir that it drowned all the giants except Bergelmir, the grandson of Ymir, and his wife. They managed to escape the flood in a boat made from a tree trunk.
Odin and his brothers brought Ymir's body to the center of Ginnungagapa and created a world from it. From Ymir's flesh they made the earth, from his blood - the ocean. From the skull they made the sky. And the brain was scattered into the sky, resulting in clouds.
The gods ignored only the part where the giants lived. It was called Etunheim. The best part They fenced off this world with Ymir's eyelashes and settled people there, calling it Midgard.
Finally, the gods created people. From two tree knots a man and a woman, Ask and Emblya, emerged. All other people descended from them.
The last to be built was the impregnable fortress of Asgard, which rose high above Midgard. These two parts were connected by the rainbow bridge Bifrost. Among the gods, patrons of people, there were 12 gods and 14 goddesses (they were called Ases), as well as a whole company of other smaller deities (Vanir). This entire host of gods crossed the rainbow bridge and settled in Asgard.
The Yggdrasil ash tree grew above this multi-layered world. Its roots sprouted into Asgard, Jotunheim and Niflheim. An eagle and a hawk sat on the branches of Yggdrasil, a squirrel rushed up and down the trunk, deer lived at the roots, and below all sat the snake Nidhogg, who wanted to eat everything. Yggdrasil is what has always been, is and will be.

Greeks.

At the beginning of everything there was formless, dimensionless Chaos, then Gaia (Earth) appeared with Tartarus (the abyss) lying deep in its depths and the eternal force of attraction that existed long before them - Eros. The Greeks called the god of love, who accompanied the goddess of love Aphrodite, by the same name, but Eros, who stood at the beginning of the universe, excludes any feeling. Eros can be compared to the force of universal gravity - it is like a law. This force set Chaos and the Earth in motion. Chaos produces the feminine - Night and masculinity- Erebus (Darkness). Night gave birth to Thanat (Death), Sleep (Hypnos), great amount dreams, goddesses of fate - Moira, the goddess of retribution Nemesis, Deception, Old Age. The creation of the Night also became Eris, who embodied rivalry and strife, from which came Exhausting labor, Hunger, Sorrow, Battles, Murders, False words, Litigation and Lawlessness, but also the inexorably fair Orc, punishing anyone who takes a false oath. And from the connection of Night with Erebus, transparent Ether and shining Day were born - Light from Darkness!
According to the myth about the origin of the world, after this Gaia awakened: first Uranus (Sky) was born from her, then Mountains rose from her depths, their wooded slopes were filled with the nymphs she gave birth to, and Pontus (Sea) spilled over the plains. The covering of the Earth by Heaven led to the appearance of the first generation of gods - there were twelve of them: six brothers and six sisters, powerful and beautiful. They were not the only children from the union of Gaia and Uranus. Gaia also gave birth to three huge, ugly Cyclops with a large round eye in the middle of the forehead, and after them three more arrogant Hundred-Handed Giants. The Titans, having taken their sisters as wives, filled the expanses of Mother Earth and Father Sky with their offspring: they gave rise to a tribe of gods of the most ancient generation. The eldest of them, Oceanus, had three thousand daughters, beautiful-haired oceanids, and the same number of river streams that covered the entire land. Another pair of Titans produced Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon), Eos (Dawn) and numerous Stars. The third pair gave rise to the winds Boreas, Not and Zephyr. The Titan Iapetus could not boast of as abundant offspring as his older brothers, but he became famous for his few, but great sons: Atlas, who took on his shoulders the heavy burden of the firmament, and Prometheus, the noblest of the Titans.
The youngest son of Gaia and Uranus was Cronus, impudent and impatient. He did not want to endure both the arrogant patronage of his older brothers and the power of his own father. Perhaps he would not have dared to raise his hand against him, encroaching on the supreme power, if not for Gay’s mother. She shared with her matured son her long-standing resentment against her husband: he hated Uranus for the ugliness of his sons - the Hundred-Handed Giants - and imprisoned them in her dark depths. Cronus, under the protection of Nikta and with the help of his mother Gaia, seized his father's power. Taking his sister Rhea as his wife, Cron laid the foundation for a new tribe, to which people gave the name of the gods. However, the insidious Kron was afraid of his offspring, because he himself raised his hand against his father, and, so that no one would deprive him of power, he began to swallow his own children immediately after their birth. Rhea complained bitterly about her sad fate to Gaia and received advice from her on how to save another baby. When the child was born, Gaia herself hid him in one of the inaccessible caves, and Rhea gave the swaddled stone to her husband.
Meanwhile, Zeus (as the mother of the rescued baby called him) grew up in a cave hidden from view on the slopes of wooded Ida, the very high mountain islands of Crete. He was guarded there by the young men of the Curetes and Corybantes, drowning out the children's cries with the blows of copper shields and the rattling of weapons, and Amalthea, the noblest of goats, fed him with her milk. In gratitude for this, Zeus, who subsequently took a place on Olympus, constantly took care of her, and after death he took her to heaven so that she would forever shine in the constellation Auriga. It is interesting that Zeus kept the skin of his nurse for himself, making a shield from it - a sign of supreme power. This shield was called “aegis”, which in Greek meant “goat”. According to him, Zeus received one of his most common epithets - aegis-sovereign. The horn, which Amalthea accidentally broke during her earthly life, was turned into a cornucopia by the ruler of the gods and given to his daughter Eirene, the patroness of the world.
Having matured, Zeus became stronger than his father and not through cunning, like Cronus, but in a fair fight he overcame him and forced him to vomit his swallowed brothers and sisters from the womb: Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. Thus, according to the myth about the origin of the world, the end of the era of the titans, who by this time had filled the heavenly and earthly spaces with several of their generations, was coming - the era of the gods of Olympus began.

Zoroastrians.

In the distant past, before the creation of the world, there was nothing: no heat, no light, no living creatures on earth or in heaven. In the vast space there was only one Zervan - endless eternity. It was empty and lonely, and then He had a plan to create the world. He wanted a son to be born to him. The desire was extremely great that Zervan began to perform sacrifices for a thousand years. And two sons were born in his womb - Ormuzd and Ahriman. Zervan decided that He would give his firstborn son Ormuzd power over the whole world. Ormuzd read the Father's thoughts and told Ahriman about them. However, evil was already the essence of Ahriman, and he, in order to be born first, hastily tore apart the shell of his Father and came into the world. The evil Ahriman declared to his father: “I am your son, Ormuzd.” Zervan looked at the ugly Ahriman filled with Darkness and began to sob: this was not what He was waiting for. Immediately behind Ahriman, Ormuzd appeared from the womb, emitting Light. Ahriman, thirsting for power over the world, was the younger brother, but by cunning he was the first to be born. Therefore, he boldly reminded Zervan that it was he who should rule the world, as promised. Zervan answered Ahriman: “Get lost, Evil One! I will make you king, but only for nine thousand years, but Ormuzd will have power over you, and after the end of the allotted time, the kingdom will be given to Ormuzd and He will correct everything according to His will.”
So, after the creation of the world, it was divided into two parts. The place of residence of Ormuzd, constant and limitless in time, full of omniscience and virtues, is pierced by endless light. The area subject to Ahriman, who is in darkness, ignorance and the passion of destruction, who was, is, but will not always exist, is called the Abyss. Between the Light and the Dark Abyss there was a void in which endless light and endless darkness were mixed. Ormuzd began the creation of a perfect world, shedding a particle of his pure light into the abyss that separated him from Ahriman. But Ahriman rose from the Darkness, as predicted. The insidious younger brother, who did not possess omniscience, did not know about the existence of Ormuzd, and was so enraged by what he saw of the creation of the world that he declared war on the entire Creation. Ormuzd tried to convince Ahriman that there was no benefit from such a war, and He did not hold any grudge against his brother. However, Ahriman did not listen, because he decided: “If the Omniscient Ormuzd is trying to resolve the matter peacefully, then He is powerless.” Ahriman did not know that he was not able to harm his brother, but could only harm existence - only the Omniscient Ormuzd knew about this.
The brothers are allotted nine thousand years from the beginning of the creation of the world: the first three thousand years events will take place according to the will of Ormuzd, the next three thousand years - the wills of Ormuzd and Ahriman will mix, and in the last three thousand years the evil Ahriman will be weakened and their confrontation over Creation will cease . Ormuzd showed Ahriman his victory at the end of history: powerlessness Evil spirit and the destruction of the divas, the resurrection of the dead, the final incarnation and future tranquility of creation forever. And Ahriman fled in fear back into the Darkness. And although he fled, he continued the mad struggle against Creation - he created divas and demons that rose to intimidate. The first thing Ahriman created was a lie that undermines the world. Ormuzd created for himself eternal immortal companions: Good Thought, Truth, Obedience, Devotion, Integrity and Immortality. Then He created beautiful angels who became messengers of Ormuzd and protectors of good. Ormuzd continued the creation of the world: He created Heaven and Earth, and between them he created light, stars, the moon and the sun. The Omniscient determined places for everyone so that they would always be ready to fight evil and be saved.

Arikara Indians.

The Great Heavenly Spirit, Nesaru, sometimes called the Great Mystery, was the ruler of all creation. Under the sky stretched a boundless sea, on which two ducks always swam. Nesaru created two brothers, the Wolf Man and the Happy Man, who commanded the ducks to dive to the bottom of the great sea and bring back some earth. From this land the Wolf Man created the Great Plains, and Happy man- hills and mountains.
Two brothers went underground and found two spiders. They explained to spiders how to reproduce. The two spiders gave birth to many species of animals and plants, as well as humans. They also gave birth to a race of evil giants.
These giants were so evil that Nesar was eventually forced to destroy them by sending a great flood. Nesaru loved people and saved them from death.

Huron Indians.

At first there was nothing but water. Just a wide, wide sea. Its only inhabitants were animals. They lived on the water, under the water, or flew through the air.
Then a woman fell from the sky.
Two Arctic loons flew past and managed to catch her on their wings. However, the burden was too heavy. The loons were afraid that they would drop the woman and she would drown. They called out loudly for help. All the creatures flew and swam to their call.
Great Sea turtle said:
- Put the celestial woman on my back. It won't get anywhere off my wide back.
The loons did just that.
Then the council of animals began to think about what to do next. The wise Sea Turtle said that a woman needs land to live.
All the animals took turns diving to the bottom of the sea, but no one ever reached the bottom. Finally, the Toad dived. It took a long time before she appeared again and brought a handful of earth. She gave this land to the woman. The woman leveled it on the Turtle's back. This is how land came into being.
Over time, trees grew on it and rivers flowed.
The children of the very first woman began to live.
To this day, the earth rests on the back of the Great Sea Turtle.

Mayan Indians.

A long time ago there were no people, no animals, no stones, no trees on earth. There was nothing. It was an endless and sad plain covered with waters. The deities Tepev, Kukumats and Huracan lived in the twilight silence. They got to talking and came to an agreement about what needed to be done.
They kindled a light that illuminated the earth for the first time. The sea receded, revealing land that could be farmed and on which flowers and trees bloomed. A wonderful fragrance rose to the sky from the newly created forests.
The gods rejoiced at their creations. However, they thought that the trees should not be left without servants and guardians. Then they placed animals of all kinds on the branches and near the trunks. The animals remained motionless until the gods ordered each of them: - You will go drink water from the rivers. You will go to sleep in a cave. You will walk on four legs, and one day your back will experience the weight of the loads you carry. And you, bird, will live in the branches and fly through the air, without fear of falling.
The animals obeyed orders. The gods thought that all living beings should be placed in their natural environment, but should not live in silence, since silence is synonymous with devastation and death. Then they gave them votes. But the animals could only scream, unable to say a single sensible word.
The distressed gods consulted and turned to the animals: - Since you failed to understand who we are, you will forever live in fear of others. Some of you will devour others without any disgust.
Hearing these words, the animals tried to speak. However, only screams came out of their throats and mouths. The animals submitted and accepted the sentence: soon they began to be persecuted and sacrificed, their meat was boiled and they were eaten by much more intelligent creatures that were to be born.

source vision7.ru

Evens (one of northern peoples) created such a myth. There lived two brothers, and around them there was only water. One day the younger brother dived very deep, took out some earth from the bottom and put it on the surface of the water. Then he lay down on the ground and fell asleep.

Then the older brother began to pull the earth out from under the younger brother and stretched it so much that it covered most of the water. There is a similar myth about the creation of the earth in the American Indians.

They believed that the loon bird (a very beautiful shiny black bird with white longitudinal spots) caught the land from the World Ocean. The Indians of another tribe developed the following myth about the appearance of dry land: a beaver, a muskrat, an otter and a turtle lived on the surface of the World Ocean. One day the muskrat dived, took out a handful of earth and put it on the turtle's shell. Gradually this handful grew and formed the earth.

Chinese and Scandinavian myths say that the earth arose from the egg of the World Ocean. The egg split and one half became the earth and the other half became the sky.

Hindus have long revered Brahma, the creator of the Universe.

The Bible (from the gr. “Books”) is a collection of works from the 8th century. BC e. - II centuries. n. e., containing myths about the creation of the world, historical narratives, and a record of ethical standards.

The peoples of the Caucasus believed that the earth and all life on it appeared after a huge white bird flew in.

The Bible says that on the first day God separated light from darkness, on the second day he created the heavens, and on the third day he created the earth.

“And God said: Let the waters that are under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it became so... And God called the dry land earth, and the collection of waters he called seas... And God said: let the earth grow greenery, grass... trees... And it became so.”

In Armenian mythology you can find a legend about where the Ararat and Taurus mountains came from. Lived on earth gigantic size. Every morning, as soon as they woke up, the brothers tightened their belts and greeted each other. They did this all their lives, but in old age their strength waned and it became difficult for them to get up early and tighten their belts. Then they decided to just say hello to each other. God became angry when he saw this and turned the brothers into mountains, their belts into green valleys, and their tears into crystal clear springs.

Myth about the origin of the world from the primeval chaos, told by Hesiod, is classified as a cosmogonic myth, according to which the world gradually developed from an initial formless state, but it also contains the creation of the world by divine principles. It should be noted that, unlike the Biblical tradition about the creation of the world by the Triune God, there are no feelings here, there is no place for the love inherent in the Biblical Creator for His creation.

At the beginning of everything there was formless, dimensionless Chaos, then Gaia (Earth) appeared with Tartarus (the abyss) lying deep in its depths and the eternal force of attraction that existed long before them - Eros. The Greeks called the god of love, who accompanied the goddess of love Aphrodite, by the same name, but Eros, who stood at the beginning of the universe, excludes any feeling. Eros can be compared to the force of universal gravity - it is like a law. This force set Chaos and the Earth in motion. Chaos produces the feminine principle - Night and the masculine principle - Erebus (Darkness). The night gave birth to Tanat (Death), Sleep (Hypnos), a huge number of dreams, goddesses of fate - Moira, the goddess of retribution Nemesis, Deception, Old Age. The creation of the Night also became Eris, who embodied rivalry and strife, from which came Exhausting labor, Hunger, Sorrow, Battles, Murders, False words, Litigation and Lawlessness, but also the inexorably fair Orc, punishing anyone who takes a false oath. And from the connection of Night with Erebus, transparent Ether and shining Day were born - Light from Darkness!

It is significant that the motives Greek mythology, along with other eastern systems, are present in the Gnostic worldview. Gnosticism, in addition, absorbed practically incompatible components, including elements of the Old Testament law and early Christian teaching.

According to the myth about the origin of the world, after this Gaia awakened: first Uranus (Sky) was born from her, then Mountains rose from her depths, their wooded slopes were filled with the nymphs she gave birth to, and Pontus (Sea) spilled over the plains. The covering of the Earth by Heaven led to the appearance of the first generation of gods - there were twelve of them: six brothers and six sisters, powerful and beautiful. They were not the only children from the union of Gaia and Uranus. Gaia also gave birth to three huge, ugly Cyclops with a large round eye in the middle of the forehead, and after them three more arrogant Hundred-Handed Giants. The Titans, having taken their sisters as wives, filled the expanses of Mother Earth and Father Sky with their offspring: they gave rise to a tribe of gods of the most ancient generation. The eldest of them, Oceanus, had three thousand daughters, beautiful-haired oceanids, and the same number of river streams that covered the entire land. Another pair of Titans produced Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon), Eos (Dawn) and numerous Stars. The third pair gave rise to the winds Boreas, Not and Zephyr. The Titan Iapetus could not boast of as abundant offspring as his older brothers, but he became famous for his few, but great sons: Atlas, who took on his shoulders the heavy burden of the firmament, and Prometheus, the noblest of the Titans.

The youngest son of Gaia and Uranus was Cronus, impudent and impatient. He did not want to endure both the arrogant patronage of his older brothers and the power of his own father. Perhaps he would not have dared to raise his hand against him, encroaching on the supreme power, if not for Gay’s mother. She shared with her matured son her long-standing resentment against her husband: he hated Uranus for the ugliness of his sons - the Hundred-Handed Giants - and imprisoned them in her dark depths. Cronus, under the protection of Nikta and with the help of his mother Gaia, seized his father's power. Taking his sister Rhea as his wife, Cron laid the foundation for a new tribe, to which people gave the name of the gods. However, the insidious Kron was afraid of his offspring, because he himself raised his hand against his father, and, so that no one would deprive him of power, he began to swallow his own children immediately after their birth. Rhea complained bitterly about her sad fate to Gaia and received advice from her on how to save another baby. When the child was born, Gaia herself hid him in one of the inaccessible caves, and Rhea gave the swaddled stone to her husband.

Meanwhile, Zeus (as the mother named the rescued baby) grew up in a hidden cave on the slopes of wooded Ida, the highest mountain on the island of Crete. He was guarded there by the young men of the Curetes and Corybantes, drowning out the children's cries with the blows of copper shields and the rattling of weapons, and Amalthea, the noblest of goats, fed him with her milk. In gratitude for this, Zeus, who subsequently took a place on Olympus, constantly took care of her, and after death he took her to heaven so that she would forever shine in the constellation Auriga. It is interesting that Zeus kept the skin of his nurse for himself, making a shield from it - a sign of supreme power. This shield was called “aegis”, which in Greek meant “goat”. According to him, Zeus received one of his most common epithets - aegis-sovereign. The horn, which Amalthea accidentally broke during her earthly life, was turned into a cornucopia by the ruler of the gods and given to his daughter Eirene, the patroness of the world.

Having matured, Zeus became stronger than his father and not through cunning, like Cronus, but in a fair fight he overcame him and forced him to vomit his swallowed brothers and sisters from the womb: Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. Thus, according to the myth about the origin of the world, the end of the era of the Titans came, who by this time filled the heavenly and earthly spaces with several of their generations - the era of the gods of Olympus began.

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In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

(Genesis 1, 1-2).

The biblical teaching about the creation of the world is briefly called Six days. Day means day. In 1823, Anglican priest George Stanley Faber (1773-1854) put forward the day-age theory. This opinion has absolutely no basis. In Hebrew to express words indefinite period of time or era there is a concept olam. Word yom in Hebrew always means day, day but never period of time. Rejecting a literal understanding of the day greatly distorts the biblical teaching about the creation of the world. If we take a day as an epoch, then how to determine evening And morning? How to apply the blessing of the seventh day and the rest in it to the era? After all, the Lord commanded rest on the seventh day of the week - Saturday, because He Himself rested: and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He rested from all His works(Genesis 2, 3). The Lord created plants on the third day, and the sun, moon and other luminaries on the fourth. If we accept the idea of ​​​​a day - an era, it turns out that for an entire era plants grew without sunlight.

The Holy Fathers understood day literally the first chapter of Genesis. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons: “Restoring this day in Himself, the Lord came to suffer on the day before the Sabbath - that is, on the sixth day of creation, on which man was created, through His suffering giving him a new creation, that is, (liberation) from death.” Saint Ephrem the Syrian: “No one should think that the six-day creation is an allegory.” Saint Basil the Great: « And there was evening, and there was morning, one day... This determines the measure of day and night and combines them into one daily time, because twenty-four hours fill the continuation of one day, if by day we mean night.” Saint John of Damascus: “From the beginning of a day to the beginning of another day is one day, for the Scripture says: and there was evening and there was morning: one day».

How then did the alternation of day and night occur before the creation of the luminaries, which appear on the fourth day? St. Basil the Great writes: “Then, not by the movement of the sun, but by the fact that this primeval light, in a measure determined by God, either spread out, then contracted again, day occurred and night followed” (Six Day Conversation 2).

Genesis begins with a description of the magnificent work of God - the creation of the world in six days. The Lord created the Universe with innumerable luminaries, the earth with its seas and mountains, man and all animals and vegetable world. The biblical revelation about the creation of the world rises above all existing cosmogonies of other religions, just as truth rises above any myth. Not a single religion, not a single philosophical doctrine could rise to the idea of ​​creation out of nothing that surpasses reason: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

God is self-sufficient and absolutely complete. For His existence, He does not require anything and does not need anything. The only reason for the creation of the world was the perfect Love of God. Saint John of Damascus writes: “The good and most good God was not content with contemplating Himself, but out of His abundance of goodness He wanted something to happen that in the future would benefit from His benefits and be involved in His goodness.”

The first to be created were disembodied spirits - Angels. Although the Holy Scriptures do not contain a narrative about the creation of the angelic world, there is no doubt that Angels by their nature belong to the created world. This view is based primarily on the clear biblical understanding of God as the omnipotent Creator who laid the foundation for all that exists. Everything has a beginning, only God is beginningless. Some holy fathers see an indication of the creation of the invisible world of Angels in the words God created the sky (Genesis 1, 1). In support of this thought, Saint Philaret (Drozdov) notes that, according to the biblical narrative, the physical heaven was created on the second and fourth days.

Pristine the earth was unsettled And empty. Created from nothing, matter first appeared disordered and covered in darkness. Darkness was an inevitable consequence of the absence of light, which was not created as an independent element. Further, the writer of everyday life Moses writes that The Spirit of God hovered over the waters(Genesis 1, 2). Here we see an indication of the creative and life-giving participation in creation of the third Person of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit. Extremely brief and precise definition- everything is from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Water mentioned in the above verse is the most important element without which life is impossible. In the Holy Gospel, water is a symbol of the life-giving and saving teachings of Jesus Christ. In the life of the Church, water has a special meaning, being the substance of the Sacrament of Baptism.

First day of creation

And God said: Let there be light. And there was light... And God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day(Genesis 1, 3-5).

By Divine command arose light. From further words: and God separated the light from the darkness we see that the Lord did not destroy darkness, but only established its periodic replacement with light to restore and preserve the strength of man and every creature. The Psalmist sings of this wisdom of God: You extend the darkness and there is night: during it all the forest animals roam; lions roar for prey and ask God for food for themselves. The sun rises [and] they gather and lie down in their lairs; a man goes out to his work and to his work until evening. How numerous are Your works, O Lord!(Ps 103:20-24). Poetic expression and there was evening and there was morning ends with a description of the creative activities of each of the six days. The word itself day the saints took it literally.

Light was created by the Divine in a word possessing omnipotent creative power: for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it appeared(Ps 32:9). The Holy Fathers see here a mysterious indication of the second Person of the Holy Trinity - the Son of God Jesus Christ, whom the Apostle calls In a word and at the same time says: Everything came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being.(John 1, 3).

When describing the first day, put first evening, and then morning. For this reason, the Jews in biblical times began their day in the evening. This order was preserved in the worship of the New Testament Church.

Second day of creation

And God created the firmament...<...>and called... the firmament the sky(Genesis 1, 7, 8) and placed the sky between the water that was on the earth and the water above the earth.

On the second day God created physical sky. In a word firmament the word in the Hebrew original is conveyed, meaning prostrate, for the ancient Jews metaphorically compared the firmament to a tent: you stretch out the heavens like a tent(Ps 103:2).

When describing the second day, we also talk about water, which is found not only on the earth, but also in the atmosphere.

Third day of creation

And God gathered the waters under the sky into one place and opened the dry land. And he called the dry land earth, and the collection of waters he called seas. And God commanded that the earth should grow greenery, grass and trees bearing fruit. And the earth was covered with vegetation. The Lord separated the water from the dry land(see: Gen. 1, 9-13).

On the third day were created oceans, seas, lakes and rivers, and continents and islands. This later delighted the Psalmist: He collected like piles sea ​​waters, put the abysses in the vaults. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all who live in the universe tremble before Him, for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it appeared(Ps 32:7-9).

On the same day God created all vegetable world. This was fundamentally new: God laid the foundation for organic life on the ground.

Produce flora Creator commanded the earth. St. Basil the Great says: “The then verb and this first command became, as it were, a natural law and remained in the earth for subsequent times, giving it the power to give birth and bear fruit” (St. Basil the Great. Six Days. Conversation 5).

The book of Genesis says that the earth brought forth greenery, grass, and trees that sowed seed according to their kind. The Holy Fathers attached fundamental importance to this, for it indicates the constancy of everything created by God: “What came out of the earth at the first creation is preserved to this day, through the preservation of the race by succession” (St. Basil the Great. Six Days. Conversation 5). As you can see, the third day was dedicated to the structure of our planet.

And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:12). The writer of everyday life expresses in poetic language the idea that God creates wisely and perfectly.

Fourth day of creation

And God said that lights should appear in the firmament of heaven to sanctify the earth and to separate day from night. The calendar and time will now be counted based on the created luminaries. And the luminaries appeared: the sun, the moon and the stars(see: Gen. 1, 14-18).

In description fourth day we see the creation of the luminaries, their purpose and their differences. From the text of the Bible we learn that light was created on the second day before the luminaries, so that, according to the explanation of St. Basil the Great, unbelievers would not consider the sun to be the only source of light. God alone is the Father of lights (see: James 1:17).

The creation of luminaries had three purposes: first, to illuminate land and everything that is on it; a distinction is established between the luminaries of the day (the sun) and the luminaries of the night (the moon and stars). Secondly, separate day from night; distinguish four time of year, organize time using calendar and keep chronology. Thirdly, to serve for signs of the end times; This is stated in the New Testament: the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven; and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory(Matthew 24:29-30).

Fifth day of creation

On the fifth day, the Lord created the first living creatures living in water and flying in the air. And God said: Let the water bring forth living things; and let the birds fly over the earth. This is how the inhabitants of the waters appeared, aquatic animals, insects, reptiles and fish appeared, and birds flew through the airspace(see: Gen. 1, 20-21).

At the beginning of the fifth day God turns His creative word to water ( let the water produce), while on the third day - to the ground. Word water is taken in this place in a broader sense, denoting not only ordinary water, but also the atmosphere, which the sacred writer also calls water.

On the fifth day, God creates a higher form of life than plants. By God's command, representatives of the water element appeared (fish, whales, reptiles, amphibians and other inhabitants of the waters), as well as birds, insects and everything living in the air.

The Creator creates the first beings of each kind (“according to kind”). He blesses them to be fruitful and multiply.

Sixth day of creation

On the sixth day of creation, God created animals living on earth and man in His image and likeness(see: Gen. 1, 24-31).

Description sixth creative day Prophet Moses begins with the same words as the previous days (third and fifth): let it produce...God commands the earth to create all the animals on earth (living soul according to its kind). God created everything in a certain sequence increasing perfection.

And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils breath of life, and man became a living soul (see: Gen. 1:26-28).

The last, as the crown of creation, was man was created. He was created in a special way. The Holy Fathers first of all note that his creation was preceded by the Divine Council between all the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity: let's create man. Man is distinguished from the entire created world by the way the Lord creates him. Although his bodily composition was taken from the earth, the Lord does not command the earth to produce man (as was the case with other creatures), but He Himself creates him directly. The psalmist says, addressing the Creator: Your hands created me and formed me(Ps 119:73).

God said that it's not good for a person to be alone.

And the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs and covered that place with flesh. And the Lord God created a wife from a rib taken from a man, and brought her to the man(Genesis 2:21-22).

The Lord, of course, could have created not only one married couple, but several and produced from them the entire human race, but He wanted all the people of the earth to be one in Adam. After all, even Eve was taken from her husband. The Apostle Paul says: From one blood He brought forth the entire human race to live on all the face of the earth.(Acts 17:26). And that's why we are all relatives.

At the dawn of human history, God established marriage as a permanent life union between a man and a woman. He blessed him and tied him with the closest bonds: they will be one flesh(Genesis 2:24).

Having created human body, God blew into his face breath of life and man became a living soul. The most important distinctive feature man is that he the soul is godlike. God said: Let us make man in Our image [and] after Our likeness(Genesis 1:26). About what it is the image of God in man, we talked earlier. When God created man, He brought all the animals and birds to him, and man gave them all names. The naming of names was a sign of man's dominance over all creation.

With the creation of man, the six-day creation of the world ends. God created the world perfect. The hand of the Creator did not bring any evil into him. This doctrine of the original goodness of all creation is a sublime theological truth.

At the end of times will the perfection of the world has been restored. According to the testimony of the seer, the holy Apostle John the Theologian, there will be a new heaven and a new Earth(see: Rev. 21, 1).

Seventh day

And God finished on the seventh day His work which He had done, and on the seventh day He rested from all His work which He had done.(Genesis 2, 2).

Having completed the creation of the world, God rested from His works. The writer of everyday life uses a metaphor here, for God does not need rest. This indicates the secret of true peace that awaits people in eternal life. Before the arrival of this blessed time, already in earthly life we ​​see a prototype of this state - the peace of the blessed seventh day, which in Old Testament was Saturday, and for Christians it is a day Sunday.

Myths about the creation of the world

Legends about the creation of the world are numerous and diverse. But the main myth that underlies them belongs to extreme antiquity. The Slavs imagined the world as being born from water. This belief is based on the actual, gradual emergence of land from under the waters that covered it.

According to the pagan legends of our people, pure and devilry. The first did everything perfectly, but the second ruined everything. Both deities are involved creative activity nature: dark - as a representative of the cloud demons that darken the sky and close the rains, and light - as a thundercloud, bringing down torrents of rain to the earth and brightening the sun.

The myth is based on the idea of ​​the spring renewal of nature, the creation of world life from the deadness and seeming non-existence into which winter plunges it. The same idea lies in Slavic legends. At the beginning of spring, the awakened Perun rides out on a fiery chariot, in all his formidable grandeur, for a great work of creativity - he strikes crowds of demons with thunder arrows and, scattering the fruitful seed of rain, sows the earth with various grains.

At the same time, he brings out the heavenly bodies from behind thick clouds and fogs and, as it were, creates them from those semi-precious stones that until now were hidden by the demons of winter and darkness at the bottom of the airy, cloudy ocean.

Bringing out the bright, spring sun, he creates white light, i.e., according to the main meaning of this expression, he gives the world clear days, and in a broader sense, he creates the universe.

The sun's rays melt the ice and snow, transforming their dead masses into noisy, high-water streams, and only then does it begin earthly life with all its luxury and diversity, when the earth finally emerges from under the waters of the spring flood and is blown by the southern winds.

This is where the myth arose that the earth is born from water and emerges from its depths by the power of the divine breath. By ancient belief, the earth, by the will of God, emerged from the abyss of the sea, in which before the beginning of the world it was immersed along with the sun, month, stars, lightning and winds.

Life itself on earth arose from the minute when fire lit up inside it, that is, when the rays spring sun warmed the frozen earth and awakened the power of fertility in it.

There was a belief that the universe was created by the king-fire and queen-water, i.e. lightning and rain, the heavenly fire of the sun and living water spring floods. It is remarkable that the word “create” points to water as an essential element of creativity. A “solution” is a mixture of water and something dry.

In all mythologies, the deity of spring thunderstorms, as the fertilizer of the earth and the giver of harvests, is endowed with creative power. From his breath came the winds, from his words - thunder, from his tears - rain, from thick hair- clouds and storm clouds.

All these legends are rooted in one of the most ancient myths. Two elemental forces act for the great feat of creating the world: light and dark. Despite the obvious desire of popular imagination to elevate the ancient myth to later Christian views, the entire context of the legend indicates that here we are talking about the thunder god (Perun) and the demon of dark clouds:

“At the beginning of the world, God was pleased to move the earth forward. He called the devil and told him to dive into the abyss of water to get a handful of earth from there and bring it to him. - Okay, Satan thinks, I’ll make the same land myself! He dived, took out some earth in his hand and stuffed his mouth with it. He brought it to God and gives it to him, but he doesn’t say a word...

Wherever the Lord throws the earth, it suddenly appears so flat and even that if you stand at one end, then at the other you can see everything that is happening on the earth. Satan looks... wanted to say something and choked. God asked: what does he want? The devil coughed and ran in fright. Then thunder and lightning struck the running Satan, and wherever he lay down, hillocks and slides would appear, where he coughed, there a mountain would grow, and where he would jump, a mountain in the sky would stick out. And so, running all over the earth, he dug it up: he made hillocks, hills, mountains and high mountains.”

The creation of the world in Slavic mythology is also associated with the name of Svarog - the god of heaven and heavenly fire, the spiritual ruler of our universe. He is the husband of Lada, the father of Dazhdbog - the ancestor of the Russians, the ancestor of most of the Slavic gods.

According to some legends, Svarog found the magic stone Alatyr, cast a spell, and the stone became a huge white-flammable stone. God made the ocean foam for them. The thickened moisture became the first dry land. Mother Cheese Earth appeared. In Slavic mythology, the Alatyr stone is the father of all stones, a sacred rock in the center of the world, in the middle of the sea-ocean, on the island of Buyan. And on it stands the world tree - the tree of life, the axis of the world. The lower part of the tree (roots) is connected to underground world, the middle (trunk) - with the earthly, and the upper (branches) - with the heavenly, the highest. It serves as the throne of all the supreme gods.

According to other legends, before the birth of light, the world was shrouded in pitch darkness. Only Rod was in the darkness. Rod is the spring of the universe, the father of the gods. Rod gave birth to Love - Mother Lada. Rod suffered for a long time, pushed for a long time. And he gave birth to the kingdom of heaven, and under it he created the heavenly kingdom. He cut the umbilical cord with a rainbow, separated the Ocean - the blue sea - from the heavenly waters with a firmament of stone. He erected three vaults in the heavens, dividing Light and Darkness, Truth and Falsehood. The clan then gave birth to Mother Earth, and the Earth went into the dark abyss and was buried in the Ocean. The sun then came out of his face - the very Heavenly Family, the progenitor and father of the gods! The bright moon is from his chest; the frequent stars are from his eyes; clear dawns from his eyebrows; dark nights - yes from his thoughts; violent winds - from his breath; rain and snow and hail come from his tears; his voice became thunder and lightning - the very Family of heaven, the progenitor and father of the gods!

Pavel Bryullov. Landscape with a river

The clan gave birth to the heavenly Svarog. Svarog began to pave the way for the Sun across the vault of heaven, so that the day-horses would race across the sky, after the morning, so that the day would begin, and night would fly in to replace the day. Svarog began to look around his possessions. He sees the Sun rolling across the sky, the bright moon sees the stars, and beneath it the Ocean spreads out and ripples, foaming with foam. He looked around his possessions and did not notice only Mother Earth.

– Where is Mother Earth? – he was saddened. Then I noticed: something in the Ocean-Sea was turning black. This is a gray duck swimming, born of sulfur foam.

– Don’t you know where the Earth lies? – Svarog asked the gray duck.

“The Earth is under water,” answered the duck, “buried deep in the Ocean...”

The duck didn’t say anything, dived into the ocean-sea, and hid in the abyss for a whole year. When the year ended, I rose from the bottom.

– I didn’t have the courage a little, I didn’t swim to the Earth a little. I didn’t even reach a hair…

- Help us, Rod! – here Svarog called. Then the violent winds rose, the blue sea became noisy... Rod blew strength into the duck with the wind. And Svarog said to the gray duck:

- At the behest of the Heavenly Family, at the will and desire of Svarog, you get the Earth from the depths of the sea!

The duck didn’t say anything, dived into the Ocean-Sea and hid in the abyss for two years. When the time was up, she rose from the bottom.

– I didn’t have the courage a little, I didn’t swim to the Earth a little. I didn’t swim half a hair…

- Help, father! – Svarog screamed here. Then wild winds rose, and menacing clouds began to cross the sky, a great storm broke out, Rod’s voice - thunder - shook the heavens, and lightning struck the duck. Rod breathed a great force like a menacing storm into the gray duck. And again Svarog cursed the gray duck:

- At the behest of the Heavenly Family, at the will and desire of Svarog, you get the Earth from the depths of the sea!

The duck didn’t say anything, dived into the Ocean-Sea and hid in the abyss for three years. When the time was up, she rose from the bottom. She brought a handful of earth in her beak.

Svarog took a handful of earth and began to crush it in his palms.

- Warm it up, Red Sun, light it up, Bright Moon, help me, violent winds! We will sculpt from the damp earth Mother Earth a mother-nurse. Help us, Rod! Lada, help!

Svarog crushes the earth - the sun warms, the moon shines and the winds blow. The winds blew the earth from the palm, and it fell into the blue sea. The Red Sun warmed it - the Cheese-Earth baked a crust on top, then the Bright Moon cooled it down. This is how Svarog created Mother Earth. He established three underground vaults in it - three underground, pekel kingdoms. And so that the Earth would not go into the sea again, Rod gave birth to the powerful Yusha under it - a wondrous, powerful snake. His fate is difficult - to keep Mother Earth for many thousands of years. Thus, Mother Cheese-Earth was born. So she rested on the Snake. If Yusha-Snake moves, Mother Cheese-Earth will turn.

But here is a legend recorded in Northern Rus' already in Christian times: “Two Gogol sailed along the Okiyan Sea: the first was a white Gogol, and the other was a Choren Gogol. And with those two gogols the Lord Almighty himself and Satan swam. By God's command, by the blessing of the Mother of God, Satan emerged from the bottom of the blue sea with a handful of earth. From that handful the Lord created level places and pathy fields, and Satan made impassable abysses, gorges and high mountains.

And the Lord struck with a hammer and formed his army, and she went among them Great War. At first the army of Satan prevailed, but in the end the power of heaven prevailed. And Michael the Archangel cast down Satan’s army from heaven, and it fell to earth in different places, which is why water creatures, goblins and brownies appeared.”

We find a similar legend in apocryphal literature. “Before the creation of the world, the Lord of hosts sat in three chambers in the air, and the light from his face was seventy-seven times brighter than this light, his vestments were whiter than snow, more radiant than the sun. There was then no sky, no earth, no sea, no clouds, no stars, no dawn, no days or nights.

And the Lord said: wake up the crystal sky and wake up the dawn, and the clouds, and the stars! And the winds blew from his bosom, and he planted paradise in the east, and the Lord himself sat in the east in the glory of his glory, and thunder, the voice of the Lord, was established in a chariot of fire, and lightning, the word of the Lord, proceeded from the mouth of God.

Then the Lord created the Sea of ​​Tiberias, boundless, and came down to the sea through the air... and in the sight of the sea Gogol was swimming, and that one is the so-called Satan - entangled in the mud of the sea. And the Lord spoke to Satanail, as if without knowing him: Who are you for a man? And Satan said to him: I am God. - What should you name me? Satan answered: You are God by God and Lord by Lord. If Satan had not spoken to the Lord like this, the Lord would have immediately crushed him on the Sea of ​​Tiberias. And the Lord said to Satanail: dive into the sea and bring me back sand and stone. And the Lord took sand and stone, and scattered the sand over the sea, and said: Let the earth be thick and spacious!

Then the Lord took the stone, broke it in two, and from one half, from the blows of God’s rod, pure spirits flew out, from the other half, Satan filled countless demonic powers. But Michael the Archangel cast him down with all the demons from high heaven.

The earth created by God was established on thirty-three pillars.”

Here is another version of the ancient legend: “There was neither heaven nor earth, but only darkness and water mixed with the earth, like batter. God and Satan walked on water for a long time, finally got tired and decided to rest. And there is nowhere to rest. Then God ordered Satan:

- Dive to the bottom of the sea and pull out a few grains of earth with the words: “In the name of the Lord, follow me, O earth,” and bring it up to me.

Satan dived to the bottom of the sea, grabbed a handful of earth and thought to himself: “Why should I say: “In the name of the Lord,” why am I worse than God?” He grabbed the earth in his fist and said:

- In my name, earth, follow me.

But when he emerged, it turned out that he did not have a grain of sand in his hands. Satan dived to the bottom again, picked up a handful of earth and said again:

- In my name, follow me, earth.

And again I didn’t pull anything out. God told him:

“You didn’t listen to me again and wanted to do it your own way.” However, your idea is in vain; nothing will come of it. Dive in and tell me how I taught you.

Satan dived a third time, picked up some earth, and when he mentioned the name of God, he managed to pull out a handful of earth.

God took this land, sprinkled it over the water, and a small hillock with grass and trees formed on it. God, tired from work, lay down and fell asleep, and Satan was annoyed that he was not so omnipotent, so he decided to drown God. Satan took God in his arms to throw him into the water, and saw that the earth in front of him had grown ten steps. He ran to the water to drown God, but as he ran, the earth grew and grew, and Satan could not reach the water. Satan laid God on the ground and thought: “The earth is thin, like a shell.” I will dig a hole to the water and throw God into it.” But no matter how much he dug, he could not get to the water.

That is why there is so much land in the world - Satan “ran over” it when he wanted to destroy God.

Meanwhile, God woke up and said:

- Now you understand that you are powerless compared to me - the earth and water obey me, not you. And you will need the hole you dug yourself - for hell.”

As we can see, the most widespread legend is about the joint creation of the world by God and his companion, who gradually becomes an enemy of the Lord. This fellow-enemy in different versions of the legend can be called Satan, Idol, the Evil One, a fallen angel, etc.

Having created the earth, God strengthened it on fish that swim in the sea. Every seven years the fish fall and rise, resulting in some years being rainy and others being dry. When the fish moves, turning over on its other side, earthquakes occur.

In some areas it is believed that a fish, holding the earth on itself, lies curled up in a ring and clenches its tail with its teeth, and earthquakes occur when it releases its tail from its mouth.

It is sometimes believed that two fish alternately hold the land - a male and a female: when the male holds it, the land rises higher above the surface of the sea and the year is dry. When the female holds the land, the land is closer to the water, as a result, rivers and seas overflow their banks and the summer becomes wet.

They also say that the earth rests on “high water,” the water on a stone, the stone on four golden whales floating in a river of fire. And everything together rests on an iron oak, which stands on the power of God.

Rivers, lakes and springs were dug by birds. By order of God, they all gathered together and first dug river beds and beds for reservoirs, and then brought water there. According to other beliefs, the entire earth in the middle is cut up by veins through which water comes to the surface. They also say that in the middle of the earth there is its “navel” - a hole from which water flows, then spreading through rivers, lakes and other bodies of water.

The people believed that mountains, gorges, swamps, swamps and other parts of the earth that were infertile and inconvenient for human habitation were the work of Satan. When Satan, at the command of God, took out the earth from the bottom of the sea, he did not give it all to God, he hid a little behind his cheek. When God commanded the earth, which he threw on the surface of the sea, to grow, the earth behind Satan’s cheek began to grow. He began to spit it out, and Satan’s spittle created mountains, swamps and other barren places.

According to other legends, God, when creating the earth, boiled it, and the bubbles that formed while the earth was boiling cooled and turned into mountains. They also say that at the beginning of the world the earth was liquid, God and Satan squeezed it from both sides to squeeze out excess moisture, and mountains emerged from the soil that emerged from the strong compression.

Ivan Bilibin. Illustration for the fairy tale “White Duck”

However, there are many different legends about the origin of mountains and stones. Most often it is believed that stones used to be living beings - they felt, multiplied, grew like grass, and were soft. Particularly large blocks of stone, boulders and rocks are often considered petrified people, animals or fairy-tale giants, thus punished for working on a holiday, fornication, insolence, murder, laziness or some other sin. In the villages near Tula they said that a group of stones located in a circle is a petrified round dance of girls punished for dancing on Trinity.

In some later legends about the origin of the stones, the influence of the biblical story about the struggle of God with the fallen angels is clearly felt:

“At the beginning of time, the earth was level and produced ten times more grain than it does now, because there was not a single stone. But the devils rebelled against God and wanted to be just like him. Then God threw them from heaven to earth, turned them into stones and cursed them so that they would no longer grow. And now where the big stone is, that means there was a great devil, and where the small stone is, there was a little devil. And if God did not curse them and they grew, then a person would not only be unable to plow and sow rye, but also to walk on the ground.”

About the creation of the first people

The myth puts the creation of the first man in close connection with legends about the origin of fire. Just as on earth fire was produced by the friction of one log inserted into the hole of another, so in the sky the thunder god drills a giant tree-cloud with his sharp club, and from this drilling it gives birth to a baby lightning bolt.

For ancient man, who recognized in the thunder club the reproductive member of the fertilizing god of earthly nature, it was natural to relate this idea of ​​the origin of fire and lightning to the act of intercourse and the birth of a baby, especially since the very life that animates a person (his soul) was understood as kindled flame.

The sacred songs of the Vedas, in the fire produced by friction, see the fruit of the conjugal union of two tree stumps, of which one represents the perceiving wife, and the other the influencing husband, while the oil with which they were anointed is called the carnal seed.

Alphonse Mucha. Slavs in their ancestral homeland

This is where mythical legends arose: firstly, that the soul of a newborn child descends to earth in lightning, and secondly, that the first couple of people were created by the gods from wood.

Our ancestors explained the mystery of the creation and birth of man to themselves by the same creative power of the thunderbolt, which called the entire visible world into existence. He sent lightning to build the first hearth on earth, kindle a flame on it and establish a household and sacrificial rite. At the same time, the first man was created, the first householder and priest, whose image combined the ideas of a fire blazing on the hearth and the ancestor of the tribe. Subsequently, when a family union was established, the thunder god, every time a baby was born, brought down lightning from the sky and kindled the flame of life in him.

Since ancient times, the reproduction of a family or clan has been compared to the sprouts that a tree puts out from itself, as a result of which the trunk (stump, root) serves in epic poetry as a symbol of the father or ancestor, and the branches – as a symbol of their children and descendants.

In folk songs, children are compared to the branches and top of a tree. The parallel drawn in language and folk beliefs between a branched tree and a whole clan, with particular clarity declared itself in the custom of denoting the origin of noble people and the degree of their relationship through the so-called family tree. Ancient German sagas tell of a mother who dreamed that from her heart or womb grew a large, shady tree with beautiful fruits. This dream served as an omen that she would soon give birth to a son - the ancestor of a vast and glorious tribe. Thus, the son seemed to be like a shoot emanating from the bowels of the mother, and in order to adopt someone else’s child, it was necessary to perform a symbolic ritual - to sit him on his lap.

Konstantin Makovsky. Reaper

On the kinship of the soul with elemental beings

Mythical ideas about the kinship of the human soul with elemental creatures, about forest spirits and maidens, whose lives are inextricably linked with known plants, led to the creation of various tales telling about the transformation of a person and the transition of his soul into a tree or flower.

The belief in the possibility of such metamorphoses, inherited from ancient times, was cemented by the view that ancient man on yourself. He compared the birth of a child and its slow, gradual growth to the growth of a tree. Individual parts of the body seemed to him like those shoots and branches that a tree trunk produces.

This view is attested to by the history of language. The seed serves common name and for the grain from which every grain and every tree grows, and for the fertilizing principle in animals and man. Pregnancy is likened to the germination of sown grain. Thus, in a folk epic, the wife of the hero Danube says:

You and I have a child sown in my womb,

I will bring you my beloved son.

Let me give birth to a baby,

At least release your seeds into the light.

In other songs, the heroes order their squad to beat the enemy kingdom, cut down both old and small, and not leave a single person for seeds.

“Seed” is used in regional dialects as an affectionate name for a child. The birth of a baby is likened to the fruit borne by a tree: to bear a fruit is to become pregnant, a barren wife is one who does not give birth.

A meeting with a pregnant woman promises a harvest for the plowman.

According to ancient laws, such a woman could enter someone else's garden and eat the fruits with impunity. They believed that the young tree from which the first fruits were picked by a pregnant woman would certainly be fruitful.

The names of feet, hands, fingers and nails in Sanskrit are explained by the likening of a person to a plant. A person touches the ground with his feet and thereby resembles a tree attached by its roots to the mother, raw earth. If the legs were compared to roots, then the body itself was represented as a trunk, and the arms seemed to be branches, shoots.

Comparing the birth of a child with the germination of sown grain, poetic fantasy introduced this idea into folk tales. Thus, the Russian hero Pokatygoroshek was born from grains eaten by his mother. An orphaned mother, whose daughter was taken away by a snake and killed two sons, goes to the river and sees a pea rolling along the road and falling into the water. "God's gift!" - she thinks, took out a pea and ate it. From this grain she bore fruit and gave birth to a son, the future conqueror of the terrible snakes.

Another fairy tale tells about the Tsvet-King. One king imprisoned his beautiful daughter in a strong castle, wanting to protect her from all seductions. The princess was sixteen years old, and her beauty was so omnipotent that when she walked through the garden, the flowers bowed their colorful heads before her, the birds fell silent in the bushes and fish looked out of the waters. Once, when the princess was in the garden, an unfamiliar gypsy woman came up to her and gave her a bunch of beautiful, fragrant flowers. The beauty brought flowers to her tower and put them in the water, the water turned purple, and gold and silver stars appeared on it - exactly like the fragrant dust covering the petals of flowers. The princess drank this water - and immediately became pregnant and gave birth to a powerful son, who slays snakes just like our Pokatypea.

This supernatural origin of the hero belongs to ancient myths about the thunder god.

There is a story about the origin of buckwheat: the king had a daughter of indescribable beauty, named Krupenichka. The evil Tatars raided Russian soil, captured Krupenichka, took her far from her homeland and put her to hard work. A prophetic old woman freed her from captivity. She turned the girl into a buckwheat grain, brought it to Rus' and threw it onto her native land. The grain turned into royal grain, and buckwheat grew from its husk.

According to another story, an old woman, having brought buckwheat grain to Rus', buried it in the ground, the seed sprouted and gave birth to a blade of grass with seventy-seven grains. Violent winds blew and carried these grains to seventy-seven fields. From that time on, buckwheat multiplied throughout Holy Rus'.

This legend (originally it could have applied to any spring bread in general) contains the myth of the beautiful goddess of spring fertility, who is captured by demonic hordes and kept in severe captivity during the winter. With the return of spring, she is freed from their power, flies from distant countries like a thundercloud and, scattering onto the earth as a fertile seed of rain, is reborn in the dense greenery of spring grain.

One of the most common Russian fairy tales tells how a sister killed her brother out of envy and buried him in the ground. A reed (or viburnum) grew in that place. We drove past the Chumaks, cut a reed and made a pipe, which - as soon as it was brought to our lips - began to play by itself:

My sister ruined me

She pointed the knife at the heart.

Thus the crime was exposed.

This plot varies greatly. Sometimes a brother kills his brother, and an elderberry grows on the grave of the murdered man. Sometimes a stepmother gives birth to a stepdaughter, and viburnum grows. Sometimes two sisters bury the third one in a grave and cover it with a Christmas tree, and a flower grows on the tree, which sings about the crime committed. In a folk song, a similar legend is associated with a broom bush.

Konstantin Makovsky. Russian beauty

In Slavic fairy tales, they often talk about the crime committed not by the bones of an innocently killed person, but by a tree, a cane, a reed or a flower growing from his buried corpse, as if from a seed thrown into the ground.

A Little Russian song recalls the transformation of a drowned maiden into a weeping birch tree. While drowning, the girl says to her brother:

Don't cut down the birch tree, brother,

Don't mow the seam grass, brother,

Don't look at the black thorn, brother,

The birch tree - then I’m young,

Seam grass is my rusa braid,

Black thorns are my black eyes.

South Russian poetry is especially rich in legends about transformations into flowers and trees and reveals to the researcher a wonderful fantasy world filled with artistic images and genuine feeling.

The above song has several variants that offer equally interesting connections. Girls' braids are spread across the meadows like silken grass, brown or black eyes turn into thorn berries, blood spills into water, and tears glisten on the grass and leaves with dew - all based on ancient metaphors that liken hair to grass, blood to water, tears to dew, eyes – thorn berries.

The content of the song, known in Belarus, is touching, about how a mother disliked her young daughter-in-law, treated her son with green wine, and treated her daughter-in-law with poison. The good fellow drank and brought it to his wife, the young woman drank and brought it to her husband, they divided everything in half, and both died at the same hour. The mother buried her son in front of the church, and her daughter-in-law behind the church. A green sycamore grew on the grave of the good fellow, and on the grave of his wife - White birch(or viburnum).

The folk song tells the following legend about the Ivan-da-Marya flower, known in Ukraine as “brother and sister”: a good fellow went to a foreign country, got married and began to ask his young wife about his clan and tribe, and recognized his sister. Then the sister says to her brother:

Let's go, brother, to the forest,

Let's become grass:

Oh, you will become yellowish,

And I will turn blue.

Who is the little flower,

Remember your sister and brother!

There is a story about the cornflower that once upon a time he was a young and handsome young man who was lured by a mermaid into a field on Trinity Day, tickled and turned into a flower. The young man’s name was Vasil, and this name (according to the people) was transferred to the flower itself.

In Rus' they say about nettle that an evil sister turned into it. This is a fragment of the poetic legend that the ancient song conveys to us: Pavel had a beloved sister Olenushka, Pavlov’s young wife killed first a black horse, then a gray falcon, and finally her own child and slandered Olenushka all the time. Pavel took his sister by the white hands, led her out into the field, tied her to the horses’ tails and drove the horses across a wide expanse: where the blood watered the earth, fragrant flowers grew, and where she fell, a church was created. After a short time, the young woman Pavlova fell ill, she lay there for nine years, grass grew through her bones, in that grass fierce snakes swarmed and drank from her eyes. She asks to be taken to her sister-in-law’s church, to be taken, but in vain - she did not find forgiveness here and began to beg her husband to tie her to the horse’s tails. Paul fulfilled her request and drove the horses across the field: where the blood was shed, nettles and thorns grew, and where she fell, there became a lake.

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