In the Beginning

Normally, when you see those words, from me, I will follow them with “God created ducks” and then some ambiguous line about how great they were. Not today. No, today I am sharing something I found very interesting from a lecture I went to yesterday. Specifically, a taped lecture by a professor here at BYU. He was talking about the Mayan Creation Mythology – though a large portion of his presentation was actually on his time spent in Guatemala among the Maya.

Anyway, the Maya, when telling their creation story, talk about what didn’t exist before the Gods (seven of them) created the earth and everything on it. What did exist was a body of water that had no ripples and nothing in it. What didn’t exist is a long list of (most likely) common cultural items, e.g. animals, people, trees, mountains, fish, etc. So, the God’s created everything and then they needed something on the Earth so they could continue to live. As a result, they created the animals and once they were created told them, “Say our name.”

As an aside, culturally, Maya is no longer a learned (by the people) written language. So, in order for the people to exist after death is for them to be remembered. Their names have to be remembered. If you cannot say your ancestors names than they, effectively, cease to exist and, as a result, the God’s first creation was a failure because the animals could make noises but could not make the God’s continue living because they could not say the God’s names.

The second creation was a man made of mud. It fell apart and had no face (no animas) and as a result, could parrot words but there was no life behind the words. In essence, you must know and understand what you are saying in order for it to be effective.

The third creation was man made from wood. This man could say and speak and communicate but it had no real understanding. (Growth over mud from repeat to expiate.) The result was a creation that could multiply and replenish but could not remember their God’s.

Finally, from maize, the God’s, specifically the Mother God, created man. She created him from nine grindings (apparently the Maya will only do three grindings and that takes hours) until man was purified and put into a form that could remember, repeat, and say the names of the God’s. The outcome was the perfect creation with man ruling over all of the others. As a result, according to the Maya creation myth, we eat the animals because they cannot say the name of God’s.

What makes all of this very interesting, more than just the cultural pedagogies, is that the Maya believe that if they do not re-enact the creation story that all of creation (and the God’s) will simply cease to exist. If they do not do their part then everything is for naught. So, monthly, they re-enact creation and we, as humanity, continues to exist.

Now, as I sat there one thought kept repeating (keeping in mind that lots of thoughts and connections to beliefs, world mythology, etc. were also going through my head) and that is: What happens if all of the Maya stop repeating the creation myth? Seriously, I don’t put stock into it. I believe we would continue to exist and live. But, I think there is validity in the question, in the possibility, that their entire sacred mission in existence isn’t to proselyte but rather to maintain the religious pedagogy of keeping humanity alive and intact. If no one else is to remember, they are. If no else is called and set apart to maintain existence, they are. We, as a people, rely upon the mercy of the Maya to continue our existence tomorrow, next week, next month, and for as long as the God’s dictate we should exist.

Don’t put a lot of stock in my questions. But, if you get a moment, think about it. Ponder it. Wonder at it. I have been.