# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
A badly drawn biblically accurate angel.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Native American Creation Story

Told to Mr. Ben L. Squier by Santos Lopez, a Manzanita Indian

"When I was a small boy the wise men of the tribe used to call all of us youngsters together in the evening and relate to us the lore and legends that they themselves had learned in the same manner from their wise men when they were young, for this was the only way the legends and stories of our people could be kept alive. The story I will tell you now is of how the Indian came to the earth and how he gets to what you call heaven."

"In the beginning the earth was all covered with water. There were two brothers who lived under the water and who wondered what was above them, so they started to climb up a high mountain. The younger brother was the first to reach the top of the mountain which extended out of the water. From there he saw how the earth was made. Insects were coming up from the inside of the mountain through its chimney, each with a little bit of rock as we see the ant built his ant hills. This was the way the earth was made."

"The older brother climbing more slowly up the mountain called out to the younger brother and asked him if he should keep his eyes open or close them as he came up through the water. The younger brother told him to keep them open. So he opened his eyes as he came up through the water which caused him to become blind, and when he came up out of the water to where his brother stood, being unable to see, his brother told him of the strange sight of the land being built by the insects. As the older brother could not see any of this he decided to go back under the water where he was more familiar with conditions. The younger brother remained above. The rumblings and shakings of the earth are caused by the older brother stumbling around below because he could not see."

"Now the younger brother up above found that the earth and the water and the air together began to bring life, and as the land grew by the work of these insects so did life grow and so did the Indian grow with it until he multiplied and became no numerous that the place where they lived did not grow enough food to feed them. So council was held and the wise men decided to send their medicine man to ask advice of their god who lived in the south. The medicine man was gone quite a while and when he came back he told them that their god would appear to them and tell them what to do - that he would appear to them as a serpent with many feet under him, and that they must build a house for him to stay in while he was with them. So they build him a large round house. When the god came they asked him to come into the house, which he did, and coiled himself up but the house was not large enough and the walls fell out and the house caught fire and cremated their god."

"When this happened they were afraid and did not know what to do. The wise men held council and decided that if each man ate a portion of the cremated flesh of the god perhaps some of his strength and wisdom might descend upon them. This they did but when they had done so they found that they could not talk with one another as each one now spoke a different language. So each man took his family and departed from that place to seek a land where he could live and provide for his family. And this is the way the different tribes were begun."

"Now because their god had been cremated it showed them that this was the right way for them to take care of their dead, which they have done until the white mane came."

"After death the spirit of the Indian still lives and goes on his way to his heaven which is in the south. As he proceeds on his way he finds a deep chasm to which there appears to be no bottom, but across the chasm lies a log and on the other side is heaven. If he is timid, either on account of old age, or infirmity or extreme youth, there are always friends who have gone before him waiting to help him across the log into heaven. He is then given a plot of ground to tend which forever provides his living."

NOTE: Mr. Squire asked Mr. Lopez at the end of the tale why no mention was made of the female of the species in the tale and how could the tribe have multiplied without her. Mr. Lopez laughed and said "Well, you know how boys are, we all wanted to go out and play while the story was being told, and perhaps I sat next the door and slipped out when that part was being told."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In Aztec mythology, Metztli ( Nahuatl: ; Meztli, Metzi) was a god or goddess of the moon, the night, and farmers. They were likely the same deity as Yohaulticetl or Coyolxauhqui and the male moon god Tecciztecatl; like the latter, who feared the Sun because of its fire.

The Moon and Sun were at one time equally bright. Fearing the earth would burn under the light of two luminaries, one of the gods threw a rabbit in the face of the other, and the one struck darkened to become today's Moon. Henceforth it is possible to distinguish a figure of a rabbit on the Moon's surface. During a full moon, the " Rabbit in the Moon" becomes readily visible.

For the Otomi people, Zäna was the Moon, the Queen of the Night, probably the main deity. They called her the Young Mother, who represented both Moon and Earth simultaneously. Her spouse, the Old Father, was the god of fire. The Otomi counted lunar months as a period from new moon to new moon. They gave every month 30 days.[citation needed ]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In Aztec mythology, Metztli ( Nahuatl: ; Meztli, Metzi) was a god or goddess of the moon, the night, and farmers. They were likely the same deity as Yohaulticetl or Coyolxauhqui and the male moon god Tecciztecatl; like the latter, who feared the Sun because of its fire.

# data[].attributes.body
Before humans, the earth existed as a ball of water and heavens above it. In the heavens lived Olorun, the supreme being. And with Olorun lived Orishas who lived around a young baobab tree. All the Orishas were content with living in the sky, save for one. Obatala was a curious one and wanted something new, so he stared down through the mist of the heavens and saw the vast ocean of earth. An endless ocean (which did not yet have land on it). The bosbab

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This creation story comes from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Togo and Benin. In the religion of the Yoruba, the supreme being is Olorun, and assisting Olorun are a number of heavenly entities called orishas. This story was written down by David A. Anderson/ Sankofa, who learned it from his father, who learned it from his mother, and so on back through the Yoruba people and through time.
Long ago, well before there were any people, all life existed in the sky. Olorun lived in the sky, and with Olorun were many orishas. There were both male and female orishas, but Olorun transcended male and female and was the all-powerful supreme being. Olorun and the orishas lived around a young baobab tree. Around the baobab tree the orishas found everything they needed for their lives, and in fact they wore beautiful clothes and gold jewelry. Olorun told them that all the vast sky was theirs to explore. All the orishas save one, however, were content to stay near the baobab tree.

Obatala was the curious orisha who wasn't content to live blissfully by the baobab tree. Like all orishas, he had certain powers, and he wanted to put them to use. As he pondered what to do, he looked far down through the mists below the sky. As he looked and looked, he began to realize that there was a vast empty ocean below the mist. Obatala went to Olorun and asked Olorun to let him make something solid in the waters below. That way there could be beings that Obatala and the orishas could help with their powers.

Touched by Obatala's desire to do something constructive, Olorun agreed to send Obatala to the watery world below. Obatala then asked Orunmila, the orisha who knows the future, what he should do to prepare for his mission. Orunmila brought out a sacred tray and sprinkled the powder of baobab roots on it. He tossed sixteen palm kernels onto the tray and studied the marks and tracks they made on the powder. He did this eight times, each time carefully observing the patterns. Finally he told Obatala to prepare a chain of gold, and to gather sand, palm nuts, and maize. He also told Obatala to get the sacred egg carrying the personalities of all the orishas.

Obatala went to his fellow orishas to ask for their gold, and they all gave him all the gold they had. He took this to the goldsmith, who melted all the jewelry to make the links of the golden chain. When Obatala realized that the goldsmith had made all the gold into links, he had the goldsmith melt a few of them back down to make a hook for the end of the chain.

Meanwhile, as Orunmila had told him, Obatala gathered all the sand in the sky and put it in an empty snail shell, and in with it he added a little baobab powder. He put that in his pack, along with palm nuts, maize, and other seeds that he found around the baobab tree. He wrapped the egg in his shirt, close to his chest so that it would be warm during his journey.

Obatala hooked the chain into the sky, and he began to climb down the chain. For seven days he went down and down, until finally he reached the end of the chain. He hung at its end, not sure what to do, and he looked and listened for any clue. Finally he heard Orunmila, the seer, calling to him to use the sand. He took the shell from his pack and poured out the sand into the water below. The sand hit the water, and to his surprise it spread and solidified to make a vast land. Still unsure what to do, Obatala hung from the end of the chain until his heart pounded so much that the egg cracked. From it flew Sankofa, the bird bearing the sprits of all the orishas. Like a storm, they blew the sand to make dunes and hills and lowlands, giving it character just as the orishas themselves have character.

Finally Obatala let go of the chain and dropped to this new land, which he called "Ife", the place that divides the waters. Soon he began to explore this land, and as he did so he scattered the seeds from his pack, and as he walked the seeds began to grow behind him, so that the land turned green in his wake.

After walking a long time, Obatala grew thirsty and stopped at a small pond. As he bent over the water, he saw his reflection and was pleased. He took some clay from the edge of the pond and began to mold it into the shape he had seen in the reflection. He finished that one and began another, and before long he had made many of these bodies from the dark earth at the pond's side. By then he was even thirstier than before, and he took juice from the newly-grown palm trees and it fermented into palm wine. He drank this, and drank some more, and soon he was intoxicated. He returned to his work of making more forms from the edge of the pond, but now he wasn't careful and made some without eyes or some with misshapen limbs. He thought they all were beautiful, although later he realized that he had erred in drinking the wine and vowed to not do so again.

Before long, Olorun dispatched Chameleon down the golden chain to check on Obatala's progress. Chameleon reported Obatala's disappointment at making figures that had form but no life. Gathering gasses from the space beyond the sky, Olorun sparked the gasses into an explosion that he shaped into a fireball. He sent that fireball to Ife, where it dried the lands that were still wet and began to bake the clay figures that Obatala had made. The fireball even set the earth to spinning, as it still does today. Olorun then blew his breath across Ife, and Obatala's figures slowly came to life as the first people of Ife.

David A. Anderson/Sankofa, 1991, The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth: Mt. Airy, Maryland, Sights Productions, 31 p. (Folio PZ8.1.A543 Or 1991)

Back to the Table of Contents of Creation Stories from around the World.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Long ago, well before there were any people, all life existed in the sky. Olorun lived in the sky, and with Olorun were many orishas. There were both male and female orishas, but Olorun transcended male and female and was the all-powerful supreme being. Olorun and the orishas lived around a young…

# data[].attributes.body
By: Maya Angelo Carrillo

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Mictlantecuhtli (left), god of death, the lord of the Underworld and Quetzalcoatl (right), god of wisdom, life, knowledge, morning star, patron of the winds and light, the lord of the West. Together they symbolize life and death.

Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear - it is the heart of modern Mexico City - but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. There are different accounts of their origin. In the myth the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlan, the last of seven nahuatlacas (Nahuatl-speaking tribes, from tlaca, "man") to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca." Other accounts cite their origin in Chicomoztoc, "the place of the seven caves", or at Tamoanchan (the legendary origin of all civilizations).

The Mexica/Aztec were said to be guided by their god Huitzilopochtli, meaning "Left-handed Hummingbird" or "Hummingbird from the South." At an island in Lake Texcoco, they saw an eagle holding a rattlesnake in its talons, perched on a nopal cactus. This vision fulfilled a prophecy telling them that they should found their new home on that spot. The Aztecs built their city of Tenochtitlan on that site, building a great artificial island, which today is in the center of Mexico City. This legendary vision is pictured on the Coat of Arms of Mexico.

Huitzilopochtli is raising up the skies of the South, one of the four directions of the world, surrounded by their respective trees, temples, patterns, and divination symbols.

According to legend, when the Mexica arrived in the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco, they were considered by the other groups as the least civilized of all, but the Mexica/Aztec decided to learn, and they took all they could from other people, especially from the ancient Toltec (whom they seem to have partially confused with the more ancient civilization of Teotihuacan). To the Aztec, the Toltec were the originators of all culture; " Toltecayotl" was a synonym for culture. Aztec legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl with the legendary city of Tollan, which they also identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan.

Because the Aztec adopted and combined several traditions with their own earlier traditions, they had several creation myths. One of these, the Five Suns, describes four great ages preceding the present world, each of which ended in a catastrophe, and "were named in function of the force or divine element that violently put an end to each one of them". Coatlicue was the mother of Centzon Huitznahua ("Four Hundred Southerners"), her sons, and Coyolxauhqui, her daughter. She found a ball filled with feathers and placed it in her waistband, becoming pregnant with Huitzilopochtli. Her other children became suspicious as to the identity of the father and vowed to kill their mother. She gave birth on Mount Coatepec, pursued by her children, but the newborn Huitzilopochtli defeated most of his brothers, who became the stars. He also killed his half-sister Coyolxauhqui by tearing out her heart using a Xiuhcoatl (a blue snake) and throwing her body down the mountain. This was said to inspire the Aztecs to rip the hearts out of their human sacrifices and throw their bodies down the sides of the temple dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, who represents the sun chasing away the stars at dawn.

Our age (Nahui-Ollin), the fifth age, or fifth creation, began in the ancient city of Teotihuacan[citation needed ]. According to the myth, all the gods had gathered to sacrifice themselves and create a new age. Although the world and the sun had already been created, it would only be through their sacrifice that the sun would be set into motion and time as well as history could begin. The most handsome and strongest of the gods, Tecuciztecatl, was supposed to sacrifice himself but when it came time to self-immolate, he could not jump into the fire. Instead, Nanahuatl the smallest and humblest of the gods, who was also covered in boils, sacrificed himself first and jumped into the flames. The sun was set into motion with his sacrifice and time began. Humiliated by Nanahuatl's sacrifice, Tecuciztecatl too leaped into the fire and became the moon.

Embodied spirits; Tonalleque (1), Cihuateteo (2).

Patterns of War; (1a) Tlaloc, (1b) Xiuhtecuhtli, (2a) Mixcoatl, (2b) Xipe-Totec.

Patterns of Merchants; (1a) Huehuecoyotl, (1b) Zacatzontli, (2a) Yacatecuhtli, (2b) Tlacotzontli, (3a) Tlazolteotl and Metztli, (3b) Tonatiuh.

Water deities

Tlaloc, god of rain, lightning and thunder. He is a fertility god.

Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of running water, lakes, rivers, seas, streams, horizontal waters, storms, and baptism.

Huixtocihuatl, goddess of salt

Opochtli, god of fishing and birdcatchers, discoverer of both the harpoon and net

Atlahua, god of water, a fisherman and archer

Fire deities

Xiuhtecuhtli, god of fire and time

Chantico, goddess of firebox and volcanoes

Xolotl, god of death, associated with Venus as the Evening Star (Double of Quetzalcoatl)

Death deities

Sky deities

Tezcatlipoca, god of providence, the darkness and the invisible, lord of the night, ruler of the North.

Xipe-Totec, god of force, lord of the seasons and rebirth, ruler of the East.

Quetzalcoatl, god of the life, the light and wisdom, lord of the winds and the day, ruler of the West.

Huitzilopochtli, god of war, lord of the sun and fire, ruler of the South.

Xolotl, god of death, associated with Venus as the Evening Star (Double of Quetzalcoatl)

Ehecatl, god of wind

Tlaloc, god of rain, lightning and thunder. He is a fertility god.

Coyolxauhqui, goddess and leader of the Centzonhuitznahua, associated with the moon.

Meztli, goddess of the moon.

Tonatiuh, god of the sun.

Nanahuatzin, god of the sun. He sacrificed himself in a burning fire, so the god Tonatiuh took his place.

Centzonmimixcoa, 400 gods of the northern stars

Centzonhuitznahua, 400 gods of the southern stars

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, god of the morning star (Venus)

Lords of the Night

Xiuhtecuhtli, god of fire and time

Tezcatlipoca, god of providence, the darkness and the invisible, lord of the night, ruler of the North.

Piltzintecuhtli, god of visions, associated with Mercury (the planet that is visible just before sunrise or just after sunset) and healing

Centeotl, god of maize

Mictlantecuhtli, god of the Underworld (Mictlan)

Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of running water, lakes, rivers, seas, streams, horizontal waters, storms, and baptism.

Tlazolteotl, goddess of lust, carnality, and sexual misdeeds.

Tepeyollotl, god of the animals, darkened caves, echoes, and earthquakes. Tepeyollotl is a variant of Tezcatlipoca and is associated with mountains.

Tlaloc, god of rain, lightning and thunder. He is a fertility god.

Lords of the Day

Xiuhtecuhtli, god of fire and time

Tlaltecuhtli, old god/goddess of earth (changed in the landscape and atmosphere)

Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of running water, lakes, rivers, seas, streams, horizontal waters, storms, and baptism.

Tonatiuh, god of the Sun

Tlazolteotl, goddess of lust, carnality, and sexual misdeeds.

Mictlantecuhtli, god of the Underworld (Mictlan)

Mictecacihuatl, goddess of the Underworld (Mictlan)

Centeotl, god of maize

Tlaloc, god of rain, lightning and thunder. He is a fertility god.

Quetzalcoatl, god of life, light and wisdom, lord of the winds and the day, ruler of the West.

Tezcatlipoca, god of providence, the darkness and the invisible, lord of the night, ruler of the North.

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, god of dawn (Venus)

Citlalicue, goddess of female stars in the Milky Way.

Citlalatonac, god of female stars (Husband of Citlalicue)

Earth deities

Xipe-Totec, god of force, lord of the seasons and rebirth, ruler of the East.

Tonacatecuhtli, god of sustenance associated with Ometecuhtli.

Tonacacihuatl, goddess of sustenance associated with Omecihuatl.

Tlaltecuhtli, old god/goddess of earth (changed in the landscape and atmosphere)

Chicomecoatl, goddess of agriculture

Centeotl, god of the maize associated with the Tianquiztli (Pleiades)

Xilonen, goddess of tender maize

Matron goddesses

Coatlicue, goddess of fertility, life, death and rebirth

Chimalma, goddess of fertility, life, death and rebirth

Xochitlicue, goddess of fertility, life, death and rebirth

Itzpapalotl, warrior and death goddess, obsidian butterfly, leader of the Tzitzimimeh

Toci, goddess of health

Star deities

Centzonmimixcoa, 400 gods of the northern stars

Centzonhuitznahua, 400 gods of the southern stars

Citlalicue, goddess of female stars in the Milky Way.

Citlalatonac, god of female stars (Husband of Citlalicue)

Itzpapalotl, warrior and death goddess, obsidian butterfly, leader of the Tzitzimimeh

Mixcoatl, god of the hunt and identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, god of the morning star (Venus)

Tzitzimimeh, monstrous deities associated with stars, often described as "demons" or "devils"

Xolotl, god of death, associated with Venus as the Evening Star (Double of Quetzalcoatl)

François-Marie Bertrand (1881). Migne (ed.). Dictionnaire universel, historique et comparatif, de toutes les religions du monde : comprenant le judaisme, le christianisme, le paganisme, le sabéisme, le magisme, le druidisme, le brahmanisme, le bouddhismé, le chamisme, l'islamisme, le fétichisme; Volumen 1,2,3,4 (in French). France. p. 602.

Douglas, David (2009). The Altlas of Lost Cults and mystery religions. Godsfield Press. pp. 34-35.

Boone, Elizabeth H., ed. (1982). The Art and Iconography of Late Post-Classic Central Mexico. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. ISBN 0-88402-110-6.

Brinton, Daniel G. (Ed.) (1890). "Rig Veda Americanus". Library of Aboriginal American Literature. Vol. No. VIII. Project Gutenberg reproduction.(in English and Nahuatl languages)

Leon-Portilla, Miguel (1990) [1963]. Aztec Thought and Culture. Davis, J.E. (trans). Norman, Oklahoma: Oklahoma University Press. ISBN 0-8061-2295-1.

Miller, Mary; Karl Taube (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6.

James Lewis Thomas Chalmbers Spence, The Myths of Mexico and Peru: Aztec, Maya and Inca, 1913 The Myths of Mexico and Peru: Aztec, Maya and Inca

Miguel León Portilla, Native Mesoamerican Spirituality, Paulist Press, 1980 Native Mesoamerican Spirituality: Ancient Myths, Discourses, Stories, Doctrines, Hymns, Poems from the Aztec, Yucatec, Quiche-Maya and Other Sacred Traditions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Statue of a sailor mermaid from Portsmouth, Virginia.

Mermaids - those half-human, half-fish sirens of the sea - are legendary sea creatures chronicled in maritime cultures since time immemorial. The ancient Greek epic poet Homer wrote of them in The Odyssey. In the ancient Far East, mermaids were the wives of powerful sea-dragons, and served as trusted messengers between their spouses and the emperors on land. The aboriginal people of Australia call mermaids yawkyawks - a name that may refer to their mesmerizing songs.

The belief in mermaids may have arisen at the very dawn of our species. Magical female figures first appear in cave paintings in the late Paleolithic (Stone Age) period some 30,000 years ago, when modern humans gained dominion over the land and, presumably, began to sail the seas. Half-human creatures, called chimeras, also abound in mythology - in addition to mermaids, there were wise centaurs, wild satyrs, and frightful minotaurs, to name but a few.

But are mermaids real? No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. Why, then, do they occupy the collective unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? That's a question best left to historians, philosophers, and anthropologists.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
national oceanic and atmospheric administration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mermaids - those half-human, half-fish sirens of the sea - are legendary sea creatures chronicled in maritime cultures since time immemorial. The ancient Greek epic poet Homer wrote of them in The Odyssey. In the ancient Far East, mermaids were the wives of powerful sea-dragons, and served as trusted messengers between their spouses and the emperors on land.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tales of mermaids date back to the first written accounts of humanity, but how much do we know about the mythical sea creatures? A mermaid is a mythical sea-dwelling creature, often described as having the head and body of a woman and a fish's tail below the waist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.body
i touch grass

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dolphin jumps knocks man in the ocean. Wow. Surf, crash, danger, surf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Watch this dolphin! Wait for it! Amazing.

# data[].attributes.headline
Hawaiian Creation Story (Oral storytelling + visualization)

# data[].attributes.subject
Hawaiian Creation Story (Oral storytelling + visualization)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tales from the mythologies of Creation, Maui and Aoraki

# data[].attributes.headline
Chinese Creation Story: The Snake Woman who Created all Mankind

# data[].attributes.subject
Chinese Creation Story: The Snake Woman who Created all Mankind

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why is Nüwa married to Fuxi?

In one myth, Nüwa and Fuxi were initially reluctant to marry, as they were siblings, but a sign from the gods indicated they should repopulate the earth.

Is Nüwa still worshipped today?

Nüwa is a popular deity in contemporary Chinese culture, with numerous temples dedicated to her and her brother Fuxi.

In Chinese mythology, Nüwa (女媧) is considered to be the first being with the ability to procreate and is the creator of all mankind. Ancient Chinese society was fiercely matriarchal, so Nüwa, being the mother of all humans, was considered a very important deity. She has a hand in a number of stories but is most commonly associated with China's creation myth and for saving humanity by mending a hole in the sky after a great flood. Today, Nüwa is still a popular deity and is usually prayed to by women who need divine assistance with marital affairs or fertility issues.

In art, she's usually depicted as a supernatural creature with a human face and a long serpentine body but is also sometimes simply drawn as a woman dressed in traditional Chinese hanfu.

Nüwa's name, 女媧, is made up of the Chinese character for woman, nǚ (女), and a character that is completely unique to her name, wā (媧). In other styles of romanization, her name is sometimes written as Nü Gua or Nü Kua. Nüwa is also sometimes referred to respectfully as wā huáng (媧皇) which translates literally as "Empress Huang."

Nüwa's mother is the goddess Huaxu (华胥) who became suddenly pregnant when she was wandering the universe and stepped in a footprint left by the god of thunder, Leigong (雷公). Nüwa is married to her brother Fuxi (伏羲). In some versions of the creation myth, Fuxi is credited with creating mankind with Nüwa through their union. He's seen as the inventor of hunting, cooking, and the Chinese writing system.

There are two widely told versions of China's creation story. The most commonly told one is where Nüwa crafts humanity from river clay.

After Pangu (盤古) emerged from his mythical egg and created the physical universe, the earth separated from the heavens and became a beautiful place full of lush, green vegetation, vast rivers, tall mountains, and all sorts of animals.

One day, Nüwa decided to go for a walk in the woods among the mountains and animals. As she walked along, she was suddenly overcome with loneliness. Even though everything around her was strikingly beautiful, Nüwa had no one to keep her company. She decided to pause along the banks of a river and began to make figures out of clay from the mud.

At first she began to make easy shapes like chickens and sheep, and though they amused her, she soon became bored with them. Gazing into the river and seeing her reflection, she was struck with inspiration. Why not make clay figures that looked like her?

She began to shape the mud into figures with faces, arms, hands, and legs. To her delight, they began to dance and talk with her when she put them on the ground. She decided to name them humans (人).

Nüwa was so excited by her creation that she made clay figures until her hands hurt. She took the end of a rope, dipped it in the mud, and began to swing it around her head forming blobs of sticky mud around her. It is said that highborn, noble people are descendants of those that Nüwa created by hand, while working class people were formed from the rope.

In an alternative creation myth, a cataclysmic flood wiped out all of mankind except for Nüwa and her brother, Fuxi, who happened to escape into a boat at just the right moment. After the floodwaters died down, they discovered that they were the last humans left on Earth.

Although they realized that they should procreate to continue the survival of the human race, they were deeply conflicted about the idea since they were siblings. Fuxi and Nüwa, decided to ask for heaven's guidance. After praying, they came to the conclusion that they needed to undergo a divination test that could indicate whether they were destined to be husband and wife.

Fuxi and Nüwa ascended two different mountains and lit two fires. They decided that if the smoke blew straight up that they would not get married. But, if the smoke trails intertwined with one another, it was a sign that they should continue the human race. The smoke from their fires twisted and curled in with one another so Fuxi and Nüwa became husband and wife and repopulated the earth.

#Mending the Pillars of Heaven

The world of the first beings was very different from ours now. The earth was just in its infancy and was only separated from the sky by four very large pillars.

One day, Gonggong (龔工), the god of water, and the god of fire, Zhurong (祝融) became locked in a massive battle that would determine the ruler of heaven. Wildfires raged and floods plagued the countryside. Gonggong, who was motivated by evil, ultimately lost the fight. Gonggong was so angered that he bashed his head against Buzhou mountain -one of the four pillars holding up the heavens. The earth began to tremble and the pillar collapsed and ripped a hole in the sky.

At this point, the earth was completely in tatters from Zhurong and Gonggong's epic battle. Fires had scorched the earth, water was pouring incessantly from the hole in the sky, and the heavens no covered longer the earth. Seeing how her children were suffering, Nüwa immediately sprang to action. She went to the sky turtle, Ao, and begged him to grant her a miracle to save her children. The turtle obliged and used a sword she had given him to cut off his own four legs.

Nüwa then gathered five colored stones and melted them together to fix the hole in the sky. She used Ao's legs to replace the four broken pillars all the while holding up the sky with her back while rain poured down upon her. The ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian (司馬遷), recorded the following account of Nüwa's heroic deed:

The pillars of Heaven were broken and the corners of the earth gave way. Hereupon Nü Kua melted stones of the five colours to repair the heavens, and cut off the feet of the tortoise to set upright the four extremities of the earth. Gathering the ashes of reeds she stopped the flooding waters, and thus rescued the land.

One version of the story says that after she was done, she was so tired that she laid to down to rest and died from exhaustion. Another version says that while she was working, she discovered there wasn't enough stone to fix the sky, so she sacrificed herself to use her body to fill the last bits. Either way, order was restored to earth and humanity was able to live peacefully once again.

Although she did her best, Nüwa couldn't get the sky and earth to align exactly the way it had before. The earth became permanently tilted and that's why it's said that all of the rivers in China run in a Southeastern direction.

Although China's opinion on traditional religious beliefs went through massive changes during the Cultural Revolution, Nüwa is still an important figure in popular culture and is contemporarily regarded as something of a historical figure. Though many temples dedicated to Nüwa and her brother Fuxi can be found throughout the Chinese-speaking world, her most important temple is located in Hebei Province and is seen as the ancestral shrine of all humans.

Besides her role as a religious figure, Nüwa has also been featured in a few video games. She was included in Arcane Legions, Smite, and in Koei's Warriors Orochi 2 where she wields a sword and shield.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Why is Nüwa married to Fuxi? In one myth, Nüwa and Fuxi were initially reluctant to marry, as they were siblings, but a sign from the gods indicated they should repopulate the earth. Is Nüwa still worshipped today? Nüwa is a popular deity in contemporary Chinese culture, with numerous temples dedicated to her and her brother Fuxi.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Our Origins

Origin Stories - Sky Woman

For the Haudenosaunee, the earth was created through the interplay of elements from the sky and waters. The different Iroquoian-speaking peoples tell slightly different versions of the creation story, which begins with Sky Woman falling from the sky.

Long before the world was created, there was an island in the sky inhabited by sky people. One day a pregnant sky woman drops through a hole created by an uprooted tree and begins to fall for what seems like eternity.

Coming out of darkness, she eventually sees oceans. The animals from this world congregate, trying to understand what they see in the sky. A flock of birds is sent to help her. The birds catch her and gently guide her down onto the back of Great Turtle. The water animals like otter and beaver have prepared a place for her on turtle's back. They bring mud from the bottom of the ocean and place it on turtle's back until solid earth begins to form and increase in size.

Turtle's back becomes Sky Woman's home and the plants she's brought down with her from Skyworld, including tobacco and strawberries, are her medicine. She makes a life for herself and becomes the mother of Haudenosaunee life, as we know it today.

Shelley Niro, Kanien'kehaka, 1999
Keller George, Oneida Haudenosaunee, 2001
Alan Brant, Tyendinaga, 2001

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Civilization.ca - First Peoples of Canada - Our Origins, Origin Stories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For the Haudenosaunee, the earth was created through the interplay of elements from the sky and waters. The different Iroquoian-speaking peoples tell slightly different versions of the creation story, which begins with Sky Woman falling from the sky. Long before the world was created, there was an island in the sky inhabited by sky people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many Māori myths about the creation and gods of the heavens had their counterparts in Polynesian cultures.

Samoa and Tonga

The Samoan equivalent of Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatūānuku, the earth mother, begins with Tagaloa-lagi (Tangaroa-rangi to Māori), who created the islands of Samoa by throwing down rocks from the heavens. One of these rocks, Papatu (standing rock), married Papa'ele (low-lying rock). Papatu represented the father mountain, and Papa'ele the earth mother. From this union came the gods. The gods married, and from them came human life. In the Tongan version of this account, Papalimu married Papakele.

Tahiti

In Tahitian mythology Ātea, the sky father, married Papatu'oi, the earth mother. Their child was Tumunui, the great foundation, who married Paparaharaha, the life-giving earth. Their child in turn was Te Fatu, the lord of the heavens and ancestor of all life.

Hawaii

The Nanaulu genealogies of Hawaii are very similar to the traditions of Tahiti. During creation Wakea, the sky father, married Papa, who is described as a gourd. Wakea moulded the gourd to create the universe. First, he fashioned Papa into a drinking vessel - this became Papahanaumoku, the earth mother. The lid of the gourd formed the heavens, and its juices became the rain and clouds. The seeds of the gourd were implanted into the heavens as the sun, moon and stars. Wakea and Papa then created the island of Kahiki, the ancestral homeland of the Hawaiians. The descendants of Wakea became the high chiefs of each of the Hawaiian islands.

Rarotonga

Rarotonga has a particularly beautiful tradition of the sky and earth. Creation began when the goddess Varima-te-takere plucked Ātea, the sky father, from her side. Atea moved about, changing shape and increasing in size to form the heavens. He then married Paparoa-i-te-itinga, the earth mother stretching into the sunrise. Paparoa-i-te-itinga gave birth to five sons, the gods Tangaroa, Rongo, Tāne, Tongaiti and Tangi'ia, and to Te Tumu, the foundation stone. Te Tumu then married Paparoa-i-te-opunga, and from this union came human life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many Māori myths about the creation and gods of the heavens had their counterparts in Polynesian cultures. The Samoan equivalent of Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatūānuku, the earth mother, begins with Tagaloa-lagi (Tangaroa-rangi to Māori), who created the islands of Samoa by throwing down rocks from the heavens.

# data[].attributes.body
This reminds me of much I love fat and happy animals :)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Samantha 🐅 (@safarisammie)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adventures of Arlo (@arlobird)