Comparison of Creation : “Popol Vuh” & “The Genesis Story”

The Genesis Story has borne out the oneness of God who created the Universe. It implies that there should be One God who is the Creator of Everything. He does not have any subordinates or “partners,” or even family who would help in giving birth to the world and in controlling everything occurring with humanity. According to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, only one God created the light and the darkness, the sky and the oceans, the land and the plants, the sun, the moon, and the stars, the birds and animals. After a while, the Almighty created Adam, and then Eva, and then children, and so on.

Unlike the Genesis, Popol Vuh is a bit controversy; it is the epic book of Mesoamerican culture, a monument of ancient Indian literature. This unique “Bible” of the ancient peoples of Central America, containing mythical and historical material, is divided into four parts: the first two and a significant part of the third is devoted to the story of the creation of the world, and the struggle between mythical heroes and the forces of evil; the fourth part describes the wanderings of the Quiché people, their arrival in the territory of South Guatemala, the creation of the state, and other events already having an utterly historical character.

According to one of the myths of the late Maya, the creators of the world were the goddess Tepe and the gods Gugumatz and Hurucan. They created land, mountains, valleys, plants, and animals and tried to create a man of clay, but their creation collapsed as he could not move, and the annoyed gods destroyed the man. Then they made people of wood, but the wooden people were disrespectful and disobedient, and the gods caused a flood, as a result of which almost everybody died, and the survivors turned into small monkeys. Another time, the gods made four people out of corn, but they were too sensible and perceptive that the gods did not like, and Hurukan cast a fog over their eyes, after which the enormous part of the world became secret and incomprehensible to them.

I reckon that multiple gods are absurd. Gods cannot be born as simple human beings, and there can be only one God who provides us with lives. The stories are intertwined due to the hierarchy of the creation, the flood due to anger, and making a human imperfect, which means that only God is Perfect. Ultimately, I suppose Maya wanted to show the creation circle as they imagined it to be. In fact, no one knows the Genesis story accurately. Only the Creator knows what happened, how it happened, and what would be the end of the world.

Works Cited

“Popol Vuh.” Trans. D. Tedlock. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. 3rd ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 522-35. Print.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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