February 2017 – Creation Mythology – Creation Myths of Australia and North America

By | March 10, 2017

Useful Reference – A. W. Reed Aboriginal Myths, Legends and Fables, 1982, Reed New Holland, Sydney, 2000.

This can be found by searching on the internet and may be available second hand book shops.

The session covered:

Australian creation myths continued-

Great Spirit Father – this was a belief in the south east of Australia, he was  known by a number of names and in the new South Wales he was called Baiame, he was thought, non-corporeal.  He shaped the earth and all on it by thought alone.

The session looked more deeply at two myths associated with Baiame.  Baiame and Marmoo and Baiame and Man.

  • Baiame and Marmoo – how the world created by Baiame was changed by Marmoo the Spirit of Evil and the opposite of all that was good.
  • Baiame and Man – the creation of the world by thought, how day and night were created.  The creation of man incorporating the wisdom and majesty of Baiame and the subsequent creation of woman.

Great Mother Myth – Most of the myths are male dominated but in some parts of the Northern Territories there is the Great Mother.  The Great Mother wandered the Earth in Dreamtime and gave birth to all living things.

Diverse Themes – The Ancestor Myths which are very physical and the Spirit Myths are very different.

The group discussed how this could come about.  It has been suggested ancestor myths are older than the Great Spirit myths and reflect an earlier belief system which was replaced as people became more sophisticated.

An alternative view is that the Great Spirit myths were influenced by contact with Europeans/Christians.  There is a contra view which is that these were likely to be much older than that as they occur in areas where there was little or no contact such as the outback.

North America-

Covering the myths of the people of the First Nations.  This was an oral tradition.

Huron and Iroquois myth. – In 1874 information was recorded from a Huron Chief when he was 70 remembering the traditions from when he was young.  A woman fell from the sky and a Great Turtle  brought earth from the sea bed to make land for the woman to live on.  This grew larger to form a great country which was borne on the back of the Great Turtle.  The woman had twins a Bad Brother and a Good Brother.

 

This topic will be completed next session.

Last Updated on March 22, 2017