THE FOUR CREATIONS - THE HOPI CREATION STORY

The Hopi (People of Peace) people of North Arizona have an interesting story of creation which was recorded by Oswald White Bear Fredericks in the 1950's as told by the Hopi elders.

THE FOUR CREATIONS

The world at first was endless space in which existed only the Creator, Taiowa. This world had no time, no shape, and no life, except in the mind of the Creator. Eventually the infinite creator created the finite in Sotuknang, whom he called his nephew and whom he created as his agent to establish nine universes. Sotuknang gathered together matter from the endless space to make the nine solid worlds. Then the Creator instructed him to gather together the waters from the endless space and place them on these worlds to make land and sea. When Sotuknang had done that, the Creator instructed him to gather together air to make winds and breezes on these worlds.

Do we see a familiarity here?  So the story starts off unsurprisingly with a god and as I read through I can hear the voice of an old man with a thick Native American accent telling the story.  Somehow that makes it more credible.  The same question pops into mind, what created Taiowa?  

  I digress, I'm thinking nephew may mean something different to these people.  To my logic, Taiowa created Sotuknang wouldn't that be a Father/Son deal?  I was getting excited by the thought these guys know about the Solar system and our 9 planets (now 8, sorry Pluto), which could still be the case, but they then made them out to be worlds like ours so who knows... the rest sounds like normal creation type stuff.

      The fourth act of creation with which the Creator charged Sotuknang was the creation of life. Sotuknang went to the world that was to first host life and there he created Spider Woman, and he gave her the power to create life. First Spider Woman took some earth and mixed it with saliva to make two beings. Over them she sang the Creation Song, and they came to life. She instructed one of them, Poqanghoya, to go across the earth and solidify it. She instructed the other, Palongawhoya, to send out sound to resonate through the earth, so that the earth vibrated with the energy of the Creator. Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya were despatched to the poles of the earth to keep it rotating.

Spider Woman?  Really?  So two beings were created from dirt and spit by Spider Woman and they came to life from her singing.  I think the chief was toking a little too hard from the peace pipe.

Then Spider Woman made all the plants, the flowers, the bushes, and the trees. Likewise she made the birds and animals, again using earth and singing the Creation Song. When all this was done, she made human beings, using yellow, red, white, and black earth mixed with her saliva. Singing the Creation Song, she made four men, and then in her own form she made four women. At first they had a soft spot in their foreheads, and although it solidified, it left a space through which they could hear the voice of Sotuknang and their Creator. Because these people could not speak, Spider Woman called on Sotuknang, who gave them four languages. His only instructions were for them to respect their Creator and to live in harmony with him.

There has to be some sort of translation problem here.  Spider Woman?  OK let's, for the moment, suspend our disbelief and accept the fact that Spider Woman created us out of different coloured earth; is that representative of the different races of the world?  If it is, I like it.  But still, Spider Woman?  I guess it's just as credible as a talking snake...

These people spread across the earth and multiplied. Despite their four languages, in those days they could understand each other's thoughts anyway, and for many years they and the animals lived together as one. Eventually, however, they began to divide, both the people from the animals and the people from each other, as they focused on their differences rather than their similarities. As division and suspicion became more widespread, only a few people from each of the four groups still remembered their Creator. Sotuknang appeared before these few and told them that he and the Creator would have to destroy this world, and that these few who remembered the Creator must travel across the land, following a cloud and a star, to find refuge. These people began their treks from the places where they lived, and when they finally converged Sotuknang appeared again. He opened a huge ant mound and told these people to go down in it to live with the ants while he destroyed the world with fire, and he told them to learn from the ants while they were there. The people went down and lived with the ants, who had storerooms of food that they had gathered in the summer, as well as chambers in which the people could live. This went on for quite a while, because after Sotuknang cleansed the world with fire it took a long time for the world to cool off. As the ants' food ran low, the people refused the food, but the ants kept feeding them and only tightened their own belts, which is why ants have such tiny waists today.

That is just awesome!  So, instead of a flood there was a global fire and both of which there is no evidence for.  My favorite part is the tiny waists for the ants; that is just precious!  In some ways some small areas of this story is close, bar some glaringly obvious differences, to the Genesis story.  The Hopi story seems to have a little more artistic licence though and I find it fun to read. 

Finally Sotuknang was done making the second world, which was not quite as beautiful as the first. Again he admonished the people to remember their Creator as they and the ants that had hosted them spread across the earth. The people multiplied rapidly and soon covered the entire earth. They did not live with the animals, however, because the animals in this second world were wild and unfriendly. Instead the people lived in villages and built roads between these, so that trade sprang up. They stored goods and traded those for goods from elsewhere, and soon they were trading for things they did not need. As their desire to have more and more grew, they began to forget their Creator, and soon wars over resources and trade were breaking out between villages. Finally Sotuknang appeared before the few people who still remembered the Creator, and again he sent them to live with the ants while he destroyed this corrupt world. This time he ordered Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya to abandon their posts at the poles, and soon the world spun out of control and rolled over. Mountains slid and fell, and lakes and rivers splashed across the land as the earth tumbled, and finally the earth froze over into nothing but ice.

Now the story starts to get more intriguing; the last great ice age nearly wiped out the humans.  Some managed by living in caves and others managed by constructing huts from animal hides but I don't think any of them to refuge with the ants.  As for the rest of the out of control spinning of the earth because of the poles, as all great traditions there is a silk think thread of credibility there is the form of the movement of the magnetic poles though I doubt this was known back then.  

  Shall we continue?  We left off with snowball earth...

This went on for years, and again the people lived with the ants. Finally Sotuknang sent Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya back to the poles to resume the normal rotation of the earth, and soon the ice melted and life returned. Sotuknang called the people up from their refuge, and he introduced them to the third world that he had made. Again he admonished the people to remember their Creator as they spread across the land. As they did so, they multiplied quickly, even more quickly than before, and soon they were living in large cities and developing into separate nations. With so many people and so many nations, soon there was war, and some of the nations made huge shields on which they could fly, and from these flying shields they attacked other cities. When Sotuknang saw all this war and destruction, he resolved to destroy this world quickly before it corrupted the few people who still remembered the Creator. He called on Spider Woman to gather those few and, along the shore, she placed each person with a little food in the hollow stem of a reed. When she had done this, Sotuknang let loose a flood that destroyed the warring cities and the world on which they lived.

So now we get the flood.  Took long enough, what's more is Spider Woman saves the people!  Well, not really, I mean who can survive in a reed and how massive were theses reeds?  Come to think of it, how small were these people to be able to live with the ants?  Hmmm... seems a little far fetched to me.

Once the rocking of the waves ceased, Spider Woman unsealed the reeds so the people could see. They floated on the water for many days, looking for land, until finally they drifted to an island. On the island they built little reed boats and set sail again to the east. After drifting many days, they came to a larger island, and after many more days to an even larger island. They hoped that this would be the fourth world that Sótuknang had made for them, but Spider Woman assured them that they still had a long and hard journey ahead. They walked across this island and built rafts on the far side, and set sail to the east again. They came to a fourth and still larger island, but again they had to cross it on foot and then build more rafts to continue east. From this island, Spider Woman sent them on alone, and after many days they encountered a vast land. Its shores were so high that they could not find a place to land, and only by opening the doors in their heads did they know where to go to land.

The only problem I have about this is the doors in their heads... I thought they had solidified or something.  This part is not only confusing but a little creepy. 

When they finally got ashore, Sotuknang was there waiting for them. As they watched to the west, he made the islands that they had used like stepping stones disappear into the sea. He welcomed them to the fourth world, but he warned them that it was not as beautiful as the previous ones, and that life here would be harder, with heat and cold, and tall mountains and deep valleys. He sent them on their way to migrate across the wild new land in search of the homes for their respective clans. The clans were to migrate across the land to learn its ways, although some grew weak and stopped in the warm climates or rich lands along the way. The Hopi trekked and far and wide, and went through the cold and icy country to the north before finally settling in the arid lands between the Colorado River and Rio Grande River. They chose that place so that the hardship of their life would always remind them of their dependence on, and link to, their Creator.

And they lived happily ever after.

I'm not sure if it could be said that the Hopi people still believe in the story of the four creations but the morals of the story and firmly held.  This is very obviously a story to show us how to live our lives and living peacefully with everything and respecting the creator is the Hopi way.  If only the believers in the story of Genesis could be like that, in fact if every religion could live like that we may not have any problems... maybe.


I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way even I learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write this blog.  If you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all
Justin