0 The Four Creations

The four creation story originated from the Hopi people who lived in Northern Arizona. The name of this community connotes that they are people who strive to live in peace and harmony. In their creation story, the community talks about a supreme being who created the world and her constituents for times and destroyed the world for the same number of times until he was satisfied that the last world was perfect (Fredrick and Naomi 57). Taiowa is the creator who existed in the void universe, which existed before the creation begun. The rest of the creations and creatures were only in the mind of Taiowa. Taiowa created an agent who he named Sotuknang, and he gave him the power and the mandate to create the planets.

Further, he collected the entire waters and placed them in seas and lakes, separating it from the dry land; he also created breezes and winds from air. Sotuknang created life n the world by giving life to a woman he named Spider Woman, and he delegated the duty of creating life to her of bringing life into the new world (Fredrick and Naomi 57). Her first assignment included creating a couple of beings; she created them from a paste of her own saliva and earth. The first being was called poqanghoya and the second one palongawhoya. The two beings were sent to the opposite poles of the universe to control the rotation of the earth. Later Spider Woman created two pairs of men and two other pairs of women from herself; she instructed them to reproduce and fill the earth. Spider Woman created animals and plants in line with the beings (Fredrick and Naomi 59).

The two pairs of couples multiplied rapidly, and the world was full of people. However, they defiled the direct order of obeying the creator, except a small group of people that remained faithful to the creator. Therefore, Taiowa destroyed the World and he only spared the small group, which got another chance. For four consecutive times, the people disobeyed God; each time they were destroyed until the creation of the fourth universe. People were allowed to live in the fourth creation, but the life in that creation was not easy.

The Hebrew story of creation differs from the four creations story slightly; however, there are a number of similarities. The two stories are similar to the extent that a super natural being is responsible for the entire creation and men disobeyed the supernatural being (Fredrick and Naomi 65). These transgressions made human beings suffer, but God would liberate them from their anguish. However, the two stories differ in several points of belief. In Hebrew story of creation, God did not delegate the creation duty to another being, but he did it with the word of mouth. He would only mention what he wanted, and the creation would proceed from the command of his words.

Further, he created the world within a period of one week, and man was the only being created from molding. There are no accounts of God destroying the whole world and recreating it again in the Hebrew story. However, in both cases, the creator was annoyed by the human transgression, and this explains the current situation of human suffering. The creation stories attempt to explain the origin of the universe, and the effect of the forces of supernatural powers and the position that each community occupies in the creation of the universe. These stories strengthen the religious faiths of believers and act as social controls of human behavior.

Works Cited

Fredrick, Oswald and Naomi, Oswald. The creation stories from around the world. New York: Cengage Learning, 1950. Print.