Summarizing various myths, the origin of human beings can be divided into five types: "called out", "originally existing", "changed from plants", "changed from animals" and "made from soil". Let’s describe them separately.
"Egyptian Mythology" says that humans are called out by gods. Since ancient times, Egypt has been a mysterious place. It is the most self-enclosed among all ancient countries. It has its own way of life, and it is difficult for external civilization to affect it. Therefore, its theory of human origin is also different from other theories. The people are different.
The Egyptians believed that long before Egypt appeared in the world, the almighty god "NU" existed. He created everything in the world. When he called "Subi", the wind came into being. ; Calling "Tefuna", there will be rain; calling "Habi", the Nile River will flow through Egypt. He calls again and again, and all things appear one by one. Finally, he speaks "man and woman", and in the blink of an eye, Egypt and it was filled with many people.
After the creation work was completed, Nu transformed himself into a man's shape and became the first Pharaoh, ruling the earth and mankind and creating peace and prosperity.
Myths that have always existed in human beings are scattered among the North American Indians and the Maori people of New Zealand. Indian myths say that God created the heaven and the earth, and then led humans up from the underground to live on the earth. Maori mythology says that "Ranchi" and "Baba" are heaven and earth and the source of all things. At that time, heaven and earth were not separated and everything was dark. His son longed for light, so he pushed the heaven and earth away with force, and light appeared. Human beings who have always been hidden in the darkness are discovered. It turns out that they are also born from heaven and earth.
The belief that humans are transformed from plants has become a Germanic myth. It says that the god Odin (ODIN) was walking on the beach with other gods one day and saw two trees growing on the sandbank, one of which looked like a tree. The other tree was majestic, and the other tree had a graceful posture, so he ordered the two trees to be cut down and made into men and women respectively. Odin first gave life to them, and the other gods gave them reason, language, blood, skin color, etc., becoming the ancestors of the Germans.
The myth that humans were transformed from animals is quite common. Australian mythology says that humans transformed from lizards; American mythology says that humans transformed from mountain dogs, beavers, apes, etc.; Greek mythology also says that a certain tribe of people transformed from swans, and a certain tribe of people transformed from cows.
From this myth of "animals turning into humans", we can find something very close to the theory of evolution. Especially in the American mythology, it is said that humans were transformed from apes, which is completely consistent with the theory of evolution. This coincidence , very intriguing.
There are several myths about the origin of human beings in our country. The earlier one is "Huainanzi Spiritual Chapter": "There are two gods (yin and yang) mixed together, and they are in the camp of heaven... Similar to Qi. Insects (turbid gases turn into insects, fish, birds and beasts), and essence becomes humans (pure gases turn into humans). ” This argument did not receive much attention.
The later theory refers to the fact that when Pangu was dying and transformed into all things, the parasites on his body turned into humans. Yishi Volume 1 quotes the Five Movement Calendar Years: "The insects in (Pangu's) body turned into humans (people) due to the influence of the wind." ” This statement has not spread.
Another theory is that human beings were created by the Yellow Emperor, and then were given limbs and five senses by other gods, Shang Pian and Mulberry. See Huainanzi's chapter on Lin: "The Yellow Emperor gave birth to yin and yang, and Shang Pian gave birth to ears and eyes. Sang Linsheng’s arms and hands…. "This statement is very interesting and very similar to what Germanic said. Unfortunately, what kind of gods Shang Pian and Sang Lin are are not described in other ancient books, leaving only a mystery.
Among all the myths, the theory of "creating man from clay" is the most common and the most popular. For example, the New Zealand myth says that man is made of red clay and his own blood by the god Tiki; Mera The Nicene people also said this; Greek mythology said that God took out earth and fire from the inside of the earth, sent the two brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus to create animals and humans respectively, and endowed humans with various personalities and wisdom.
The Maidu Indians in western North America believe that after the "founder of the earth" created trees, birds and beasts, he said, "I am going to create humans." ” Then he took some dark red soil and mixed it with water to make a man and a woman.
Among all the myths, the most fascinating stories about the creation of humans from clay are the Nuwa of my country and the God of Jewish mythology (the Bible).
It is said that after Pangu opened up the world, I don’t know how many years passed, but Nuwa suddenly appeared between the heaven and the earth.
Nuwa felt lonely in this desolate world. One day, she looked at the water and saw herself. She thought it would be great if there were a few people like her in the world who could talk to each other, so she unconsciously grabbed the soil. , mixed with water, made a clay doll according to his own shape, placed it on the ground, and when the wind blew it, it became a living thing, so he named it "man".
It turns out that Nuwa continued to create humans one after another, but the progress was slow and she finally felt tired. When she was thinking about how to create humans quickly to fill the vast land, she leaned against the cliff and made her way. He took off the cane and stirred it lazily in the mud mixed with water. Then he shook the cane and scattered a lot of mud dots. These mud dots fell on the ground. When the wind blew, they all turned into people, so he kept going. The ground waved the cane, and the number of people on the ground continued to increase.
The story of God’s creation of man in the Bible is recorded in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. It is said that God spent five days creating all things on earth. On the sixth day, He said: "Let us create man in our image, according to our likeness..." So he created man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into it. After the man's nostrils, he became a living man and was named Adam.
Soon one of Adam's ribs was taken out and made into a woman. Adam said: "This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Let us call her woman." 』
In the myths about Nuwa and God creating humans, we can find that the only difference is that they both created humans in their images. This shows that Nuwa and God look similar to humans. . The difference is that the Bible describes woman as being made from man's rib, not clay.