Myths of the Slavs - about the creation of the earth in myths. Slavic myths Slavic myth the birth of the world read
The World Egg and the Birth of the World.
The ancient Slavs had several legends about where the world and its inhabitants came from. Many peoples (ancient Greeks, Iranians, Chinese) had myths that the world arose from an egg. Similar legends and tales can be found among the Slavs. In the tale of the three kingdoms, the hero goes in search of the three princesses to the underworld. First, he falls into the copper kingdom, then into silver and gold. Each princess gives the hero an egg, into which he turns in turn, enclosing each kingdom. Having got out into the world, he throws eggs on the ground and unfolds all three kingdoms.
One of the old legends says: “In the beginning, when there was nothing in the world but a boundless sea, a duck, flying over it, dropped an egg into the abyss of water. The egg split open, and from its lower part came out mother-cheese earth, and from the upper rose a high vault of heaven.
Another legend connects the appearance of the world with the duel of the hero with the serpent, which was guarding the golden egg. The hero killed the snake, split the egg - three kingdoms came out of it: heavenly, earthly and underground.
And here is how the Carpathian Slavs told about the birth of the world:
When was the beginning of the world, Then there was no sky, no earth, only the blue sea, And in the middle of the sea - a tall oak, Two marvelous doves sat on the oak, They began to think how to found the light? We will go down to the bottom of the sea, We will bring out fine sand, Fine sand, golden stone. We will sow the fine sand, We will blow the golden stone. From the fine sand - black earth, Studena water, green grass. From the golden stone - blue sky, Blue sky, bright sun, Clear moon and all the stars.
God creates the sky and the sea (tales of Russian peasants).
Pagan ideas about the beginning of the world after the adoption of Christianity were strongly influenced by the new religion. Christianity gave a more coherent picture of creation. Popular interpretation of the Christian myth is found in many legends. Here is one of them.
Before the creation of the world, the bright God sat in the air, and the light from his face was seventy times brighter than daylight, and his clothes were whiter than snow, brighter than the sun. There was then no sky, no earth, no sea, no clouds, no stars, no days, no nights. And God said: let there be a crystal sky, and a dawn, and stars. And the wind blew from his bowels, and sat in the east in the beauty of his glory, and the thunder confirmed in the iron chariot. Then God looked down on the earth from above and saw that everything below was formless and empty. He thought about how best to arrange the earth, and dark nights rose from those thoughts of God, and clouds and fogs rose from the thoughts of God. Rain clouds rolled up from the clouds and it began to rain. It poured until the blue sea spilled below.
God and Satan create the earth. But popular ideas were influenced not only by biblical stories, but also heretical books banned by the church, in which the world was created not only by God, but also by Satan. The idea that there is a constant struggle between good and evil (God and Satan) in the world was close and understandable to the people's worldview. This is how they told about the creation of the earth in the Russian North.
God descended into the sea through the air and swam in it like a white goldeneye until he met Satan, who swam like a black goldeneye. They decided to raise the earth from the bottom of the sea. God told Satan:
- Dive to the bottom of the sea and pull out a few grains of earth with the words "In the name of the Lord, follow me, earth," and carry me upstairs.
But the Evil One cheated and wanted to make dry land only for himself, and did not mention the name of God. He dived into the abyss, and when he surfaced, it turned out that he did not have a grain of sand in his hands. I dived another time - and again failure.
Then he prayed to God for help, and God helped him. Satan took out a handful of earth from the bottom. From that handful, God created flat places and fields, and the devil made impassable abysses, gorges and high mountains. Here's how it came out:
When Satan, at the command of God, took out the earth from the bottom of the sea, he did not give it all to God, he hid a little behind his cheek. When God commanded the earth, thrown by him on the surface of the sea, to grow, the earth began to grow behind the cheek of Satan. He began to spit it out, and from the spitting of Satan came mountains, swamps and other barren places.
What does the earth rest on? Having created the earth, God strengthened it on a fish that swims in the sea. Every seven years, the fish rises and falls, which is why some years are rainy and others dry. When a fish flips over on its other side, there are earthquakes.
And they also say that the earth rests on "high water", water - on stone, stone - on four golden whales swimming in a fiery river. And everything together rests on the iron oak, which stands on the power of God.
Here is how the Serbian legend says about it:
What is holding up the earth? - The water is high. What is holding water? - The stone is flat. What is holding the stone? — Four golden whales. What keeps whales? - A river of fire. What keeps fire? - The iron oak, He was the first planted, Its root stands on the power of God.
world tree.The Slavs imagined the whole world in the form of a huge oak - the World Tree, on which all living things were located. The branches of the tree went to the sky, the roots - underground. At the top stood the sun, moon and stars. Birds lived in the branches. Snakes and other inhabitants of the underworld lived under the roots of the tree. The tree, shedding its leaves and coming to life again, personified the eternal cycle of life and death.
Creation of man.
Almost all the legends of the Slavs about the origin of man go back to the biblical story about how God created man from clay, from earth, from dust. True, here the biblical story is supplemented with a plot about the participation of Satan in this matter. Most often it was said that the Evil One created the human body, and God put the soul into it.
The ancient Russian chronicle tells how the pagan sorcerers told about the creation of people:
God washed in the bath and sweated, wiped himself with a rag (cloth) and threw it from heaven to earth. And Satan argued with God, which of her to create a man. And the devil created man, and God put his soul into him. Therefore, as soon as a person dies, his body goes to the earth, and his soul goes to God.
There is also an ancient legend among the Slavs about the creation of people from an egg. God, cutting the eggs into halves, threw them on the ground. Here, from one half a man was obtained, and from the other, a woman. Men and women, formed from the halves of one egg, find each other and marry. Some halves fell into the swamp and died there. Therefore, their soul mates cannot find a mate and spend their lives alone.
Creation of animals.
According to Russian folk legends, God and Satan took part in the creation of most animals, as well as humans. Here is how, for example, it is said about the creation of a dog.
The dog was created by God from the remains of the clay that remained from the creation of man. At first, the dog was hairless, so when God left it to guard the freshly molded first people, it froze, curled up and fell asleep. Satan crept up to the people and spat on them. When God, seeing the spat on people, began to reproach the dog, she said: “So I froze. Give me wool, then I will be a faithful watchman. And God gave the dog wool. According to another legend, it was Satan who gave the dog wool in exchange for the opportunity to approach the first people.
The Slavs considered mice, hares, crows, kites, as well as night birds - owls, owls, owls, to be unclean animals created by the devil. "God's birds" were called dove, swallow, nightingale, lark, stork.
But the bear among the Eastern Slavs was considered a pure animal, descending from God, a kind of human double. It is possible that such a representation has been preserved from those times when the bear was one of the incarnations of the pagan Veles.
Lesson 2 Myths and mythology. Slavic myths. The myth of the creation of the earth.
Lesson Objectives- to form a personal attitude of students to the ancient beliefs of the Slavs; Tasks: to introduce the features of Slavic mythology; with objects of worship, phenomena of the immediate environment, types of beliefs; develop logical and creative thinking, learner's coherent speech, attention, skills and abilities to work with a scientific article; cultivate tolerance, respect for the past.
During the classes
1. Org. mom.
2. Announcement of the topic and purpose of the lesson.
3. Conversation on questions. (myth, heroes of ancient myths) slide 2
4. Myths - oral traditions about ancient times - were born in the primitive era, at the dawn of mankind. Ancient man lived in constant communion with nature. Danger lay in wait for him from everywhere: in the forest - wild animals, from heaven - lightning, threatening a fire. Prolonged drought or heavy rains destroyed crops, threatening famine... Man tried to tame the elements, and for this it was necessary to explain them. He wanted to know how the earth and everything that inhabits it appeared, why day replaces night, and cold replaces heat, where fire came from and why people are mortal. Explaining the world around him, he relied on his own everyday experience. He believed that nature is a living being, which means that it has a time of youth - spring, maturity - summer, withering - autumn. In winter, nature freezes, dies. The world is dressed in a white shroud. This is how a myth was born. Thus, a myth is an explanation of the picture of the world on the basis of a person's knowledge and experience. The myth usually takes the form of a fantasy story. The scientific value of the myth was lost as a person comprehended and mastered the world, but its poetic side has not lost its charm even today. So, for example, remember the healing properties of “dead” and “living” water? "Dead" - connects the dissected parts of the body, the hero, "live" - returns his life. And at the heart of this fabulous plot is a myth associated with observing the life of nature. The first spring rains wash away the remnants of snow - they connect the dissected body of the earth. The second - irrigate the earth - and life is reborn on it.
5. Slavic version of the Creation of the world
The ancient Slavs had many legends about where the world and all its inhabitants came from.
The creation of the world began with filling it with Love.
The Carpathian Slavs have a legend according to which the world was created by two doves that sat on an oak tree in the middle of the sea and thought "how to found the light." They decided to go down to the bottom of the sea, take fine sand, sow it, and from it “black earth, cold water, green grass” would go. And from the golden stone, which was also mined at the bottom of the sea, “the blue sky, the bright sun, the moon and all the stars would go.”
According to one of the myths, initially the world was shrouded in darkness. There was only the progenitor of all things - Rod. He was imprisoned in an egg, but managed to give birth to Lada (Love), and by her power destroyed the shell. The creation of the world began with filling it with Love. The clan created the kingdom of heaven, and under it - the heavenly, separated the Ocean from the waters of heaven with a firmament. Then Rod separated Light and Darkness and gave birth to the Earth, which plunged into the dark abyss of the Ocean. The Sun came out of the face of Rod, the Moon came out of the chest, the stars came out of the eyes. Winds appeared from Rod's breath, rain, snow and hail appeared from tears. His voice became thunder and lightning. Then Rod gave birth to Svarog and breathed into him a mighty spirit. It was Svarog who arranged the change of day and night, and also created the earth - he crushed a handful of earth in his hands, which then fell into the sea. The sun warmed the Earth, and the crust was baked on it, and the Moon cooled the surface.
According to another legend, the world appeared as a result of the hero's battle with the serpent, which guarded the golden egg. The hero killed the snake, split the egg, and three kingdoms came out of it: heavenly, earthly and underground.
9. Conclusion of the lesson - a conversation on the questions:
10. Homework. Make up your own myth and retell
Trifonova L.V. (Petrozavodsk) Traditional peasant clothes of the Pudozh region in the middle of the 19th - the first third of the 20th century. EVERYDAY PEASANT CLOTHES The everyday clothes of the Pudozhans during this period were mostly homespun. The quality of homemade canvas production depended on the variety and purpose of the clothes for which it was made. From gray or bleached homespun canvas of twill or rare linen weave, women's kaftans were sewn - a kind of seasonal women's clothing. Sometimes the canvas was dyed at home: “Home-woven jackets are woven, painted over ... in what kind of paint, even in black, even in blue ... alder bark is boiled, but in this alder bark (and painted. - L.T.) ". A resident of the village of Kubovo, M.Ya. Golodova, recalled how she put on a caftan, going with her father into the forest to catch hazel grouse, martens and foxes. A caftan was sewn from a homespun cloth folded over the weft with a slit in the front, straight sleeves, without a fastener. Wedges were inserted into the sides. Worn with a smell from right to left and girdled with a sash. Shirts and stanushki were sewn from white dense canvas of plain weave - the lower part of women's shirts (the local name is "stanovitsa"). The hemlines of the shirts of girls and women of childbearing age were decorated with embroidery (Fig. 1). The traditional colors of Pudozh embroidery are monochrome - red on white. Poly-chromic gamma existed in the Kolodozero volost area. Embroidery was carried out along the hem in the form of a wide strip. According to 1854, “Girls and maidens, when working in the summer, keep one shirt embroidered along the hem with red paper from 3 to 5 inches in various colors (patterns)” (Fig. 2) Everyday women's shirts in the second half 19th century were canvas. From the end of the 19th century the sleeves of everyday shirts begin to be sewn from factory fabric - chintz or satin. Pudozh women's shirts of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. had straight inserts - poliks and sleeves to the elbow. The ancient, faceless type of shirt was found in this period only in the area of Vodlozero and Kolodozero. The everyday costume of a pudozhanka consisted of a shirt, a sundress and an apron. According to V. Zhelaev, in the middle of the XIX century. Pudozh sarafans were sewn from home-made canvas. “Women's ordinary winter dress consists ... of canvas sundresses, dyed or printed; ... an ordinary women's summer dress consists of a simple dyed sundress and a white canvas shirt ”(Fig. 3 a, b). At the end of XIX - beginning of XX century. sundresses were sewn from chintz, with frills sewn just above the edge of the hem (“with a riding frill,” as one of the informants put it). “Sundresses and skirts were worn from cleaning. Sheathed, such sheathing, lace, some are white, some are orange, all sorts. It took at least five meters of fabric to sew a sundress. An apron was worn on top of the sundress. A shirt under a sundress was girded with a woolen or canvas belt, the ends of which were tied on the left side. “And a belt down the shirt, here’s the shirt. It was already dosyulno, they didn’t go without a belt ... Previously, homespun sashes were worn, some had a homespun sash, and some had a belt. Already all my life I have to (it was. - L.T.) around myself to encircle the sky. Pudozh sarafans have a small slit and a fastener in the middle of the sternum. This is typical for sundresses from the villages of Pyalma, Avdeevo, Kolodozero. The Karelian ethnographer K.K.Loginov noted the same feature in relation to the Vodlozero sarafans. The color of everyday sundresses for older women was dark, for young women it was lighter. "Old lady" sundresses were sewn on narrow straps, without frills, the Old Believers - "long-shouldered", with side wedges, dark colors. They relied on a shirt with long sleeves and a dark scarf tied in front with the ends. A favorite type of home-made fabric in peasant life was motley, from which skirts and aprons were most often sewn. Everyday Pudozhan women's shoes were leather boots with sewn-on tops (the local name is "sewn-on"). These boots were sewn by shoemakers who moved from village to village. A wandering shoemaker, according to M.N. Sukhova from the village of Karshevo, "sits in the back of the house for a week and sews." Leather for sewing boots was purchased at fairs. According to M.F. Sokolova (b. 1898) from the village of Kubovo: “There was a fair on Pokrov in Korbozero. They change leather for furs. After all, there was no sewn, shoes, black leather. There, for the boots, the blanks were still tailored ... there were craftsmen, they sewed themselves. Boots were sewn from white cowhide. Such boots have been known since the middle of the 19th century. Bast shoes were the working shoes of Pudozhan women. Pudozh bast shoes had a specific shape (deep nose, low back, open sides) and were very convenient for working on the sack or in the forest. “Nakes” were put on the shin, around which long ties were wrapped - frills. In the photo library of the Kizhi Museum there is a photograph of 1916, which depicts the wife of the Pudozh priest Z.V. Glazachev with her brother's children and a servant girl. In the photograph, everyone except the barefoot servants are shod in bast shoes with long frills and white onuchs (see Fig. 4). Bast shoes for themselves and their families Pudozhans wove themselves. We find confirmation of this from the researcher of the Vodlozero culture K. K. Loginova: “In the old days, every Vodlozero family could weave bast shoes for haymaking.” A resident of the village of Klimovo, Avdeevskaya volost, I.T. Fofanov (b. 1871) recalled how, while working as a shepherd, he tore birch bark for weaving bast shoes. The birch bark was torn "from the moment the leaves bloom on the birch (at the end of May) until the middle of June". There were also professional handicraftsmen who were engaged in birch bark trade. In winter, Pudozhans, men and women, unlike Zaonezhans, wore felt boots. According to M.N. Sukhova (born in 1911) from the village of Velikodvorskaya, Karshevo volost: “The wedding was worn in new felt boots for the mass. That's how they took care of the shoes. ” The master of making felt boots was called katal. Rolled felted shoes went to work after the Intercession or a little later, with the establishment of a sledge track. They lived in peasant families, doing their work from the material of the customer. In the expedition report of 1982, the researcher of the Kizhi Museum, B.A. Gushchin, mentions a professional katal from the village of Kuganavolok A.V. It is interesting that back in 1941 in Pudozh there was a promartel for the production of felt boots. In connection with the war, teenagers worked in the artel, who were taught professional skills by a resident of the village of Ryapusovo, S.P. Fofanov (b. 1893). Valenki were called in Pudozhye "kangs" (from the Finnish "cap" - soft shoes). They were really soft and warm, but they quickly wore out and required more frequent repairs than similar Central Russian products. Sheepskin short fur coats were the outerwear of Pudozhan women in winter. They are mentioned by V. Zhelaev back in 1854: “Women's ordinary winter dress consists of sheepskin coats or short fur coats”. Similar short fur coats of the beginning of the 20th century. are presented in the collection of Pudozh clothes of the Kizhi Museum. At the end and middle of the XIX century. everyday outerwear for men was a caftan, working clothes - a hoodie (Fig. 8). A resident of the village of Ranina Gora F.M. Efimov (b. 1865) testified: “He was born in the harvest, his father carried in a hoodie and lost it, but ran back, brought it later.” The hoodie was sewn from homespun canvas of twill or rare linen weave. Hence the second name of the hoodie in Pudozhye is “ryadnitsa”, i.e. a product made of rare canvas fabric. This is confirmed by the words of a resident of the village of Poga, E. M. Levina: “... and he is wearing a hoodie, such a rower.” The hoodie had a tunic cut, wrapped from right to left. They wore it over basic clothing, girdling it with a rawhide strap. It was sewn from gray or bleached, less often dyed canvas. In such a white hoodie, an elderly peasant is depicted in a photograph of 1928, setting off with his family to harvest hay. This photograph from the village of Krivtsy allows us to get an idea of the Pudozhan's summer working suit: a hoodie worn over a shirt, ports tucked into boots, a belt, a cap and work gloves (Fig. 9). According to V. Zhelaev, in the 1850s. Pudozh peasants in the summer wore white linen shirts, belted with a sash or scarf, and linen ports. During work, especially collective, wealthier peasants dressed in red cotton or mottled shirts, belted with silk belts. The belts were tied in such a way that the ends remained long. The less affluent wore white linen shirts trimmed at the collar with chintz or red motley. The collar of the shirts was tied with cotton braid. According to V. Zhelaev - "paper ribbons of various types and colors". Pudozhans did not wear neck scarves on weekdays. Felt hats and caps were summer headdresses. Sometimes during work, the head was tied with a scarf like a cap. Everyday shoes of the Pudozhans were boots made of white leather with round toes, winter shoes - felt boots, summer work shoes - bast shoes. Men's winter casual dress consisted of sheep's short fur coats and sheepskin coats. Younger people wore short fur coats to the knees, detachable, with gathers at the back at the waist, with pockets and hook-and-loop fasteners, covered with nanke or paper fabric, called "undercoats". Winter clothes were girded with woolen or cotton sashes. Gloves made of white leather, smeared with tar for strength, were put on hands. They wore square hats with a fringe on their heads, as well as blue or black homemade cloth caps with visors. Povehr ports put on trousers made of homemade cloth. By the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, some changes took place in the Pudozhan costume. The undershirt goes out of fashion, the ports are replaced by trousers, over the shirt, men of all ages begin to wear jackets - a kind of clothing that came from the city. In general, the image of a Pudozhan remains the same until the middle of the 20th century. In the description of the Pudozh narrator N.A. Remizov of the late 1930s. we read: “Remizov is an old man of small stature, very youthful with pitch black [text from the website of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve: http://kizhi.karelia.ru] hair, always wears a felt hat with a turned-up brim, a jacket and trousers tucked into high boots. Thus, as E. Dmitrovskaya rightly noted back in 1902, the men's everyday costume of Pudozhye differed little from the clothes of the peasants of central Russia. The only difference was the hat: in winter it was made of deer fur with earmuffs, in summer it was replaced by a linen headdress that tightly clasped the head and left only a small part of the face free. This headdress was called a “kukel” and was worn during forestry and field work to protect against the bites of mosquitoes, gadflies, and small midges.
In most mythologies, there are common plots about the origin of all things: the separation of elements of order from the primordial chaos, the separation of maternal and paternal gods, the emergence of land from the ocean, endless and timeless. Here are the most interesting myths and legends about the creation of the world.
Slavic
The ancient Slavs had many legends about where the world and all its inhabitants came from.
The creation of the world began with filling it with Love.
The Carpathian Slavs have a legend according to which the world was created by two doves that sat on an oak tree in the middle of the sea and thought "how to found the light." They decided to go down to the bottom of the sea, take fine sand, sow it, and from it “black earth, cold water, green grass” would go. And from the golden stone, which was also mined at the bottom of the sea, “the blue sky, the bright sun, the moon and all the stars would go.”
According to one of the myths, initially the world was shrouded in darkness. There was only the progenitor of all things - Rod. He was imprisoned in an egg, but managed to give birth to Lada (Love), and by her power destroyed the shell. The creation of the world began with filling it with Love. The clan created the kingdom of heaven, and under it - the heavenly, separated the Ocean from the waters of heaven with a firmament. Then Rod separated Light and Darkness and gave birth to the Earth, which plunged into the dark abyss of the Ocean.
The Sun came out of the face of Rod, the Moon came out of the chest, the stars came out of the eyes. Winds appeared from Rod's breath, rain, snow and hail appeared from tears. His voice became thunder and lightning. Then Rod gave birth to Svarog and breathed into him a mighty spirit. It was Svarog who arranged the change of day and night, and also created the earth - he crushed a handful of earth in his hands, which then fell into the sea. The sun warmed the Earth, and the crust was baked on it, and the Moon cooled the surface.
According to another legend, the world appeared as a result of the hero's battle with the serpent, which guarded the golden egg. The hero killed the snake, split the egg, and three kingdoms came out of it: heavenly, earthly and underground.
There is also such a legend: in the beginning there was nothing but a boundless sea. A duck, flying over the sea surface, dropped an egg into the abyss of water, it cracked, “mother-cheese earth” came out of its lower part, and “a high vault of heaven arose” from the upper part.
Egyptian
Atum, who arose from Nun, the primary ocean, was considered the creator and primary being. In the beginning there was no sky, no earth, no soil. Atum grew like a hill in the middle of the oceans. There is an assumption according to which the shape of the pyramid is also associated with the idea of a primary hill.
Atum swallowed his own seed, and then spewed out two children into the world.
After Atum broke away from the water with great effort, soared over the abyss and cast a spell, as a result of which a second hill, Ben-Ben, grew among the water surface. Atum sat on a hill and began to think about what he should create the world from. Since he was alone, he swallowed his own seed, and then vomited up the god of air Shu and the goddess of moisture Tefnut. And the first people appeared from the tears of Atum, who briefly lost his children - Shu and Tefnut, and then regained and burst into tears of joy.
From this couple, born of Atum, came the gods Geb and Nut, and they, in turn, gave birth to the twins Osiris and Isis, as well as Set and Nephthys. Osiris became the first god to be killed and resurrected for an eternal afterlife.
Greek
The Greek concept originally had Chaos, from which the land of Gaia appeared, and in its depths the abyss of Tartarus lay deep. Chaos gave birth to Nyukta (Night) and Erebus (Darkness). The night gave birth to Tanat (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), and also moira - the goddesses of fate. From Night came the goddess of rivalry and discord, Eris, who gave birth to Hunger, Sorrow, Murder, Lies, Exhaust Labor, Battles and other troubles. From the connection of Night with Erebus, Ether and the shining day were born.
Gaia also gave birth to Uranus (Sky), then the Mountains rose from the depths of her, and Pontus (Sea) spilled over the plains.
Gaia and Uranus gave birth to the Titans: Oceanus, Tethys, Iapetus, Hyperion, Theia, Crius, Kay, Phoebe, Themis, Mnemosyne, Kronos and Rhea.
Kronos, with the help of his mother, overthrew his father, seizing power and taking his sister Rhea as his wife. It was they who created a new tribe - the gods. But Kronos was afraid of his children, because he himself once overthrew his own parent. That's why he swallowed them right after birth. Rhea hid one child in a cave in Crete. This saved baby was Zeus. God was fed by goats, and his cries were drowned out by blows of copper shields.
Growing up, Zeus overcame his father Cronus and forced him to vomit from the womb of his brothers and sisters: Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. So the era of the titans came to an end - the era of the gods of Olympus began.
Scandinavian
The Scandinavians believe that before the creation of the world there was a void Ginungagap. To the north of it lay the frozen world of darkness, Niflheim, and to the south, the fiery land of Muspellheim. Gradually, the world void Ginungagap was filled with poisonous hoarfrost, which turned into the giant Ymir. He was the ancestor of all frost giants. When Ymir fell asleep, sweat began to drip from his armpits, and these drops turned into a man and a woman.
From this water, the cow Audumla was also formed, whose milk Ymir drank, as well as the second man born from sweat - Buri.
Buri's son Bore Bor married the giantess Bestla, and they had three sons: Odin, Vili and Ve. For some reason, the sons of the Storm hated the giant Ymir and killed him. Then they took his body to the center of Ginungagapa and created the world: from the flesh - the earth, from the blood - the ocean, from the skull - the sky. Ymir's brain was scattered across the sky to form clouds. With the eyelashes of Ymir, they fenced off the best part of the world and settled people there.
Drops of sweat from the armpits of the Scandinavian giant Ymir turned into a man and a woman.
The gods themselves created people from two tree knots. From the first man and woman came all other people. For themselves, the gods built the fortress of Asgard, where they settled.
Chinese
In China, it is believed that the universe once had the shape of a huge chicken egg, in which the first ancestor Pangu was born. He slept in an egg for 18 thousand years, and when he woke up, he began to look for a way to get out. Pangu cut through the shell with an axe.
Two beginnings - light, formed by the spirit of Yang, and dark, formed by the spirit of Yin, became heaven and earth, respectively. Pangu stood on the ground and rested his head on the sky to prevent them from mixing again and turning into chaos. Winds rose from his breaths, thunder rumbled from his exhalations, day came when the giant opened his eyes, and when he closed them, night fell. Pangu grew 3 meters every day, making the sky taller and the earth thicker.
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrians created an interesting concept of the universe. According to this concept, the world has existed for 12 thousand years. Its entire history is conditionally divided into four periods, each of 3 thousand years.
The first period is the preexistence of things and ideas. At this stage of celestial creation, there were already prototypes of everything that was later created on Earth. This state of the world is called Menok ("invisible" or "spiritual").
The second period is the creation of the created world, that is, the real, visible, inhabited by "creatures". Ahura Mazda creates the sky, the stars, the Sun, the first man and the first bull. Beyond the sphere of the Sun is the abode of Ahura Mazda himself. At the same time, however, Ahriman begins to act. He invades the sky, creates planets and comets that are not subject to the uniform movement of the celestial spheres.
Ahriman pollutes the water, sends death to the first man Gayomart and the primeval. But from the first man are born a man and a woman, from whom the human race descended, and all animals come from the first ox. From the collision of two opposing principles, the whole world comes into motion: waters become fluid, mountains arise, celestial bodies move. To neutralize the actions of "harmful" planets, Ahura Mazda assigns his spirits to each planet.
The third period of the existence of the universe covers the time before the appearance of the prophet Zoroaster.
During this period, the mythological heroes of the Avesta act: the king of the golden age - Yima the Shining, in whose kingdom there is no heat, no cold, no old age, no envy - the creation of the devas. This king saves people and livestock from the Flood by building a special shelter for them.
Among the righteous of this time, the ruler of a certain region Vishtaspa, the patron of Zoroaster, is also mentioned. During the last, fourth period (after Zoroaster), in each millennium, three Saviors should appear to people, appearing as the sons of Zoroaster. The last of them, the Savior Saoshyant, will decide the fate of the world and humanity. He will resurrect the dead, destroy evil and defeat Ahriman, after which the world will be cleansed by a “stream of molten metal”, and everything that remains after that will gain eternal life.
Sumero-Akkadian
The mythology of Mesopotamia is the most ancient of all known in the world. It originated in the 4th millennium BC. e. in the state, which at that time was called Akkad, and later developed in Assyria, Babylonia, Sumeria and Elam.
At the beginning of time, there were only two gods who personified fresh water (the god Apsu) and salt water (the goddess Tiamat). The waters existed independently of each other and never crossed. But one day the salty and fresh waters mixed up - and the elder gods were born - the children of Apsu and Tiamat. Following the older gods, many younger gods appeared. But the world still consisted of only chaos, the gods were cramped and uncomfortable in it, about which they often complained to the supreme Apsu.
The cruel Apsu was tired of all this, and he decided to destroy all his children and grandchildren, but in the battle he could not defeat his son Enki, with whom he was defeated and cut into four parts, which turned into land, seas, rivers and fire. For the murder of her husband, Tiamat wanted to take revenge, but she was also defeated by the younger god Marduk, who created wind and storms for the duel. After the victory, Marduk got a certain artifact "Me", which determines the movement and fate of the whole world.
Slavic myth of the creation of the world says it all startedfrom the god Rod. Before the white light was born, the world was shrouded in pitch darkness. In the darkness was only Rod - the Progenitor of all things. In the beginning, the Family was enclosed in an egg, but the Family gave birth to Love - Lada, and by the power of Love destroyed the dungeon. Thus began the creation of the world. The world is filled with Love. At the beginning of the creation of the world, He gave birth to the kingdom of heaven, and under it created the heavenly. With a rainbow he cut the umbilical cord, and with a stone firmament he separated the Ocean from the heavenly waters. He erected three vaults in the heavens. Divided Light and Darkness. Then the god Rod gave birth to the Earth, and the Earth plunged into a dark abyss, into the Ocean. Then the Sun came out of His face, the Moon - from His chest, the stars of heaven - from His eyes. Clear dawns appeared from Rod's eyebrows, dark nights from His thoughts, violent winds from His breath, rain, snow and hail from His tears. Rod's voice became thunder and lightning. By birth, heaven and all under heaven were born for Love. Rod is the Father of the gods, He is born by himself and will be born again, He is what was and what is to be, what was born and what will be born.
Rod gave birth to the heavenly Svarog and breathed into him his mighty spirit, and gave him the ability to look in all directions at the same time, so that nothing could hide from him. Svarog paved the way for the Sun across the firmament, so that the horse-days raced across the sky, after the morning - the day flared up, and the day was replaced by night. Svarog draws attention to the absence of the Earth hidden in the ocean, and issues a command to get the Earth to the gray duck generated by ocean foam. At first, the duck did not appear for a year, could not get the Earth, then again Svarog sent her for the Earth, she did not appear for two years and did not bring it again. For the third time, Rod struck the duck with lightning and gave her unprecedented strength, she was gone for three years, and she brought a handful of earth in her beak. Svarog crushed the Earth - the winds blew the Earth from his palm, and it fell into the blue sea. The Sun warmed it, the Earth baked on top with a crust, the Moon cooled it. He approved in it three vaults - three underground kingdoms. And so that the Earth would not go back to the Ocean, Rod gave birth to a powerful snake Yusha under it. So Svarog created the Earth, and the creation of the world continued.
The city of Gomel received the right to host Dozhinki 2013
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