Norse And Aztec Creation Myths Similarities

Looking at Creation Myths
The creation myths of the Norse and Aztecs specifically contain large similarities. The most significant one is the idea that the world was made through the killing of a giant creature. According to Norse mythology there were three creator gods, brothers Odin, Vili, and Ve. The brothers decided to kill the evil giant Ymir and from his body create the world. Once dead, his flesh became the earth, his teeth and bones became rocks, his blood became rivers and oceans, his skull was used to create the “vault of the sky” , and his brain became the clouds within it. The Aztecs had a similar creation myth. In it, rivals Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca lived in a time where there was only water, and in that water lived a monster …show more content…
They believed that before even the gods there were two lands, Niflheim and Muspell. Niflheim was an icy land to the north, and Muspell was the fiery land of the south, and where the two of them met Niflheim began to thaw. As the ice melted the first giant Ymir was revealed (he is the giant that was later killed to create the earth). While Ymir slept, the heat from Muspell caused him to sweat, and from the sweat under his left arm, came a male and female giant, and another came from his legs. These giants were the first generation of frost giants, who continually fought with the gods , and who were just one of many supernatural beings associated with Norse mythology. The Aztecs in comparison believed in few other supernatural beings. One of the supernatural creatures that the Norse believed in was the second being in creation, Audhumla, a cow. Audhumla, like Ymir was formed during the melting of Niflehim’s ice, and it was her milk that was Ymir’s sustenance. Her only source of food, however, was the salt locked in the ice. As she continually licked the ice a man’s head started to appear, and after 3 days his entire body was revealed. This was Buri. Buri is significant because it is his son Bor, who fathered the first three gods, Odin, Vili, and …show more content…
They believed that only by keeping the elements balanced could the age last, and that could be only done through man striving for perfection and paying penance and sacrifice to the gods. The 5th sun was both an age and a god who was born at Teotihuacan, a holy city where the Pyramid of the Sun would eventually stand. When the 4th Sun ended the world was dark and required a new Sun, so the gods gathered to choose one. Nanahuatzin, a small, humble god, covered in scabs and spots, was appointed, although none of the gods really thought very much of him. When Tecuciztecatl, a boastful, proud god, heard of this he promptly volunteered himself for the position. The two gods then both spent four days fasting and doing penance for their past misdeeds so that they may be free of anything which might affect the creation of the sun. When the four days ended, Nanahuatzin and Tecuciztecatl made offerings to a great fire. Tecuciztecatl offered beautiful flints, feathers from sacred birds, precious stones, and nuggets of gold, while Nanahuatzin presented green leaves of grass and reeds tied in bundles of three, thorns stained with his own blood, and scabs off of his pimples. All of the gods agreed that Tecuciztecatl’s offerings were of a much better quality than Nanahuatzin’s. At