Origin Stories A creation story is any story that tells of a creation, these stories can be as specific as the creation of a new invention or they can be as broad as the creation of everything (Creation Story Definition). Many creation stories have points that are very similar and point out that it is very possible that many of these events are true since they are in common. There are also many differences in these stories as well. This paper however is going to detail the similarities and differences between the Native American creation story of the Navajo “Haijiinei” to the creation story of the Bible which is detailed in the book of Genesis. These stories are actually very similar to each other especially when you consider their “world”,
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Genesis says that God created the heavens and the earth, but in the next few verses the distinction is made between the sky and the heavens. This distinction is made when God creates a “vault” to separate the water from the water, which created the sky in between these two sets of water (Genesis 1). In the Native American story the touching of sky and water caused the creation of the First World (Navajo Creation Story). In the Christian tradition the end of God’s six days of creation signified the creation of Earth and of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1). This is important because both of those locations were considered holy places and were signified as perfect. In the Bible once Adam and Eve sin they are immediately …show more content…
In the Navajo story the first punishments went back to the Nilch’i Dine’e people when they committed adultery and were forced to leave their world or face destruction by a great flood. This pattern of committing adultery and then being forced to leave continued until they fixed their behavior in the fourth world. Their punishment was the fact that the continued to have to flee for their mistakes (Navajo Creation Story). The Christian story continued from the creation of Adam and Eve and went on to talk about their crime that forced them to have to leave the Garden. Eve was tempted by the serpent to partake of the only fruit in the Garden that they were told not to eat. Eve then convinced Adam to also eat the fruit and because of this they were forced to leave the Garden and were forced to deal with several other punishments. Man was forced to work the soil much harder to get food to eat and women were forced to deal with painful labor (Genesis 3). The Navajo first man and wife had to deal with similar punishments in the struggle caused by First Woman’s remarks. The First Man and First Woman got along very well for many years until one day First Woman made ungrateful remarks about the First Man’s hunting skills. The men gathered together because of this ungrateful remark and the men decided to leave and form their own camp away from the women and they did this to teach the women a
Genesis says that God created the heavens and the earth, but in the next few verses the distinction is made between the sky and the heavens. This distinction is made when God creates a “vault” to separate the water from the water, which created the sky in between these two sets of water (Genesis 1). In the Native American story the touching of sky and water caused the creation of the First World (Navajo Creation Story). In the Christian tradition the end of God’s six days of creation signified the creation of Earth and of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1). This is important because both of those locations were considered holy places and were signified as perfect. In the Bible once Adam and Eve sin they are immediately …show more content…
In the Navajo story the first punishments went back to the Nilch’i Dine’e people when they committed adultery and were forced to leave their world or face destruction by a great flood. This pattern of committing adultery and then being forced to leave continued until they fixed their behavior in the fourth world. Their punishment was the fact that the continued to have to flee for their mistakes (Navajo Creation Story). The Christian story continued from the creation of Adam and Eve and went on to talk about their crime that forced them to have to leave the Garden. Eve was tempted by the serpent to partake of the only fruit in the Garden that they were told not to eat. Eve then convinced Adam to also eat the fruit and because of this they were forced to leave the Garden and were forced to deal with several other punishments. Man was forced to work the soil much harder to get food to eat and women were forced to deal with painful labor (Genesis 3). The Navajo first man and wife had to deal with similar punishments in the struggle caused by First Woman’s remarks. The First Man and First Woman got along very well for many years until one day First Woman made ungrateful remarks about the First Man’s hunting skills. The men gathered together because of this ungrateful remark and the men decided to leave and form their own camp away from the women and they did this to teach the women a