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Cosmic Creations Myths Across Cultures
Theresa Buff
HUM 105
November 29, 2014
Cheryl Anderson

Cosmic Creations Myths across Cultures
For this paper I chose the Navajo and the Zulu creation myths. Navajo because they are widely known to the Americas. Zulu I picked because I liked the name. After reading a little about their cultures I became more interested in them. The myths of their creations seem to be far from the myths most of us were told for our creations.
The Navajo and the Zulu believed in their worlds being the earth. The Navajo traveled worlds by the reeds and the Zulu people and all their things were a product of the reeds. The beings with the Navajo were the elements, First man and woman, Salt Woman, Fire God, Coyote and Begochiddy, and the child of the Sun. The elements of the Zulu Uthlana which was the source of all things. It was a seed that grew a reed that produced the creator that fell to earth and created all things. All elements came from reeds.
The creator for the Zulu according to the myth was Unkulunkulu. It was said that he was a man and he was the creator of all things. He was grown from the reed and fell to the earth. He broke off the people from the reeds and the medicine men and their dreams. He pulled off cattle and fish and birds and fierce creatures. It was said that Unkulunkulu created everything we see around us today like mountains and streams rain and sun and moon. The only destroyer for the Zulu was death. The Navajo came to existence by one of the beings called Gegochiddy. It took traveling by reed to the third world for the beings to have children and then the flood came from the Water Monster because he was so furious the water rose so high that they had to carve a hole in the fourth world and all the creations to crawl up and set up their houses again. There was not a destroyer for the Navajo.

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