I hope everyone in the US has a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I haven't posted much the last couple of days because I've been trying to get ready for the holiday, interview at new jobs, and put the finishing touches on an article I've been writing that looks at Hopi mythology. Here's a little preview of a rough draft of the section about the First World to have a look at until I manage to get the whole thing finished and entered into the Book of THoTH article competition. I'll be back on Friday!

The First World

The newly created people are living in it, and they follow the way of the Creator, at first. However, as they advance, and as they grow farther apart from the "Gods" who made them, many of them begin to stray from the way of the Creator. As they grow out and form different villages they begin to fight. While they were originally taught that they are all brothers, "The Talker" who looks like a bird, tells them all that they are different. Then Katoya, who has the form of a snake, teaches them to be warlike.

At this point Sotuknang came with the "sound as of a mighty wind and suddenly appeared" before the ones who still followed the ways of the creator. He told them, "We have decided this world must be destroyed and another one created so you people can start over again. Your inner wisdom will give you the sight to see a certain cloud, which you will follow by day, and a certain star, which you will follow by night." They followed the star by night, and the cloud by day, facing ridicule from the ones who had strayed along the way, until they came to a big mound where the Ant People lived. They opened up the anthill, and the good people lived in there for a while where the light came from "tiny bits of crystal" which "had absorbed the light of the sun"

Once again, this is an interesting part of the story which seems to tie into other stories, and hints at a fantastic ability by these "Gods" and how they travel. How is it that Sotuknang manages to simply appear before them, and why the distinctive sound each time? How does he manifest a cloud that they can follow each day, which then turns into a moving star to follow each night? Are the "Gods" simply using some sort of a flying craft?

For those in the Western world who tend to be more familiar with the Bible than any other stories or mythology, this might very well sound similar to the Star of Bethlehem. This "star" is said to have appeared, and moved differently than any other star in the sky. From the bible, in Matthew 2:

"After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed."

Just as in this story, people followed it, and in the Bible the Magi ended up at the birthplace of Jesus; here, they end up in a slightly different location.

Another story that seems to tie in very well with this one is in the ancient Indian text "The Vimaanika Shastra" in which ancient flying machines, called Vimanas, are discussed. One of the ways in which it states that the flying machines can be disguised is as a cloud. Perhaps what is being discussed here is a flying craft which can be disguised as a cloud by day, and can illuminate during the night time so that it can continue to be followed.

Also, what struck me in this part of the story is how the people described the source of light which they lived with while underground. It seems to me this is how people with very little technological knowledge, having never seen indoor lighting, might describe electric lights, or even solar powered lighting. Solar technology "absorbs" the sunlight, and then gives it back on command. Perhaps if this technology were described to a non-technological society, this is how they would then relate to it.

When the people who continued to follow the ways of the Creator are safe in the anthill, the destruction of the first world commenced. "Fire came from above and below and all around...until there was nothing left except the people safe inside the womb of the earth." It had not taken him long to destroy the world, nor would it take long before he created another, but it was taking a long time for the world to cool down. Finally, with the world cooled enough for the people to come back out they noticed just how different the new world was. "He changed its form completely, putting land where the water was, and water where the land had been."