In The Beginning

This story from the Fang people is about the creation of the first human Fam who was given absolute power. This power went to his head as he destroyed the earth and disrespected the other animals that have been created.

In the beginning Membere (who is 3 gods in one) creates elephant, leopard and monkey and then decides to create man to rule over them, the first man is called Fam and he is given ultimate power over the animals as well as being immortal. He starts building, burning and destroying the earth and treating the animals badly. He refuses to worship Member when he is invited by the animals and just caries on building dams, developments and tearing up the place. The animals are in despair. Membere decides to flood the earth and Fam is made to wander alone forever. 

This story reflects the importance of looking after our environment, especially the equatorial rainforests where the Fang live that are abundant in natural resources such as timber, diamonds, oil and calton (used in phones) as well as palm oil plantations which are also a growing threat.  

The Fang people were victims of the large transatlantic and trans-Saharan slave trade between the 16th and 19th century. They were stereotyped as cannibals by slave traders and missionaries possibly because of the human skulls and bones kept in open or in wooden boxes near their villages. Later, anthropologists discovered that the Fang people were not cannibalistic, the human bones in open and wooden boxes were of their ancestors, and were a method of routine remembrance and religious reverence for their dead loved ones.

The Fang people also known as Fãn or Pahouin are a Bantu ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, Norther Gabon and Southern Cameroon in West Central Africa. They speak a Bantu language known as Fang. 

This story from the Maya people explains how humans were created out of corn after several attempts using different materials and how the creator gods Tepeu and Gucumatz made sure that humans did not have the constant access to supernatural vision.

Gucamatz (The Maker and Tapeau (The Feathered spirt) imagine the world, plants and animas into being. As supreme beings they need to be worshiped so they try to get the animals to praise them but that doesn’t work. They then create clay people but they just crack and break. They make wooden people but when they are asked to worship it’s wooden and without feeling so they throw them in the river and they turn into monkeys. Then the animals bring them corn to make people out of. This works! These people praise them but they also have extra vision and can see and know as much as the gods which is problematic as this should be reserved for supreme beings. They swiftly have their third eye removed so they can praise the gods appropriately. 

Ancient Maya culture once stretched from central Mexico to Honduras and included parts of what is now Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador. More than 40 cities were founded on the Yucátan Peninsula in Mexico and in this area where they have now become tourist attractions.  Most of what we know about Maya religion, myth and history comes from a sacred book called The Popol Vuh (Book of Community) which is the most important book of the K’iche Maya of the Guatemalan highlands. It is presented in three parts. The first talks about the creation of the world and its first inhabitants, the second narrates the story of the Hero Twins, a couple of semi-gods; and the third part is the story of the Quiché noble family dynasties.

In Maya mythology, Tepeu (The Maker)  and Gucumatz (The Feathered Spirit also known as Kukulkan, and as the Aztec's Quetzalcoatl) are referred to as the Creators, the Makers, and the Forefathers. They were two of the first beings to exist although there were around 150 other gods.

This story from the Taíno people begins with a great flood forcing everyone to hide in caves, even the Sun and the Moon. This story explains why the Sun and the Moon rise and set at different times.

In the beginning there is a great flood. Many people hide in caves to escape the flood and so do the Sun and the Moon. The Sun kicks the Moon out as there isn’t enough space in the cave they are sharing. The moon goes up to the sky and find that it's much more spacious. The Sun misses the moon so goes up to the sky to find her and realises that’s it’s much better than his cave. He tries to reconnect with the moon but she is not willing to reconcile, so they are always set to be apart forever. 

The Taíno are an Arawak people who were the indigenous people of the Caribbean and Florida. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Puerto Rico. Once thought to have completely disappeared there is now "Taíno restoration", a revival movement for Taíno culture that seeks official recognition of the survival of the Taíno people. In Puerto Rico, the history of the Taíno is being taught in schools and children are encouraged to celebrate the culture and identity of Taíno through dance, costumes and crafts.

These two stories from the Yoruba people describe how humans were created, the coming of a great flood and how Oshun, the goddess of fertility made sure women have a voice.

The Orishas are the gods who live in the sky. Obatala (creator of mankind) decides to go down to create the earth - he is given a gold chain, a shell, a hen and a black cat. He then attempts to makes humans but gets drunk on palm wine and makes them all wonky. He has to start again.  Once the earth is populated, Olukun, god of the seas is annoyed that the other gods didn’t consult him, so he creates a flood and drowns the earth. A few people survive. Oshun, the goddess of fertility is annoyed because the other gods keep ignoring her and she isn't heard. She persuades all the women to go on strike. Things become unbearable for the men and no babies are born, so women are promptly given a seat at the table both in the skies and on earth. 

The Yoruba are an ancient people with roots that date back over 2000 years and were the rulers of the Oyo Kingdom, a West African Empire covering what is now West Nigeria to Zaire and Sudan. The main city of Ile-Ife cultivated a great cultural tradition. Traditional Yoruba religion has a pantheon of deities (gods) called the Orisha with hundreds of different gods representing natural elements and human emotions and worshipped for many different purposes. Ife is the Yoruba word for Earth and was named by the creator Obatala who also created mankind.

This story from Estonia describes how the amazing milky white group of stars we call the Milky Way (or bird path in Estonian) came from the adventurous goddess Lindu's wedding veil, carried by birds

The goddess Lindu lives in the sky with her father Uru. She loves adventure and can't stay still for long. Uru sends her down to earth to look after the birds. The North Star, Moon and Sun propose to her but she thinks they’re all too boring as they stay in one place and she needs more. Northern Lights feels like a more exciting prospect. He also proposes but then stands her up and she is left with her shimmering bridal veil but no marriage. She goes back up to live in the sky with her father and her bridal veil becomes the Milky way. 

Estonia is in Northern Europe and is bordered to the North with Finland and to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden to the South by Latvia and to the East is Russia. Many of these legends have been passed down through songs featuring tales of creation of course, but also tales of battles, journeys and magic. The most striking example of the culture of ancient Estonians is the rhythmic verse, as well as the aural tradition of folk song where each line is repeated several times with thematic variations. Estonians have one of the biggest collections of folk songs in the world, with written records of about 133,000 folk songs.