Lepcha Tradition of the Tower of Babel

There is also a tradition of a tower of Babel built at Dharmdin; it had nearly reached the moon, when word was sent down to send up a hook to throw over the horn of the moon: this command was misunderstood, and the people below cut away the foundations, so the building fell and killed numbers: a mound of stones and potsherds is shown to this day, and the tribe concerned (now extinct) were called "Na-ong" or "the blind fools."

Bengal (India) Secretariat, eds., The Gazetteer of Sikhim, intro. Herbert Hope Risley, Calcutta: Printed at the Bengal secretariat press, 1894, p. 42.

Lepcha Tradition of the Flood (2)

Tendong, "the up-raised horn," is the mountain which the Lepchas assert arose when all the country was under water, and supported a boat containing a few persons, all other people being drowned. The hill rose up like a horn (hence its name) and then subsided to its present form.

Bengal (India) Secretariat, eds., The Gazetteer of Sikhim, intro. Herbert Hope Risley, Calcutta: Printed at the Bengal secretariat press, 1894, p. 42.

Lepcha Tradition of the Flood

The Lepchas possess a tradition of the flood, during which a couple escaped to the top of a mountain (Tendong) near Dorjiling.

Hooker, Joseph Dalton, Himalayan Journals; or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, &c., 2 vols., London: John Murray, 1854, vol. 1, p. 127.

According to the Ashanti, the Sky Once was Close to the Earth...

[...] a woman [...] was pounding yams, and the sky [God?] got in the way so that her wooden pestle hit it continually, till it grew so angry that it withdrew out of her reach.

Cardinall, Allan Wolsey, The Natives of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast; their customs, religion and folklore, London: George Routledge & Sons; New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1920, p. 23.

According to the Kassena, the Sky Once was Close to the Earth...

The Kassena relate that in the beginning the sky [God?] was close to the ground. An old woman was about to cook, but the sky was in the way, so, in her temper, she cut off a piece and made it into soup. The sky, angered, went away to its present place.

Cardinall, Allan Wolsey, The Natives of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast; their customs, religion and folklore, London: George Routledge & Sons; New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1920, pp. 22-23.

Lugbara Tower of Babel

  At the beginning of the world men and God were in a direct relation, and men could move up and down from the sky. Some say they were linked by a rope, others by a bamboo tower, and I have once heard it said it was by a tall tree. This bridge between heaven and earth was broken and men fell down, scattering into their present distinct groups each with its different language; before that all men spoke the same language, said either to have been Lugbara or Kakwa. Since that time all peoples have been separate, their constituent groups having their own ancestors and with them forming traditionally and ideally self-contained spheres of social relations, conceived and structured by agnatic kinship.

Middleton, John, Lugbara Religion: Ritual and Authority among an East African People, London, New York, Toronto: Published for the International African Institute by the Oxford University Press, 1960, p. 270.

The Flood According to the Apppalachian Tribe in Florida

The Appalachian tribe in Florida is a relic of a more ancient nation than the North American Indian tribes. They relate that the lake Theomi burst its bounds, and overflowed the earth, and stood above the top of the highest mountains, saving only the peak Oldamy, on which stood a temple to the sun. Those men who had succeeded in reaching this temple were saved, but all the rest of mankind perished.

Baring-Gould, Sabine, Legends of Old Testament Characters, London and New York: MacMillan and Co., 1871, p. 104.

Die Völkerschaften in der Nähe der apalachischen Gebirge berichten: die Sonne habe einmal ihren gewöhnlichen Lauf vier und zwanzig Stunden zurückgehalten. Darauf waren die Gewässer des großen Sees Theomi dergestalt ausgetreten, daß sie auch die Gipfel der höchsten Berge bedeckt hätten, ausgenommen den einzigen Olaimy. Auf demselben hatte sich die Sonne mit eigenen Händen eine Wohnung bereitet; darum bewahrte sie ihn vor der allgemeinen Ueberschwemmung, und alle Menschen, welche diesen Ort erreichen konnten, wurden erhalten. Nach Berlauf der vier und zwanzig Stunden begann die Sonne ihren gewöhnlichen Lauf wieder. Durch ihre Kraft wurden die Gewässer in ihre Gränzen zurückgebracht, und die Dünste, welche dadurch auf der Erde verbreitet worden waren, zertheilt. Aus Dankbarkeit verehrten seitdem die Geretteten, und fortan ihre Nachkommen, die Sonne als eine Gottheit, als eine hülfreiche Retterin, insbesondere auf jenem heiligen Berge.

Majer, Friedrich, Mythologisches Taschenbuch oder Darstellung und Schilderung der Mythen, religiösen Ideen und Gebräuche aller Völker, Weimar: Verlage des Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs, 1811, vol. 1, pp. 244-245.  

[Translation: The tribes near the apalachischen Mountains report: the sun had even withheld their ordinary course of twenty-four hours. Then the waters of the great lake Theomi were such emerged that they had covered the peaks of the highest mountains, except the single Olaimy. At the same, the sun had prepared an apartment with his own hands, so she saved him from the general deluge, and all the people who were able to reach this place, were obtained. After overflow of twenty-four hours the sun habitually run started again. Due to their power, the waters were returned to their bounds, and the vapors which had been thus distributed on Earth zertheilt. Out of gratitude, since worshiped the rescued, and from then their descendants, the sun as a deity, as a savior of a helping, especially on that holy mountain.]

The Creation/Flood According to the Carriers

The Carriers give the following account of the tradition, which they believe, respecting the formation of the earth, and the general destruction of mankind, in an early period of the world. Water at first overspread the face of the world, which is a plain surface. At the top of the water, a muskrat was swimming about, in different directions. At length he concluded to dive to the bottom, to see what he could find, on which to subsist; but he found nothing but mud, a little of which he brought in his mouth, and placed it on the surface of the water, where it remained. He then went for more mud, and placed it with that already brought up; and thus he continued his operations, until he had formed a considerable hillock. This land increased by degrees, until it overspread a large part of the world, which assumed at length its present form. The earth, in process of time, became peopled in every part, and remained in this condition for many years. Afterwards a fire run over it all, and destroyed every human being, excepting one man and one woman. They saved themselves by going into a deep cave, in a large mountain, where they remained for several days, until the fire was extinguished. They then came forth from their hiding place; and from these two persons, the whole earth has been peopled.

Harmon, Daniel Williams, A Journal of Voyages and Travels in the Interior of North America, Andover: printed by Flagg and Gould, 1820, pp. 302-303.

The Flood According to the Cherokee

It is affirmed by Cherokee tradition, said my informant, that the water once prevailed over the land, until every person was drowned, but a single family. The coming of this calamity was revealed by a dog to his master. This dog was very pertinacious in visiting the banks of a river, for several days, where he stood gazing at the water, and howling piteously. Being sharply spoken to, by his master, and ordered home, he revealed to him the coming evil. He concluded his prediction by saying, that the escape of his master and family from drowning, depended upon their throwing him into the water; that to escape drowning himself, he must make a boat, and put in it all he wished to save; that it would then rain hard, a long time, and a great overflowing of the land would take place.
The dog then told his master to look for a sign of the truth of what he had said, to the back of his neck. On turning round, and doing so, the dog's neck was raw and bare, the bone and flesh appearing. By obeying this prediction, one man and his family were saved, and from these rescued persons, the earth, they believe, was again peopled.

Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, Notes on the Iroquois, Albany: Erastus H. Pease & Co., 1847, pp.358-359.

The Flood According to the Arapaho

Sherman Coolidge, an educated Arapaho, some years ago wrote an account of the Arapaho tradition of the flood, from which the following has been adapted: Long ago, before there was any animal life on the earth, the entire surface of the planet was covered with water, except the top of one high mountain. Upon this mountain sat a lone Arapaho, poor, weeping and in great distress. The Great Spirit saw him and felt sorry for him, and in his pity sent three ducks to the poor Indian. The Arapaho ordered the ducks to dive down into the waters and bring up some dirt. The first and second tried, but after remaining under water for a long time each returned without any dirt. Then the third went down and was gone so long that the surface of the water where he disappeared had become still and quiet. The Arapaho believed this duck to be dead when she returned to the surface with some dirt in her bill. As soon as the Arapaho received this bit of earth the waters began to subside.
In a short time the waters had receded so far that they could not be seen from the top of the highest mountain, but this Arapaho, who was endowed with supernatural wisdom and power, knew that they surrounded the earth, even as they do to this day. The Arapaho, who had been saved by the ducks, then became the sole possessor of the land. He made the rivers and made the trees to grow along them, the buffaloes, elks, deer and other animals, all the birds of the air and the fishes in the waters, and all the trees and bushes and all other things that can be grown by planting seeds in the ground.
Then all the other tribes—the Sioux, the Cheyenne, the Shoshone, etc.—came to this Arapaho, poor and on foot, and he gave them ponies. He also taught them to make bows and arrows and how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. This Arapaho god also had a peace pipe, which he gave to the people and told them to live at peace with each other, but especially with the Arapaho. The Cheyenne was the first of the tribes to come and receive gifts and knowledge of the Arapaho god. Among the gifts they received were ponies, in the use of which they became expert. The Shoshone had no lodges and the Arapaho taught them to construct skin tepees. Then all the tribes loved the Arapaho.

Bartlett, Ichabod S., History of Wyoming, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing company, 1918, vol. 1, pp. 62-64.

The Fall in Egyptian Religion: the Serpent (2)

Lanzone, Ridolfo V., Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, Torino: Litografia Fratelli Doyen, 1881, vol. 1, pl. civ (bet. pp. 432-433), img. 3.

The Fall in Egyptian Religion: the Serpent

Lanzone, Ridolfo V., Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, Torino: Litografia Fratelli Doyen, 1881, vol. 1, pl. civ (bet. pp. 432-433), img. 1.

The Fall in Egyptian Religion: the Woman and the Tree

Lanzone, Ridolfo V., Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, Torino: Litografia Fratelli Doyen, 1881, vol. 1, pl. cli (bet. pp. 432-433), img. 2.

The Fall in Egyptian Religion

Lanzone, Ridolfo V., Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, Torino: Litografia Fratelli Doyen, 1881, vol. 1, pl. clxxii (bet. pp. 432-433).

The Hawaiian Devil and Fall

In his character as a culture god the name of Kane is generally coupled with that of Kanaloa. About Kanaloa as a god apart from Kane there is very little information. He is god of the squid, called in the Kumulipo Ka-he‘e-hauna-wela (The evil-smelling squid). [...] on the whole the squid is today looked upon with distrust as an aumakua.

This attitude is reflected in a tendency by Hawaiian antiquarians to equate Kanaloa with the Christian devil. His name is associated with various legends of strife against Kane in which Kanaloa and his spirits rebel and are sent down to the underworld. In the legend of Hawaii-loa belonging to the Kumu-honua epic account of the Kane tradition, Kanaloa is the leader of the first company of spirits placed on earth after earth was separated from heaven. These spirits are “spit out by the gods.” They rebel, led by Kanaloa, because they are not allowed to drink awa, but are defeated and cast down to the underworld, where Kanaloa, otherwise known as Milu, becomes ruler of the dead.

The legend places Kane and Kanaloa in opposition as the good and evil wishers of mankind. When Kane draws the figure of a man in the earth, Kanaloa makes one also; Kane’s lives but Kanaloa’s remains stone. Kanaloa is angry and curses man to die. He makes all kinds of poisonous things. It is he who seduces the wife of the first man in this version. Kanaloa of the great white albatross of Kane is the name given to him as responsible for driving the first man and the first woman out of the garden spot the gods have provided for them.

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 60-61.

The Hawaiian Creation and Fall (version 5)

(e) Westervelt version. On the island-like peninsula of Mokapu on Oahu is the crater hill Mololani. On the east side near the sea red earth lies beside black soil. Kane makes an image of a man out of earth. . . . Ku and Lono catch a spirit of the air and give Kane’s figure life. They name him Wela-ahi-lani-nui. The man notices his shadow (aka) and wonders what it is. The woman is torn out of the man’s body by the god Kane; Ku and Lono heal the body. When the man sees her he names her Ke-aka-huli-lani after his own shadow.

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, p. 46.

The Hawaiian Creation and Fall (version 4)

(d) Kamakau version. Kane, assisted by Ku and Lono and opposed by Kanaloa, makes the heaven and the earth. All is chaotic. Nothing exists but the upper regions and the spirit gods. Kane excels among the gods in wisdom and power. The triad of gods unite in forming the world. They begin on the twenty-sixth day of the month, the day dedicted to Kane, and in six days, including the days of Kane, Lono, Mauli, Moku, Hilo, Hoaka, form the heavens and the earth. The sabbath or holy day of Ku is established on the seventh day.

On Oahu between Kualoa and Kaneohe lies the first land planned by the gods. On the eastern flank of Mololani (a crater hill on Mokapu), at a place where fine red earth is mixed with bluish and blackish soil, the first man is formed by the three gods Kane, Ku, Lono. Kane draws a likeness of the gods with head, body, hands, and legs like themselves. Then he makes the image live and it becomes the first man. The gods place him in a house of kou wood and name him Huli-honua because he is “made out of earth.” The first man notices that his shadow always clings to him. While he sleeps the god makes a good-looking woman and when he awakes she lies by his side. He calls her Ke-aka-huli-lani (The shadow from the heavens).

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, p. 45.

The Hawaiian Creation and Fall (version 3)

(c) Kepelino version. Kane as a triad, Kane, Kana (Ku), Lono, exists alone in the deep intense night which he has created, and brings about, first light, then the heavens, then the earth and the ocean, then sun, moon, and stars. Kane existing alone chants,

“Here am I on the peak of day, on the peak of night.
The spaces of air,
The blue sky I will make, a heaven,
A heaven for Ku, for Lono,
A heaven for me, for Kane,
Three heavens, a heaven.
Behold the heavens!
There is the heaven,
The great heaven,
Here am I in heaven, the heaven is mine.”

During the first five periods the heavens and earth are created and the sun, moon, and stars, and plants to clothe the earth. In the sixth period man is formed.

Kane, Ku, Lono, conceived as a single godhead, mold Kumuhonua, the first man, out of wet soil and he becomes living soil. They make him a chief to rule over the whole world and place him with his wife Lalo-honua in Ka-aina-nui-o-Kane (The great land of Kane), where they live happily until Lalo-honua meets the “Great seabird with white beak that stands fishing” (Aaia-nui-nukea-a-ku-lawaia) and is seduced to eat the sacred apples of Kane. She goes mad and becomes a seabird. The seabird carries them both away into the jungle, the trees part and make a path for them, but the trees return to their places and the path is lost, hence the name “Hidden land of Kane” for this first garden home. . . . Death is the penalty for Kumuhonua because he did not keep the command of the god. He gains the name Kane-la‘a-uli and is jeered at by the people as he goes weeping and lamenting along the highway. For countless years he dwells as a refugee on the hill called Pu‘u-o-honua, then he returns to Kahiki-honua-kele and is buried on a mountain called Wai-hon(u)a-o-Kumuhonua. There his descendants also are buried and the place is called “the heaping place of bones” (O-ke-ahuna-iwi).

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 44-45.

The Hawaiian Creation and the Fall (version 2)

(b) Fornander version (2). The three gods Kane, Ku, Lono come out of the night (po) and create three heavens to dwell in, the uppermost for Kane, the next below for Ku, and the lowest for Lono, “a heaven for the parent (makua), a heaven for Ku, a heaven for Lono.” Next they make the earth to rest their feet upon and call it “The great earth of Kane” (Ka-honua-nui-a-Kane). Kane then makes sun, moon, and stars, and places them in the empty space between heaven and earth. He makes the ocean salt, in imitation of which the priests purify with salt water. Next an image of man is formed out of earth, the head out of white clay brought from the seas of the north, south, east, and west, the body out of red earth (apo ula) mixed with spittle (wai nao). The right side of the head is made of clay brought from the north and east, the left side is made of clay from the south and west. Man is formed after the image of Kane with Ku as the workman, Lono as general assistant. Kane and Ku spit (or breathe) into the nostrils, Lono into the mouth, and the image becomes a living being. “I have shaped this dirt (lepo); I am going to make it live,” says Kane. “Live! live!” respond Ku and Lono. The man rises and kneels. They name him Ke-li‘i-ku-honua (the chief Ku(mu)-honua) or Honua-ula because made out of “red earth.” They give him a delightful garden to live in called Kalana-i-hauola, but later Paliuli, situated in the land of Kahiki-honua-kele (The land that moved off), and fashion a wife for him out of his right side and call her Ke-ola-Ku-honua (or Lalo-hana). “Great Hawaii of the green back and mottled seas” this land is called. A law is given him but he breaks the law and is then known as Kane-la‘a-(kah)uli, “a god who fell because of the law.”

In the original garden of Kumuhonua and Lalo-hana his wife, are to be found the pig, dogs of various varieties, mo‘o of many sorts. A tapu tree, sacred apples which cause death if eaten by strangers, and tapu bark cloth forbidden to all but the high chiefs are spoken of. Some think that the laau (law or tree) which caused the expulsion of the pair from the garden refers to these things. The garden, which is very sacred, goes by a multiplicity of names. It is the great white albatross of Kane that drove them out of the garden (Ka Aaia-nukea-nui-a-Kane). Kumuhonua-mokupuni is the land to the eastward to which Kumuhonua retreats after he has broken the law, and he returns to Kapakapa-ua-a-Kane and is buried in a place called Kumu-honua-pu‘u, which was afterwards called Ka-pu‘u-po‘o-kanaka (the hill of human heads).

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 43-44.

Hawaiian Creation and Fall (version 1)

(a) Fornander version (1). In the first era Kane dwells alone in continual darkness (i ka po loa); there is neither heaven nor earth. In the second era light is created and the gods Ku and Lono, with Kane, fashion the earth and the things on the earth. In the third era they create man and woman, Kumu-honua (Earth beginning) and Lalo-honua (Earth below). In the fourth era Kane, who has lived on earth with man, goes up to heaven to live and the man, having broken Kane’s law, is made subject to death.

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 42-43.