Every religion has a creation story they look to as their beginning. Sometimes the creation story is not tied to a particular religion or belief, but instead tells the history of a particular people or place. The creation stories are all very different, but they hold common elements — that the world came to be by divine intervention of some kind, and that everything grew from one central point, whether that be a place, a person, or a simply act of faith.
The Hopi Indians have a creation story of their own, one that has been handed down through generations.
The world began in the mind of the Creator, but there was no form or shape — it was only thought. The Creator created a person, whom he called his nephew, to serve as his agent in making all things infinite into things that were finite and could be touched and experienced. With elements from the universe, nine worlds were created. Those worlds were then covered in water, and given wind and breezes to blow over them.
Then the Spider Woman was created, and she created life. She mixed up the earth and created two beings, then set about creating all the plants that covered the earth. The beings were sent to opposite ends of the earth, and one was charged with making solid land, while the other was charged with creating sound, thus making the land vibrate. They had no language, so that was created for them as well, and they were to sing the songs of the Creator.
Humans were made of white, yellow, black, and red earth, and they were created in groups of four. These people were then given four distinct languages, and the only instruction was to honor the Creator in all they said and did. But over time, the people became divided, and forgot their reason for being there. Only a few people remembered, and those people were told to join with the ants under the earth, where they would be safe while the Creator destroyed the world He had created.
Again and again this happened, and each new world was a bit less beautiful than the one before it. They lost things along the way, such as the ability to read each other’s thoughts, and the companionship they shared with all the animals of the world, who were now all wild and no longer tame.
The world the Hopi believe in right now is the one we currently inhabit, but eventually, the world will be destroyed again, and only those who remember the Creator’s lessons will be allowed to continue to the next world that is waiting for them.