‘THE 5 SUN GODS’ REFLECTIVE ESSAY
A_ W_
RG ST --: Intro to Native American Religion
November 12th, 2018
‘THE 5 SUN GODS’ REFLECTIVE ESSAY
As humans, over time we have formed different ways on which the world works however the story of ‘how the world was created’ in any culture, or individual society, is the historical backbone to how their world works. It is often thought that there must be one central timeline history that unfolds but as we all know there are many different perceptions of this; regardless of the beliefs of the beginning of time, the established records are a result of what the people experienced directly in their environment and translating that information across time. In ancient Mexican society, the story of the creation of human existence contains not only the recorded events of divine powers but of how we have come to be the interactive beings we are today.
In these tales, one can learn how society came to develop along with the Earth and the process of this. There were four main essential beings, which are recognized as the Sun Gods, that were created from the “givers of life”, each born in a different direction: north, west, east and south. Their importance was to create and bring order to the world and in the process of creation, the two gods of Darkness/Night and Intelligence/Wind being the primary two who must actually make the earth. Each god tries to create the world in their own personalized visions but both end drastically; the first being in complete human extinction, leaving just the bones and the second resulting in a great flood, causing everyone to then turn into fish. Due to the great differences between the two gods and the continual struggle of creating the earth correctly, they continued to bicker amongst themselves over who was correct causing the destruction of two more versions of earth. These two attempts lead to the people eventually turning into turkeys, then subsequently into monkeys and other various animals. In the last their last attempt however, the two come to realize their differences, understanding that they will forever be the way they are so they concluded working together would be the only way to achieve their highest potentials. From here, they create the sky, the earth and everything that followed finally helping human existence place itself into a point of self sufficiency.