As almost every civilization or united group of peoples had done, the Hopi civilization contained a religion, and in this religion there was included a creation story. The creation story maintained that a very long time ago the world was nothing but a vast ocean. In this ocean world there existed several divine beings.
One of these beings was Huruing Wuhti, the deity of hard substances, another was the Sun, and the final was a Spider Woman, whom had not yet been discovered by the other two. After a time the first two divine beings decided to meet together, and after their meeting they created land. Unfortunately the Huruing Wuhti and the Sun discovered that it was meaningless to have a barren wasteland, and they proceeded to create life.
First they created a bird, and instructed the bird to fly over the land and look for other signs of life. He returned and reported that he could not find any life. The divine beings then created many more birds, and after they were created the birds scattered across the world. Huruing Wuhti then created other animals, one of them man. Whenever Wuhti created a man Wuhti created a woman to accompany the man in the world. Wuhti then gave the man a set of tablets, and made the man understand the tablets so consequently a language was created. These men and woman lived in peace for quite some time.
Meanwhile, the Spider Woman created people of her own, these people being Spaniards. The Spaniards were not as peaceful as the men Huruing Wuhti created and they quarreled very frequently.
When the Spaniards came across the other peoples they fought, and peace ceased to exist in the world. The deities then left the land, and dwelled in the center of the ocean, instructing the people to pray if they needed to. Two Spaniards tried even to kill Huruing Wuhti, but they instead became imprisoned by the diety, and later released.
The Hopi origin myth, a story of majestic and divine creation, is very similar to that of other various religions, among them Christianity. However there were several aspects of this story that made the story seem a little more far-fetched than Genesis in my mind. Several major details of the story, as well as some minor ones, made little or no sense to me and simple failed to generate a remotely plausible explanation for the creation of the world. Several of these details will be discussed in greater depth, and will be examined more thoroughly.
The first of these details pertained to Huruing Wuhti, the deity of hard substances. The story states that the world was nothing but water, so how could Huruing Wuhti be the deity of hard substances when hard substances fail to have even been created yet? What's more, the story states that the deity lived in a kiva, and on it was tied the skin of a gray fox, as well as skin of a yellow fox. Where would this kiva stand first of all, if there was no land, and also where would the wolf-skin come from if no animals had been perceived as of yet?
Several other examples exist throughout the story, for example the birds that know how to impulsively talk upon creation, but when the man is created he must be taught how to talk. In addition, it is written that a spider woman dwelled in the world once the deities created the land, but how was the spider woman created then, and how did she attain the power to create mankind as the deities had? One final detail I also believed did not make sense at all. In the end of the story, it states that the deities move away from where they can be reached by man, to the center of the ocean.
In the following paragraph, however, it says that two Spaniards went to Huruing Wuhti and tried to kill her. How did the Spaniards majestically get to her, did they fly or walk on water? I hate to be such a critic of this story, but when a story makes as little sense as this it is nearly impossible to support what is written.
On that note I must say that I do respect this culture, as well as its heritage. The creation story is creative, and gives us a glimpse into the Native American world.
