Popol Vuh And Genesis Comparison Essay

There are Many creation stories from Many religions and places all over the world. Some are completely different and some just happen to be very similar. Are there any creation stories that you are familiar with? The two creation stories of the Hebrew Genesis and the Mayan Popol Vuh are two very ancient creation stories from two very different parts of the world. Just like Many other creation stories, Genesis and Popol Vuh may have differences, yet they have Many similarities as well. In both Genesis and Popol Vuh the creator(s) in their story create Man, Man fails to do their intended purpose, and then is punished differently in either story.

In Genesis and Popol Vuh, both creators create Man from materials around them. The reader can see this in Genesis when it says, “And God formed man of
In both Genesis and Popol Vuh, Man fails to do their purpose. God in the story of Genesis wants to be obeyed by Man, and gives them one rule,“And God commanded the Man, saying,”Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it.” (Hebrews, 67). God told Man to not eat from the tree, but Man does not listen. The reader knows that Man fails to listen when they eat from the tree and admit to eating after a serpent convinces them to (68). Man in the story of Popol Vuh also fails at their purpose. The reader can see Man's’ purpose defined when it says “Speak, pray to us, keep our days,” they were told” (Tedlock, 79). The gods in Popol Vuh want to be praised and create Man to do so. It is seen that Man fails when it says, “But there was nothing in their hearts and nothing in their minds, and no memory of their mason and builder” (81). Man having no remembrance of who created them, do not give praise, thus failing at their intended purpose. The stories both show the reader that Man fails to do their purpose intended them to do by their