The legend of human origin

The origin of human beings can be said to be the most troublesome problem in academic circles. Anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, biologists, chemists, and even philosophers and religious scholars have studied the origin of human beings from various angles. However, there is still no most convincing statement.

There are many myths and legends about the origin of human beings, some of which are very similar, but of course there are many differences. In these myths, it is very interesting that we can find similarities with evolution.

Summarizing all kinds of myths, the origin of human beings can be divided into five kinds: called out, existing, changed by plants, changed by animals and made of soil. Now we will describe them separately.

"Egyptian mythology" says that human beings are called by God. Egypt has been a mysterious place since ancient times. She is the most self-enclosed of all ancient countries. She has her own way of life, and it is difficult for external civilization to influence her. Therefore, her views on the origin of human beings are different from others.

Egyptians believe that the almighty God Nu existed long before Egypt appeared in the world. He created the universe and everything in it. When he called Soapy, it was windy. Call it "Taifuna" and there will be rain; Call Habib. The Nile flows through Egypt. He called again and again, and everything appeared. Finally, he said "men and women". In a blink of an eye, Egypt is full of people.

When the creation work was completed, Nu turned himself into a man and became the first Pharaoh, ruling the earth and creating a peaceful and prosperous scene.

Myths that exist in human beings are scattered in North American Indians and New Zealand Maori. In Indian mythology, it is said that God created heaven and earth, and then led mankind to come up from the ground and live on the earth. According to Maori mythology, "Ranchi" and "Baba" are heaven and earth and the source of all things. At that time, heaven and earth were inseparable, and it was dark everywhere. His son longed for the light, so he pushed it away and it appeared. Humans hidden in the dark were discovered. It turns out that they were born in the sky and underground.

It is said that man is a plant and has become a Germanic myth. One day, God Odin and other gods were walking by the sea. When they saw two trees growing on the sandbar, one was majestic and the other was graceful, they ordered the two trees to be cut down, giving birth to men and women respectively. Odin gave life first, and other gods gave reason, language, blood and skin color respectively, thus becoming the ancestors of the Germans.

The myth that human beings evolved from animals is quite common. In Australian mythology, people are changed by lizards; American mythology says that people are coyotes, beavers, apes and so on; Greek mythology also says that a certain ethnic group is changed by swans and a certain ethnic group is changed by cows.

From this myth of "animals change into people", we can find that it is very close to the theory of evolution, especially in American mythology, people change from apes, which is completely in line with the theory of evolution. This coincidence is very intriguing.

There are several myths about the origin of human beings in China. The earlier version is Soul of Huainanzi: "There are Er Shen (Yin and God) miscellaneous, while the species of ying ... Qi are insects (turbid qi becomes insects, fish, birds and beasts) and essence is human (pure qi becomes human). This statement has not received much attention.

Later, it meant that Pangu was dying, and when he became everything, the parasite on him became a human being. The age of Five Blessingg calendar is inferred in the first volume of History: "The insects in Pangu were transformed into Li Shu (human) by the wind. This statement did not spread.

Another way of saying this is that human beings were created by the Yellow Emperor, and then endowed with the five senses of limbs by other gods, namely, Pian and Sanglin. See the article on Lin in Huai Nan Zi: "Yellow Emperor gives birth to Yin and Yang, Pian gives birth to ears and mulberry gives birth to arms and hands. This statement is very interesting, very similar to what the Germans said. Unfortunately, other ancient books have not described what kind of gods the last film and the mulberry forest are, leaving only a mystery.

Among all myths, the most popular saying is "Man is made of clay". For example, the myth of New Zealand says that people are made of red soil and their own blood. Melanesians also said so; According to Greek mythology, God took out the earth and fire, sent Prometheus and Epimetheus's brother Er Shen to create animals and humans respectively, and endowed human beings with various personalities and wisdom.

Maidu Indians in western North America thought that after the "earth pioneers" created trees, birds and beasts, they said, "I want to make people. Take some dark red soil and mix it with water to make a man and a woman.

Among all the myths, the most fascinating story about making people out of clay is Nu Wa in our country and God in Jewish mythology (Bible).

It is said that after Pangu opened heaven and earth, I don't know how many years passed, and Nu Wa suddenly appeared between heaven and earth. Nu Wa feels lonely in this desolate world. One day, she looked at herself in the water and thought it would be great if there were several people like herself talking to each other between heaven and earth, so she unconsciously grabbed the dirt and got into the water. Squeeze out a clay doll according to its own shape, put it on the ground, blow it in the wind, and it becomes a living thing, so it is named "human".

Originally, Nu Wa has been making babies one after another, but the progress is slow. Finally, he felt tired. When he thought about how to make people fill the vast land quickly, he leaned against the cliff, took off the rattan, stirred it lazily in the mud mixed with water, then threw it away and splashed many mud spots. These mud spots fell to the ground and became people when the wind blew them, so he kept waving rattan.

The story of God creating man in the Bible is recorded in Genesis of the Old Testament. It took God five days to create everything on the earth. On the sixth day, he said, "We should make man according to our image and style ..." So he made man from the dust on the ground, blew his life into his nostrils, and became a living man named Adam.

Soon, one of Adam's ribs was removed and a woman was created. Adam said, "This is the bone of my bones and the flesh of my flesh, so I can call her a woman. 』

In the myth that Nu Wa and God created man, we can find that * * * is similar to each other in image, which shows that Nu Wa and God are similar to people. The difference is that the Bible describes women as men's ribs, not clay.