Thread by @jurgenfug

THREAD ON FINNO-UGRIC CREATION MYTHS

Creation myths all around the Finno-Ugric world are very similar. Almost all of them are diver myths, sharing similarities to creation myths in other parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe, Siberia, East Asia and North America.

Finno-Ugric creation myths almost always begin with a primordial ocean and a waterfowl (usually duck or loon). They can be further divided into two categories: ones where the head-god is born from the waterfowl's egg and ones where the head-god already exists.

In the Mari variant the primordial duck Ludo swims the ocean and lays two eggs out of which come the head-god Jumo and the devil Keremet. Jumo demands Keremet to dive into the ocean in the form of a duck and bring back mud for the creation of the earth.

Jumo uses the mud to create flat land while Keremet, much to Jumo's discontent, creates mountains with mud he kept in his mouth in secret. This establishes the themes of good and evil and the superiority of the head-god as the elder brother of the devil and ruler of the world.

In the Komi version the duck Čyž lays 6 eggs: 2 of which hatch into the head-god Jen and devil Omöl. The other 4 eggs drop into the ocean. Jen tries to save them while Omöl tries to stop him. Failing to save the eggs Čyž throws herself down and dies. Jen proceeds to create...

...the earth from Čyž's body. Omöl counterracts every good thing that Jen does. Jen creates good spirits, Omöl creates evil ones. Jen creates Heaven, Omöl attempts to create a second Heaven for himself. Finally Jen banishes Omöl and the evil spirits into the Lower World.

Soon Omöl's wife is born from his own blood. Jen tries to kidnap the wife, resulting in a deadly battle between him and Omöl. As a result the wife gives birth to Jen's children Voipel and Joma and Omöl throws them into the Middle World. They would become the ancestors of humans.

The Finnic version is more vague. It usually starts with a bird searching for land to lay eggs. She flies over a blue, red and golden bush, each representing one of the three worlds, and settles on the golden one. The laid eggs hatch into Heaven, Earth, sun, moon and the stars.

In the Mordvin creation myth the head-god Champaz exists before all else and is responsible for the creation of the primordial ocean and bird. After forming the physical aspects of the world, he creates the devil Idemevs embodying evil and the earthgod Ange-Patjai embodying good.

The Ob-Ugric variants of the creation story are very diverse and numerous. Unlike other Finno-Ugric creation myths the head-god plays a very passive role and the devil-god rarely appears at all. Instead, the attention is all on Mir-Susne-Hum and his adventures across the world.

In the beginning there is an island with a house in the middle of the primordial ocean, in it live the head-god Num-Toorum and earth-mother Kaltaš-Ekwa. One day an iron loon descends from the sky. As per usual Num-Toorum demands it to bring mud from the bottom of the ocean.

The loon rubs the mud on the house and in the following days it expands to cover the whole world. Eventually Kaltaš-Ekwa gives birth to her and Num-Toorum's son Mir-Susne-Hum. Mir-Susne-Hum is a very active deity, without waiting he mounts his winged horse to explore the world.

Usually Mir-Susne-Hum's adventures revolve around making the world suitable for humans. Each time asking his father for guidance, he ties the spinning world together with a belt to make it stay put, defeats demons, teaches the first humans to hunt and fish, etc.

In one Nenets creation variant the primordial loon is accompanied by an ermine. The loon goes on a bold journey to bring mud from far-away, after coming back with mud she falls asleep and the mud turns into the earth and sprouts to life. The ermine calls the gods to witness this.

The earth-god Jačel creates the first man and the head-god Num-Wesaku gives him fire to protect him and shares teachings about the importance of each deity:

“I myself will always watch you from heaven. My broad heavenly soul will always give you only joy and peace!"