The first human being-The Maya civilization
The Maya civilization was one of the richest civilizations of the ancient world. It originated 6000 years before Christ and lasted till 1524 AD, when the Spaniards of Europe destroyed it. The Mayan culture is rich in its mythological lore. They were great astronomers and built temples atop the Pyramids. The sun was their chief deity, while Chac, the rain God was another important God appeased by all.
The Mayan Gods like Gods of other myths wanted to cerate human beings. This is how they created them. In the beginning, there was no earth, no heaven, no air or fire. There was a vast area covered by water below and the skies above. The whole place had a strange calm. The Gods lived under the sheets of water covered by green and blue feathers. For a long time they discussed ways of raising the earth from the water and getting rid of the all pervading darkness.
The Gods finally decided to withdraw the sea to a reasonable limit to make place for their new creation. This would fill the void. Soon, the earth rose, the sea receded and beautiful forests grew on the rich soil of the hills that emerged out of the sea. All seemed well till they realized that they could not allow the unbearable silence to continue. They created birds and animals, the sun and the moon and the stars to fill this silent world. The birds and animals were assigned grounds and trees as their living places. They endowed their creations with the power of speech and made them cry, chirp and hiss. But the birds and animals did not seem happy, for their sounds were not clear. Even the Gods felt unhappy.
In answer to this question of clarity, the gods created a superior race of living beings. This new species was created out of mud. Unfortunately, the material was too soft and the language they spoke unintelligible. Therefore, the Gods destroyed them and created a new model out of wood. Wood was firm and strong. So the creations looked nice. But alas! They had a wooden expression on their faces. Ultimately even these creatures were destroyed. The creatures did not give easily; they were tough and so fought bravely. They lived on with destroyed faces, and became the forefathers of the monkeys.
The Gods were now in a difficult situation, unable to do anything. Just then they saw some animals in a corn field. The field was covered with yellow and white ears of corn. Then an idea flashed. Why not use the corn? Thus the corn ground and fashioned into four new model beings. These beings fed on the corn and soon grew strong and wise. They were the first human beings.
The first human beings had the power to visualize all existed in the universe, beyond the shies and beneath the mountains, the valleys and the sea. They were amazed at they saw and their hearts were full of praise and love for the great Gods who had created them. This is what the God wanted, their earlier creatures never praised them nor were they happy. In a short while the Gods felt that their models were better than what they had planned. The happiness and sense of achievement disappeared. They feared what would happen next. One of the Gods got a brilliant idea and they blew a fog into the eyes of the four models. This limited their vision and far sightedness.
The beings were now to the complete satisfaction of the Gods. They were perfect. After sometime the four beings begged the Gods to give them children and the Gods readily agreed. That is what the Mayans believe about the origin of mankind.
The entire creation was overjoyed when the sun rose and children prayed about. A lovely sight engulfed the earth. Birds chirped, animal sounds filled the air and the priests burned incense to offer as sacrifice to their Gods.
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