Oahspe Study
Stories of the Flood (the Deluge) Part 5 |
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Flood Stories from Around the World ~ Continuing from Part 4. Flood stories from around the world echo common themes. Although many occur as analogies, there are enough original details that are confirmed in the light of Oahspe's revelations regarding the Great Flood or Deluge, which was the actual submergence of a great continent in the Pacific Ocean some 25,000 years ago.
As in the Flood story of Noah in the Ezra bible, other tales from diverse places elaborate on what people ate after the flood. The Ezra bible elaborates on permission for man to eat flesh after the flood without revealing that there were vegetarians following the flood. For Noah, who was supposed to be vegetarian supposedly sacrificed and ate animals after the flood (the animals saved on the arc, no doubt is the invention of meat-eaters who could not imagine a world without animals to eat). Yet in other traditions, vegetable foods were stored in the boats or discovered following the flood, for in various American Native stories survivors brought or discovered corn, legumes and other vegetable foods. Yet in Mexican and Central and South American stories survivors cooked food such as fish. Why did some survivors eat animals and fish while others relied on vegetable foods? Flood tales told and retold over time acquire sentiments and traditions of those who carry tell them.
The Ezra bible version of the Flood, as well as many other diverse accounts, tell of the evil disposition and behaviour that man had come to. According to many stories, it was mortal nan's irreversible condition that was the reason for the Flood. It was the means to obliterate the evil of man so that man would have a new start in a purified world washed clean of the overwhelming evil of what man had become. Oahspe clarifies that the Flood was the submergence of the most populous continent of earth, and relates how man, mortals and spirits, came to be in such darkness, and provides some details of his dark condition.
The conditions before the flood in the following story touch on Oahspe's description of the degenerated condition of man other than the I'hins. It can also be alluding to the fetaling behavior of the familiars who were vampiring each other and the mortals of the earth.
|| Tzeltal (Chiapas, southern Mexico): Through a misunderstanding, a wife killed and cooked her child. She and her husband ate it and enjoyed it, and soon everyone was killing and cooking children. God became angry and sent a deluge.....
The pre flood races of I'huan, regressed to become the Barbarian Druk. They were spiritually so degraded that they were no longer capable of eternal life, as described in Oahspe, are reflected here in this story which also supplies information regarding the carnivorous behavior that lowered their grade. The survivors of the flood were herbivorous I'hins, the only inhabitants of the continent of Pan who were virtuous enough to carry the seed of everlasting life forward to future humanity.
|| Quiche (Guatemala): The wooden people, an early version of humanity, were imperfect because there was nothing in their hearts and minds, and they did not remember Heart of Sky. So Heart of Sky destroyed them with a flood. He sent down a black rain of resin; animals came into their houses and attacked them; and even pots and stones crushed them. The dogs and turkeys told them, "You caused us pain, you ate us. Now we eat you." Their other animals and implements likewise turned on them. They tried to escape onto their houses, into trees, and into caves, but the houses collapsed, the trees threw them off, and the caves slammed shut. Today's monkeys are a sign of these people, mere manikins. This was before the sun dawned on the earth. ||
Guatemala, as may be expected since it is the region where the survivors of the flood landed, has interesting allusions to little people and the great pre flood cities of stone in Pan. There are references to the various races of man before the flood and the knowledge that the present race of man is a combination of all of these earlier races. The time of darkness before the flood and the separation of the sky from the earth all described in Oahspe, as well as the rim of the vortex striking the earth is here in these analogies below:
|| Maya (southern Mexico and Guatemala): The Puzob, an industrious dwarf people, were the first inhabitants of the earth. God destroyed them with a flood because of their carelessness in their observation of custom. They heard that a terrible storm was coming, so they put some stones in a pond and sat on them, but the dwarves were all destroyed..... || In the first period of the world lived the Saiyamkoob, "the Adjusters," a dwarf race which built cities now in ruins. They worked in darkness, as the sun had not yet appeared. When it did, they turned to stone, and their images can be found in the ruins. Food for the workers was lowered by rope from the sky, but the rope was cut, the blood ran out of it, and the earth and sky separated. This period ended with water over the earth. The Tsolob, "the Offenders," lived in the second period. These, too were destroyed by a flood. The Maya reigned during the third period, but their period was also ended by flood. The fourth and present age is peopled by a mixture of all previous races.
......After people were created, the sky fell upon the earth, and the waters followed them. The world was destroyed. The four Bacab gods managed to escape and now hold up the four corners of the sky. ||
South American stories also have references to the common ancestry of plant-foods and their distribution with a deluge:
|| Acawai (Orinoco): Makunaima created the birds and animals and put his son, Sigu, in charge of them. Makunaima created a great tree from which all food plants grew. Agouti discovered it first but kept it secret, but Sigu sent Rat to follow him, and the secret was out. Sigu decided it would be best to chop down the tree and plant the seeds and cuttings so that the food would be widespread. ||
|| Arekuna (Guyana): Shortly after people arrived on earth, all crops grew on a single tree. The culture hero Makunaima and his four brothers cut down the tree, and water immediately poured from the stump, and with it came fish. One of the brothers made a basket to stop the water, but Makunaima wanted a few more fish for the rivers. When he lifted the basket just a little, water came out full force, flooding the earth. Some people survived in canoes or by climbing tall palms until the water subsided. ||
The ascension of darkness from the earth is here associated with the flood and sudden loss of mortal life in the sinking of the land in this story from Brazil:
|| Pamary, Abedery, and Kataushy (Purus R., Brazil): Once upon a time, people heard a rumbling above and below the ground; the sun and moon turned red, blue, and yellow; and wild beasts mingled fearlessly with man. A month later, they saw darkness ascending from the earth to the sky, accompanied by a roar and by thunder and heavy rain. Everything was in dreadful confusion. Some people lost themselves. Some died without knowing why. The water rose to cover the earth, and people took refuge in the highest trees. There they perished from cold and hunger, for it continued to be dark and rainy. Only Uassu and his wife survived.....||
Here in the following story are similarities to Oahspe's account of the separation of the remnants of Ihins into five groups with some ships being guided eastward landing in Guatama (Guatamala) and others who were swept westward (The Faithist tribe of Ham, some of whom had dark skin) had to complete a westward journey before reuniting with the Guatama Faithists.
|| Canelos Quechua: Quilla, the moon, had sex with his bird sister, Jilucu. From this union came the stars, as people. Quilla always came unseen at night. One night Jilucu smeared genipa juice on his face, telling him it would make him feel fresh. By morning the juice turned dark, and Jilucu saw that her lover was the moon. The stars also knew from the moon's spotted face that they were descended from an incestuous relationship. They all cried, and their crying produced rain, earthquake, and flood. Volcanoes erupted, new hills formed, rivers swelled; the earth people were swept eastward by a great river into the sea. From this river came the sun, who began his regular course and brought an orderly axis to the world. The moon and stars lost much of their power because of the incestuous relationship, making night lose most of its light. The people were separated from one another and had to work their way westward, having many adventures along the way. ||
Like other stories of the Pacific Islands and the Asia Pacific Rim, South America also has many references to high mountains where a few people survived, here is one example with the ubiquitous number 5:
|| Yamana (Tierra del Fuego): The moon-woman Hanuxa caused the flood because she was full of hatred against the people, especially the men, who had taken over the women's secret kina ceremony and made it their own. A few people survived on five mountaintops. ||
The well known story of Manu from India has some common elements with the Ezra bible. Faithists travelling westward from Shem, including Abraham and his followers, occupied Arabin'ya and South Arabin'ya. No doubt they brought their oral stories which helped to keep the knowledge of the flood among mortals:
These are just pertinent parts of some of the wonderful Flood Stories collected by M. Isaac.
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All Oahspe references are from the modern language edition: Oahspe Standard Edition 2007
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ARTICLE:
Common Ancestry of Modern Humans, The I'hins of Pan