The Creation Myth of the Thompson Indians of British Columbia

In the beginning of time there was only water everywhere.  Old One got tired of looking at all the water, so he came down on a cloud, determined to create something new.  When the cloud-now fog-reached the waters, Old One plucked five hairs from his head (some say from his pubic area) and threw them down, and they became five perfect young women, already able to speak, see, and hear.  Then he asked the women what they would like to do with their lives.

The first woman said she would like to have many children, be wicked, and pursue her own pleasure.  She wanted her descendants to be fighters, murderers, adulterers, thieves, and liars.  Old One was sorry for this answer.

The second woman said she too would like to bear children, but that she and her descendants would be good and true people-wise, honest, peaceful, and chaste.  Old One praised the second woman and pointed out that in the end her way would triumph over the first woman’s. 

The third woman said she wanted to be the earth, the place where her sisters and their descendants would live.  She would allow the people to take life from her, and she promised to give abundantly of herself.  Old One was well pleased with new Earth Mother.  He foresaw that she would nurture the world and then take the dead back to herself and keep them warm.  She would give forth beautiful trees and plants.

The fourth woman said she planned to be fire, that she would give warmth to the people and help them make their food better.  Old One was more than satisfied with this plan.

The fifth woman simply wished to be water. 

Then the Old One changed the women into their wishes for themselves.  The third woman lay down in the waters and became the Earth Mother on which we live.  The fifth woman became the waters within Earth, the fourth woman became the spirit of fire in all things that burn.  As for the first and second women, Old One placed them on Earth and immediately impregnated them.  “You will be the first people,” he said, “and from you will come all the people of the earth-male and female.”  Old One foresaw that at first the evil woman’s children would dominate but that eventually the good woman’s children would prevail.  Old One said he would bring together the five sisters and all of the people-good and evil, dead and alive-at the end of the world

All of this explains why there are good and bad people on Earth.  It also explains how all of us are directly related to earth, fire, and water.

http://books.google.com/books?id=9I62BcuPxfYC&pg=PA258&lpg=PA258&dq=thompson+indians+of+british+columbia+creation&source=bl&ots=4WQyOpg4iW&sig=xuk0kaqWre-KTqCqfomuPRmjnc0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RqUvUbj0IYa0igKjlYCQCg&ved=0CGgQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=thompson%20indians%20of%20british%20columbia%20creation&f=false

This creation story comes from the Thompson River Native North Americans of British Columbia, told by an old shaman named Nkamtcine’lx, whose grandfather had told him.  I chose this myth because it is relatively close to where we live and learning about how people interpreted this area of the world interested me.  We all know the Hebrew creation story presented by the people from what is now the Middle East, but a more local version seemed more relevant.

I found this story in “Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1”, and at the end of the story, the author says that “Old man’s creation is technically ex nihilo in that it is of himself…”  I don’t agree with this.  Ex nihilo translates to “out of nothing”, and the Old One created the five women from his five hairs.  He didn’t speak or think them into existence, but rather a metamorphosis of his hair into the women.  I would say this is a world parent story.  It is from the body the of the Old One, his hair, from which everything came.