Tales and stories about the Creation of the World

In the times before times
When time was not yet time
A man stood up in a cold and dark night. To reassure his brothers and sisters terrified to see the sun disappear on the horizon, drown in the ocean, he looked at the sky, questioned the sparkling stars, queried the wind and the frightening cries of darkness and opened his mouth without really knowing why.
It is said that a story just landed on his shoulder and whispered in his ear all the mysteries of the world.
The first storyteller was born. »

Because the universe is complex, because to evolve in it without fear is complicated, man has invented successive understandings: the earth was flat before being round. The sky was initially plural (once there were seven heavens) before being just one. Even before understanding its meaning, man questions himself and looks for reassurance. To know the how and the why of things is for him a primordial need.Because mystery weakens us, obsesses and distresses us, the first drive of man is to unveil what is hidden, hear what is kept quiet, see what is invisible to the naked eye: to know and understand in order to reassure him self.

But man also knows that reasonable thought and scientific understanding cannot explain everything. In his deepest being he knows that mysteries remain and that, as Henri Gougaud says, life is never limited to the perception we have of it:

«There is life beyond reason. You can call it mystery, supernatural, fantasy… The difference between mystery, supernatural, fantasy and what we call reality is maybe but a difference of agreed upon trust. We trust reality; this is why it is more prominent than the supernatural. If one day we were to decide to trust the supernatural then maybe (who knows?) it would appear… Our dreams are maybe only dormant realities that are waiting to be awakened. The supernatural is maybe the true life that is not allowed to bud, that does not dare say its name. »

It is because he trusted these dormant realities that the man from the beginning of time decided to attempt to reach these mysteries by asking questions on the things that surround him.

The « etiological stories » or « stories of why » allow us therefore, once the initial moments of disarray over, to put order in the chaos of the world. Thanks to his imagination, man arranges, separates, gathers, organises. Not on his own but with the help of other beings, more powerful than him self. He reflects on his relationship to nature, to society, to him self and on the beliefs he makes up.

In the category of the why stories, cosmogony regroups the different answers from all the peoples to the primordial question relating to the creation of the world.

For our grand project « iyouwe SHARE THE WORLD » we will focus our interest on this kind of tales from the world.

We suggest that each storyteller participating in the project look for original cosmogonical stories in the collection of tales and myths, linked to the countries of the participating partners and the children involved in the workshops. After this wee will organise a meeting which will hopefully be harmonious and powerful gathering all the sensitivities and ways of being and thinking in our world.

These ancient texts and their interpretations will also allow each and everyone to find his or her own way to approach the topical essential question which is : living together in a fair world because it is shared (sharing of imagination, of questions on our futures, our wealth, the wider challenges of our planet,…).”

HAMADI
14 December 2007