It All Started Here! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Apache

According to Apache legend, this is one of the variants of the story of creation that was learned by rote. Another, similar saga involved two gods thinking things into existence, but with mistakes made. They then caused a great flood to occur, so that they could start over with their creation.

Similarities to the Biblical account of creation (and other accounts) are striking, especially considering these legends were generated half a world away.

Answer: True

Ancient Egyptians believed in the concept of "Nu/Nun", meaning "watery or inert one" or "abyss". According to their beliefs, a mound of land emerged from Nu, and became the first basis for life to emerge from outside of the waters that surrounded the earth.

Doubtless the frequent flooding of the Nile River lent credence to this myth of creation, since a cycle of life, destruction, death and rebirth along its banks was a common theme that all were familiar with.

Answer: Chinese

Following a familiar thread with many other legends of the world, only a formless chaos existed at the beginning of the universe. Pangu was said to have emerged from a type of "cosmic egg" that lay on top of the world's waters.

Many variations exist of not only this event but also of other Chinese myths, many of which do not necessarily attempt to explain how the world itself was created, so much as how the people who live in it were brought into existence.

Answer: the Yoruba people of West Africa

According to Yoruba legend, Obatala was a curious sort of creature, and liked exploring new things. He approached Olorun to obtain permission to make something solid in the waters that he saw below the sky. Permission was granted, and soon Obatala had collected gold from his fellow orishas and with it constructed a golden chain to allow access to his work below.

While all the orishas had been instructed to take advantage of exploring the vastness of the universe, only Obatala took the initiative to do so.

Answer: out of nothing

"Creatio ex nihilo" would translate into the English language as "creation out of nothing".

Ancient Near Eastern and Greek thought proposed a different approach to creationism, that of chaos reigning upon existing matter first, followed by order.

There is no universal agreement even among Christians as to which philosophical point of view is correct, with evangelical Christians maintaining that the Bible should be interpreted more literally, while more progressive Christians feel that a more figurative perspective is better called for.

Answer: Seven Divine Generations

Kamiyonanayo, or "Seven Divine Generations" was the title given to the original gods of Japan. The first three gods, Amenominakanushi, Takamimusuhinokami, and Kamimusuhinokami were sexless and had no partner. Likewise, when the next two gods, Umashiashikabihikojinokami and Amenotokotachinokami emerged, they too were without gender, had no partner and like their predecessors, went into hiding upon birth.

Later, five pairs of gods were formed, each of them with a male and female counterpart, each pair consisting of a male deity with his younger sister, (and wife).

The first three gods who were "born" after chaos was disrupted by light and movement began were not responsible for the beginnings of creation, but were rather the result of it; however the god Izanagi was in charge of finishing the creation of the world, according to Shinto tradition.

Answer: Rangi and Papa

Rangi and Papa were Heaven and Earth, according to Maori legend. In the beginning, heaven and earth hung close together, with darkness reigning over all. Rangi and Papa had six sons, Tanemahuta, the father of the forests; Tawhirimatea, the father of winds and storms; Tangaroa, the father of fish and reptiles; Tumatauenga, the father of fierce human beings; Haumiatikitiki, the father of non-cultivated foods; and Rongomatane, the father of cultivated food. They and all other beings lived in darkness until the sons of Rangi and Papa took action.

First, the father of fierce beings decided to kill Heaven and Earth, but the other sons prevailed and agreed to merely separate them. Only one son, the father of wind and storms disagreed with this plan and later exacted his revenge for his brother's actions. He followed his father into the sky and sent storms to punish the rest of his brothers.

The father of fierce men later devoured all his earthbound brothers, but since Tawhirimatea remained in the sky, he was safe and continues exacting his revenge on fierce men for allowing the separation of his parents.

Answer: True

When the Naba Zid-Wende created earth, nothing was in existence. In order for time to exist they first created the sun, for a time of business and the moon for a time of rest. Time then followed as a result.

The earth began, covered in fire, but the Naba Zid-Wende blew on it to cool it to make it safe for the animals and people that they intended to create. Reluctantly, the fire migrated inward to the depths of the earth.

When the Naba Zid-Wende created man, they blew their breath into him to create a soul. At one time, the sky hung so low that people could simply reach out to it and obtain their food, but fire escaped, with the aid of man, and the sky withdrew in pain. From that time onward man had to cultivate his own food on the earth.

Answer: Norse

When fire and light (from the south) met up with cold and water (from the north), a giant named Ymir was born. From his left armpit the first man and woman were born. Later he was killed by the gods Odin, Vili and Ve, and his body was used to create earth.

From his blood came the seas and the lakes, his flesh became the earth itself, and from his bones came the mountains with his teeth providing the rocks. His skull was made into the dome of the sky, and they set a dwarf at each of the four corners to hold it high above the earth.

Answer: Gaia

According to the Theogony which was written by Hesiod the Earth was called Gaia, the great mother of all, while Erebus was darkness. The Abyss was representative of a bottomless pit and Chaos was a formless state of existence or nothingness that preceded creation.

The Theogony was a poem written by Hesiod as he made an effort to explain the birth and/or genealogy of the gods. This work was written somewhere around 700 B.C. and what makes it unique over other "theogonies" is that they generally attempt to show how a king descended from a god, thus demonstrating a king's assumed authority. The Theogony by Hesiod offers no such historical explanation of a king imbued with godlike attributes.

Hesiod actually aimed for just the opposite approach; affirming the god Zeus as being above all others, whether god, king or man.