crea

The Creation of the World
By D. M. Urquidi

Tercer Congreso Internacional de Mayistas Presented at the

on July 15, 1995 at
Chetumal, Quintana Roo, México.

Apollonius [of Tyana] slept on the ground then rose at midnight and sang hymn to the ray of light suspended aloft in the air as if it were midday.

..... Philostratus, III - XXXIII, p. 305

At Ariminum, a light like day blazed out at night. In many parts of Italy, three moons were visible at night. (BC. 223)

..... Dio, XII - Zonaras, 8 - 20, p. 45 - 47

The young boy saved the world by shooting down eight of the nine suns in the heavens that were burning up the world

..... Chinese Folk Tale

The above quotations above tell us that there was a disaster. They are from only three of the many stories from around the world that describe in great detail, a series of meteorites that made contact with the earth. However, since most of these stories have a religious or a mythological base, astronomy is not considered very often. And even then, when an author feels that there is an astronomical basis for this event, there are too few details in any single myth to substantiate it. Monuments and codices found in the Americas, are largely undeciphered. The work that has been accomplished is long and difficult because the histories of the native populations are not connected to or comparable with any other culture as in Asian, European and African histories. Within these pages, we will evaluate myths from all parts of the world in order to determine the original story and the major destruction that occurred in one specific place.

There has never been in our life time a meteorite as destructive as has been described in creation stories. Nor does anyone today remember the awe inspiring beauty of Halley's comet when it came in 1911. There are a few written texts, like LIFE Magazine to tell us this comet had a tail like a peacock; however, few persons are alive today who have actually seen that phenomena. We are fortunate that we have for a comparison a Mayan and a Eurasian star chart. These two charts together give us a small clue as to a partial identification of the travelers who carried the tale from land to land.

Comets are breathtaking and colorful phenomena. But it is usually only the astronomers who see these awe inspiring displays. The most recent appearance of Halley's Comet was a fizzle. One could locate the comet during the evening or early morning hours in the proper constellation of the zodiac. But it was an insignificant speck in the heavens and in theory, it was obvious to everyone that our grandparents exaggerated. Today, with modern scientific background and knowledge, we have more accurate information. The proof of Halley's through technology was seen in 1986 by telescope. However, once the word spread that it was difficult to see without a telescope, few people bothered to search the heavens for it.

The men who survived and witnessed the ancient meteorite disaster, and who could write, considered it imperative that men should remember that the heaven-sent stones caused much grief. Yet this rationale too, falls by the wayside when scientific methods are used to determine its accuracy. Some of the men and women who survived, left the country of their origin and sailed across the seas to safer lands. In their wake, they left two items: the story of the catastrophe and the magic of primitive. Although many manuscripts and texts have been searched in an effort to find out exactly when this star fell, there are so many variations of the story that it has been thought to be an impossible task.

Theories have emerged: the land of Mu was destroyed by it; technologiesthe island of Atlantis disappeared when it fell; or even more wild, there were beings that came to Earth from outer space. Since most of the descriptions were found in different countries around the world, the location of the fallout is not readily apparent. And because most of the versions available to us are in mythic histories of the various lands, the meteorite that descended from the skies has been thought to be only similar creation stories but purely make-believe. This similar-mindedness has been called independent invention by anthropologists.

Nevertheless, the remains of this particular meteorite have been located and its debris has been recognized as a single event. When it fell to earth, its dust peppered Alaska and the southern United States. When the fall-out reached the Carolinas, the largest fragments fell into the Ocean at a place called the North American Basin (22.30 N, 61.40 W) and created the Puerto Rican Trench that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean all the way across Mexico to Baja California. These fragments, on account of the extreme heat, then exploded out of the cold waters of the Atlantic Deep. As the waters boiled, the shattered fragments of the meteorite splattered over a large area, (just as hot grease in a frying pan). The largest chunks sped to the North Atlantic, the Caribbean, to the mainland of Mexico while smaller ones flew over the mountains to the southwestern Argentinean Pampas, skipping "like a pebble in a pond" due to the curvature of the earth. Are these events mere suppositions also or can they be substantiated by other stories found around the world?

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