Before reading the excerpt from Popol Vuh, I had no knowledge about the Mayan people or their beliefs. Starting with a clean slate, I immediately began comparing the Mayan Mythology to my own beliefs about the creation of life from the Bible. One thing I found interesting about Mayan Mythology is that the gods made several attempts to create humans. In the Bible, God successfully creates humans the first time. In the Mayan Mythology, the gods destroy their creations when they are not satisfied with them. At the same time, however, the purpose of humans in both stories is the same. Both the Mayan gods and God created humans so that they would be worshiped.
I have grown up in a family full of realists, and I think that has a lot to do with why I can’t take this story seriously. As soon as the animals and objects that belonged to the wooden people came to life and started speaking, I felt myself pull away from the story. I couldn’t help but completely write the story off as fiction. Once I began to feel that the story was unbelievable and unrealistic, I was no longer as interested. This may also be due to the fact that I have been taught to believe the Bible and might automatically discard anything that stands against it.
Great graphic! As for taking mythology seriously, one takes it seriously as a metaphor for humans trying to figure out what it means to be human. One is not really intended to take the stories for literature truth. I don't think the Popul Vuh is being set up against the Bible. It is possible to remain constant to one's faith and yet still consider the faiths of others as a way of learning about how different peoples and groups try to understand the world they live in. Also in the study of fiction, it is important to consider that it is through fiction and exaggeration that people work with difficulty truths that are either to difficult or too complicated to state directly.
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