The Similarities of Flood Myths

Like most of the myths that we have looked at, flood myths also have universal themes in common and then differences that can be seen. These differences usually indicate differences among cultures which can also be seen based on their region of origins.

This week I looked at the flood myth of the Cameroon from Africa, the Scandinavian flood myth from Europe, the Malay Peninsula flood myth from Asia and lastly the Netsilik Eskimo’s flood myth from North America. The Cameroon flood myth tells of a girl grinding flour who allows a hungry goat to lick it. The grateful goat in return tells her of a coming flood and her and her brother are able to escape the flood. Unable to find mates as the sole survivors of the flood, the goat returns and tell them they can wed if they put a hoe handle and clay pot on their roof to signify they are related. The Scandinavian myth tell of thee giants that slay the great ice giant. Icy water comes from the ice giants wounds and flood everything. Only one giant escapes the flood on a boat with his wife and children and the ice giant’s body became the land that we live on today. The Malay Peninsula’s flood myth says that the land we live on is a skin covering water and that long ago a deity broke it up and the world was flooded and destroyed aside from one man and woman that the deity saved by placing in a ship. After the flood the woman was so upset about not having children that the deity allowed her to conceive a son from one calf and a daughter from the other which is why offspring can’t marry. Lastly, the Netsilik Eskimo’s flood myth says that a flood killed all animals except for two Shaman. They survived on a boat and eventually mated. Their children included the world’s first women.

As we can see from these flood myths and other flood myths, there are some similarities. Perhaps the biggest similarity is the contrast of death and life in flood myths. A lot of flood myths have to do with destruction where only 2 to a handful of people survive. Those that perish usually did something wrong or wicked and those that are saved usually did something redeeming or have admirable qualities. It is also true that a lot of flood myths involve animals being saved along with the people being saved. It makes sense that these would be common themes in flood myths since they are relevant to every culture.

There are also characteristics unique to different cultures which is why we see variations in myths. As stated above, a lot of flood myths touch upon animals being saved. In some flood myths however, the animals are saved by people and in others they are recreated by the powers that be after the flooding incident. This tells us a lot about a culture. It tells us that cultures with a myth where people save the animals feel that it is people’s responsibility to look after and respect animals. It also says that cultures that have myths where the gods save or reproduce the animals, feel that the gods put the animals here for them and they look after them. As seen in the flood myths above, different cultures also have different ideals on mating and sexuality which shows in their myths. The Cameroon myth allows siblings to mate but makes them to things to show they are related. The Malay Peninsula’s flood myth on the other hand vividly illustrates exactly why siblings can’t mate and the Eskimo’s flood myth tells of two men mating after the flood to create women. This tells us about individual culture’s practices, hierarchies and standards.

As we can see, flood myths (and all myths) are important because they help to illustrate answers to unknown questions but also allow us to see the ways in which we are similar and dissimilar from one another. They also help to tell us about other cultures in a way that may not be known otherwise.