Page 190 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock
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Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
Tezpi and his family went forth from their ark, multiplied and
repopulated the earth.
10
Memories of a terrible flood resulting from divine displeasure are also
preserved in the Popol Vuh. According to this archaic text, the Great God
decided to create humanity soon after the beginning of time. It was an
experiment and he began it with ‘figures made of wood that looked like
men and talked like men’. These creatures fell out of favour because
‘they did not remember their Creator’:
And so a flood was brought about by the Heart of Heaven; a great flood was
formed which fell on the heads of the wooden creatures ... A heavy resin fell from
the sky ... the face of the earth was darkened and a black rain began to fall by day
and by night ... The wooden figures were annihilated, destroyed, broken up and
killed.’
11
Not everyone perished, however. Like the Aztecs and the
Mechoacanesecs, the Maya of the Yucatan and Guatemala believed that a
Noah figure and his wife, ‘the Great Father and the Great Mother’, had
survived the flood to populate the land anew, thus becoming the
ancestors of all subsequent generations of humanity.
12
South America
Moving to South America, we encounter the Chibcas of central Colombia.
According to their myths, they had originally lived as savages, without
laws, agriculture or religion. Then one day there appeared among them
an old man of a different race. He wore a thick long beard and his name
was Bochica. He taught the Chibcas how to build huts and live together in
society.
His wife, who was very beautiful and named Chia, appeared after him,
but she was wicked and enjoyed thwarting her husband’s altruistic
efforts. Since she could not overcome his power directly, she used
magical means to cause a great flood in which the majority of the
population died. Bochica was very angry and exiled Chia from the earth to
the sky, where she became the moon given the task of lighting the
nights. He also caused the waters of the flood to dissipate and brought
down the few survivors from the mountains where they had taken refuge.
Thereafter he gave them laws, taught them to cultivate the land and
instituted the worship of the sun with periodic festivals, sacrifices and
pilgrimages. He then divided the power to govern among two chiefs and
spent the remainder of his days on earth living in quiet contemplation as
10 Lenormant, writing in Contemporary Review, cited in Atlantis: The Antediluvian World,
p. 99.
11 Popol Vuh, p. 90.
12 Ibid., p. 93.
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