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Flood myths are found in many cultures and often involve a global flood caused by deities. The stories may be based on memory of natural disasters or extinction events, explain ancient ruins, or encourage belief in a higher power. The story of Noah’s Ark is the most famous flood myth, while Indian and Tarahumara mythology also have similar accounts. Experts are unsure why flood myths are so prevalent, but they provide insight into ancient cultures and the unpredictable patterns of the natural world.
A flood myth is a type of origin story common to many cultures around the world. In most versions of the story, much of the earth’s population is wiped out in a global flood caused by one or more deities. Some experts suggest that flood myths may be based on human memory of extinction events or natural disasters, used to explain ancient ruins, or designed to encourage the belief that survivors were chosen by a higher power to be saved.
Probably the most famous flood myth is the story of Noah’s Ark, from Judeo-Christian texts. In this account, God got angry that most humans sin and are not godly. He has Noah, an honest and devoted man, build a huge boat and fill it with his family and two of every kind of animal. After Noah does this, God kills everything else on the planet in a flood, leaving Noah’s family and animals as the only survivors. Being pleased with Noah and his children, God decreed that he would never again send a flood.
Indian mythology provides an account very similar to the story of Noah, concerning a man named Manu. As he saved the life of a small fish, the fish informs Manu that a great flood is coming and tells him to build a boat. Manu does it and manages to survive together with his sister, with whom he repopulates the world.
The Tarahumara flood myth provides an interesting explanation of why maize is so important to Central American culture and provides a variation on the “chosen people” story. After God sent a flood to kill men as punishment for waging war, he sent three men and three women to repopulate the planet. God sent them three types of corn to plant, which they were to keep forever. All Tarahumaras are believed to have descended from the original six.
While there are hundreds of versions of the flood myth, experts remain puzzled as to exactly why they’re so prevalent around the world. Some suggest that the actual floods may be the origin of many of the stories, but some cultures that don’t live near water still have a flood myth. Another possibility is that a global event, such as a comet striking the earth, caused a massive flash flood, even in normally dry places. This may explain the suddenness of the floods in so many stories.
In ancient times, nature was considered by many to be an instrument of the gods and a signal of their moods. In most stories, the Flood comes after a war or sin has taken over most of the population, and is usually explained by saying that the gods were angry or disillusioned with humans. Actual weather events could easily be interpreted as the rapid fury of a deity, while what caused the anger could have been added after the fact.
Flood myths are a fascinating means of studying the origins of mythology in cultures around the world. The fact that nearly all ancient cultures and religions possess at least one flood myth seems to indicate that at some point in history something went wrong with the earth’s waters. We may never know the true physical origin of the many stories, but the tales themselves provide an insight into the ancient world, both of the cultures that invented the stories and the unpredictable patterns of the natural world.
