Sunday, November 15, 2009

Great Flood Legends Around The World

By Kavi Saphala

Most of us have heard the biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood. This story has carried both moral concepts and legend throughout history. Noah, the Ark, and the Flood is only one of hundreds of stories told around the world for hundreds and thousands of years. These are just a few of the stories:

Cherokee tradition tells the story of a dog that ran back and forth along the banks of the river for days, howling and staring at the water. As its master tried to force the dog into his house the dog spoke, telling its master of the forthcoming calamity. The only hope was to throw it into the water so that a boat could be fetched. The man did as advised, and the family was saved from the tragic flood, surviving to repopulate the earth.

The Mattoles in Northern California have the story of a horrific flood, when their forefathers took refuge on Taylor Peak. Californias speak of a time when the whole country was flooded, except for Mount Diablo and Reed Peak.

One day a prophet living near the Gila Valley of the Pimas was warned by an eagle of an impending flood, but the prophet laughed at the idea. A second, then a third warning came, and still he did not listen. With a sudden thunderous sound came a wall of water. Only one man survived, by the name of Szenkha.

One of legends in Mexico says that the first age, the age of water, ended with a great flood. Everything perished except one man and one woman of the giant race. Many villages share the same story, with paintings of a boat floating in the waters carrying one man and one woman.

Many of these stories were shared in public domain books such as: Atlantis: the Antediluvian World by Ignatius Donnelly; Ancient Athens: its History, Topography, and Remains by Thomas Henry Dyer; The Mammoth and the Flood by Henry Hoyle Howorth.

With so many stories of great floods we can only wonder if all these legends point to the same Cataclysmic event? Plato gave us the story of Atlantis being wiped out by a major flood, with a large civilization disappearing in one day and one night. Storytellers have carried forth an amazing legend of events that has resounded around the world.

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