摘 要

神话是远古人民表现对自然及文化现象的理解与想象的故事,是人类童年时期的产物，文学的先河，也是远古人类的智慧结晶。创世神话则体现了古代人类朴素的世界观，是当地文化的重要源头之一。

本论文通过比较神话学理论和跨文化比较理论，探讨中国和北欧创世神话中共同的主题和各自的特点。比较结果表明，两地创世神话在宇宙起源和人类诞生一些方面有些许相似之处，如二者都体现了尸体化生的主题，但在某些内容上差异深远，如相较于北欧神话中，以奥丁等男性神作为创世神，中国的女娲造人神话更多体现早期母权社会的影响和对女性神的尊敬和崇拜。但也由于神话产生的地理环境和时代环境的不同，两地的创世神话存在较大差异。本论文旨在通过对中国与北欧创世神话的对比，进行历史和文化方面的分析，探究双方对宇宙和人类起源观念的异同，了解到双方文化的差异与相通之处，希望有利于两地区间的友谊与合作。

关键词：中国创世神话；北欧创世神话；比较研究；异同点

Abstract

Mythology is a series of stories of ancient people’s understanding and imagination of natural and cultural phenomena. And it is also the product of human childhood, a precedent for literature, and the wisdom of ancient humans. The creation myth reflects the simple world view of ancient humans and is one of the important sources of local culture.

This paper explores the common themes and their characteristics in Chinese and Nordic creation myths by comparative mythology theory and cross-cultural comparative theory. The comparison shows that the creation myths of the two places are somewhat similar in terms of the origin of the universe and the birth of human beings. For example, both of them embody the theme of cadaveric metaplasia. But there are far-reaching differences in certain content. Compared to the Nordic mythology with male gods, such as Odin, as the creation gods, the Chinese myths about the creation of the Nuwa reflect the influence of the early maternal society and the respect and worship for female gods. Because of differences of the geographical environment and era environment of the myths, creation myths of the two places are quite different. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the history and culture of China and the Nordic creation myths, explore similarities and differences of the origins of the universe and humans, understand differences and similarities between two cultures, and hope to benefit two regions’ friendship and cooperation.

Key Words: Chinese creation myth; Nordic creation myth; Comparative study; Similarities and differences

Contents

1Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..1

2 Comparison of the origin of Chinese and Nordic Myths………………………........2

2.1 Origin of the Chinese Myths…………………………………………………....2

2.2 Origin of the Nordic Myths..................................................................................3

2.3 Differences and similarities..................................................................................4

3 Comparison of the origin of the universe....................................................................5

3.1 Origin of the universe in Chinese Myths.............................................................5

3.2 Origin of the universe in Nordic Myths...............................................................6

3.3 Differences and similarities..................................................................................8

4 Comparison ofthe birth of human.............................................................................10

4.1 Birth of human in Chinese Myths......................................................................10

4.2 Birth of human in Nordic Myths........................................................................11

4.3 Differences and similarities................................................................................12

5 Conclusion.................................................................................................................14

References....................................................................................................................15

Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................16

Comparison Between Nordic and Chinese Creation Myths

1 Introduction

As one of the first spiritual cultural products in the history of human culture, the creation myth condenses ancestors' primitive minds and the most primitive understanding of the origin of the universe and the origin of human beings(Tian, 2019).Western scholar Fraser believes that myth is an organic component of culture, which expresses the basic values of a nation or a culture in the form of symbolic narrative stories(Sun,2014). Some Chinese scholars also consider that through comparative research on the myths of different nationalities, one can glimpse the similarities and differences of the deep cultures of various nationalities. When the myths of the East and the West are born, the two places are in the ancient times. China and the Western world are far apart, and there is a vast ocean between them. It should be assumed that there is no possibility of communication between them(Sun,2014). Surprisingly, the two have a lot in common in mythology, especially in creation myth, some plots have reached incredible similarity, such as some mountains and rivers in the world are both transformed from different body parts of God.

At present, there are many studies on the comparison between Chinese and Western creation myths in the academic world, but most of them focus on the comparative study between Chinese and Greek mythology, and there are few studies on Nordic mythology, let alone the comparison between Nordic and Chinese creation myths. As one of the main mythological systems in the Western world, Nordic mythology is not only a unique mythological system in Scandinavia, but also has a profound influence on the entire Western world. It is now also commonly seen in some literary and film works, such as the Marvel series. Therefore, the comparative study of Chinese and Nordic creation myths is an effective way to understand the cultural similarities and differences between the two sides, which is very meaningful.

This paper is mainly based on comparative mythology theory and cross-cultural comparative theory to conduct a comparative analysis of Chinese and Nordic creation myths. It examines the differences between Chinese and Western cultures reflected in Chinese mythology and Nordic mythology, trying to find the profound reasons for these differences, while digging up some interesting similarities between the myths of the two places, and analyzing the way of thinking between the East and the West(Samara,2013). It is of great significance to promote the communication and development of the cultures of the two sides.

2 Comparison of origin of Chinese and Nordic Myths

According to the classification of mythology, the creation myth is an important part of the content of myth(Garner amp; Alan,2015). Before comparing and analyzing the two different creation myths, it is very necessary to understand the sources of two myths, which can provide sufficient data support.