Supernatural Disasters in Myths and Legends
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| Supernatural Disasters
Natural Disasters in Myths and Legends By Jodi Haynes and Christine Harvie Natural disasters have occurred throughout history. With the technology we have today we are sometimes able to predict the occurrence of these disasters and evacuate people from the area in order to save lives but they still have an enormous impact when they occur in areas where people live or work. It is easy to imagine how much larger the affect of natural disasters would have been on people living in the past. Disasters would occur with less warning and the devastation would be greater. The impact of natural disasters is seen through the stories they told; in their myths and legends and in historical accounts. The enormous impact of these disasters is seen in the way they are portrayed. They are featured in stories of creation or the predicted destruction of the world. They are attributed to the supernatural powers of the gods or legendary heroes. They are given immense respect. The myths from cultures around the world show us how people living in many places around the world and at various times in history viewed these occurrences and explained their cause. G  reek mythology has several explanations for volcanoes. Typhon, a fire breathing monster, half human and half snake, with a hundred heads is responsible for the volcano Mt. Etna. Typhon challenged the Greek gods. Zeus, the leader of the gods, was the only one who would fight the monster. He crushed typhoon under Mt. Etna and he remains underneath the mountain breathing fire. Of this same mountain the Romans said the fire and smoke came from the forge of Vulcan, who was a smith and the god of fire. In Greek mythology the Smith god is called Hephaestus but the location of his forge is the same.
Myths about volcanoes are seen in every culture that lived near a volcano. In Hawaii the volcano is the home of Pele the goddess of fire. She tried to build a home on each of the other islands in turn but each time her sister, Na-maka-o-ka-ha'i, put out the flames. On the largest island in Hawaii she found a mountain tall enough to dig a hole where the water her sister sent could not put out the fire. In New Zealand Mount Tarawera is said to be the home of a man eating demon who was imprisoned inside the mountain by Ngatoro. He slept there for many years but burst from the mountain to punish people who had not upheld the proper morals. The Klamath natives have a legend about two chiefs fighting. Llao, chief of the Below World, and Skell, chief of the Above World were at two different mountains. Llao was at Mount Mazama and Skell was at Mount Shasta. They threw rocks and fire at each other. Llao was injured and fell back into the mountain. A huge hole was left which filled with water and became Crater Lake. N  atural disasters play a large and important role in Indian mythology. It is said that when the world ends it will be the result of many of these devastating natural events. The myth states “Destruction is preceded by the most terrible portents. After a drought lasting one hundred years, seven suns appear in the skies and drink up all the remaining water. Fire, swept by the wind, consumes the earth and then the underworld. Clouds looking like elephants garlanded with lightning then appear and, bursting suddenly, release rain that falls continuously for twelve years, submerging the whole world.” This is not unlike other myths and predictions in other civilizations. What makes this myth particularly unique is that this ultimate destruction is brought about by the savior of mankind. The people of India believe that before the world is destroyed, all will have had to come to chaos. The only way to bring peace to the world is for Brahma to destroy the world, using those particular disasters natural disasters. Brahma is also the god of creation, in the Hindu religion, and it is afterwards stated that he will recreate the world using the reverse methods. This makes it unique because it shows that the Hindu people do not view natural disasters as things brought about by evil, but instead they are that of renewal and rebirth.
T  he Norse also have a myth that, to them, explains earthquakes. Among the Norse Gods, there is the mischievous God Loki. In this particular myth Loki attends a supper with the other Gods, and gets himself banished from their order. Loki is expelled from the realm of the Gods and imprisoned in a cavern beneath the earth, where he was fastened to a rock in the center of the cave. Then the Goddess Skadi put a serpent above Loki’s upturned head, so that the venom would drip down onto his face. But Loki’s wife Sigyn came to Loki’s aid and held a bowl above his face to catch the drops of venom. It was only when Sigyn had to turn and empty the bowl that a single drop of venom would touch Loki’s face, and then he would twist and shudder with such pain that it caused the greatest earthquakes in the entire world. It seems fitting that for a people who’s lives are so close to the earth itself, that their explanation for such disasters as earthquakes would be something as horrible as this.
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