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A world egg or cosmic egg is a mythological motif found in the creation myths of many cultures and civilizations. Typically, the world egg is a beginning of some sort, and the universe or some primordial being comes into existence by "hatching" from the egg. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... Image File history File links Genesis_egg. ... // For the Derek Sherinian album, see Mythology (Derek Sherinian album). ... In literature, a motif is a recurring element or theme that has symbolic significance in the story. ... Creation beliefs and stories describe how the universe, the Earth, life, and/or humanity came into being. ... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Cities are a major hallmark of human civilization. ... Universe is a word derived from the Old French univers, which in turn comes form the Latin roots unus (one) and versus (a form of vertere, to turn). Physicists concept of the Universe is motivated[] by the attempt to describe the whole of space-time, including all matter and energy... In most birds and reptiles, an apple (Latin ovum) is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. ...

Chinese mythology

In the myth of Pangu, developed by Taoist monks hundreds of years after Lao Zi, the universe began as an egg. A god named Pangu, born inside the egg, broke it into two halves: the upper half became the sky, while the lower half became the earth. As the god grew taller, the sky and the earth grew thicker and were separated further. Finally Pangu died and his body parts became different parts of the earth. In later Chinese mythology, Pangu (盤古; pinyin: pan2 gu3; also PanGu, PanKu, Pan Guo) was the first living being and the creator of all. ... For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the conditioning of mind and body in favor of the spirit. ... Lao Zi (Chinese 老子, also spelled Laozi, Lao Tzu, or Lao Tse) is a major figure in Chinese philosophy whose historical existence is debated. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

Egyptian mythology

In the original myth concerning the Ogdoad, the Milky Way arose from the waters as a mound of dirt, which was deified as Hathor. Ra was contained within an egg laid upon this mound by a celestial bird. In the earliest version of this myth, the bird is a goose (it is not explained where the goose originates). However, after the rise of the cult of Thoth, the egg was said to have been a gift from Thoth and laid by an ibis, the bird with which he was associated. In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad are the eight deities worshipped in Hermopolis. ... The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), sometimes referred to simply as the Galaxy), is a barred spiral galaxy of the Local Group. ... Statue of Hathor (Luxor Museum) In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Egyptian for house of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was seen as the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow. ... Genera see text Goose (plural geese) is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the familyAnatidae. ... , or , or [1] Thoth (Ramesseum, Luxor) Thoth, a Greek name derived from the Egyptian * (djih-how-tee) (written by Egyptians as ) was considered one of the most important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. ... Genera Threskiornis Pseudibis Thaumatibis Geronticus Nipponia Bostrychia Theristicus Cercibis Mesembrinibis Phimosus Eudocimus Plegadis Lophotibis Ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae. ...

Finnish mythology

In the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, there is a myth of the world being created from the fragments of an egg laid by a diving duck on the knee of Ilmatar, goddess of the air: The Kalevala is an epic poem which Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish folk lore in the 19th century. ... A national epic is an epic poem or similar work which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation; not necessarily a nation-state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with aspirations to independence or autonomy. ... Genera Marmaronetta Netta (including Rhodonessa) Aythya † See also dabbling duck The 16 species of diving duck, also known as pochards, make up a sub-group of the biological subfamily Anatinae, which itself is part of the diverse and very large duck, goose and swan family, Anatidae. ... In Finnish mythology, Ilmatar or Luonnotar was the virgin goddess of the heavens. ... Statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of the agriculture A goddess is a female deity, in contrast with a male deity known as a god. Many cultures have goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger pantheon that includes both the conventional genders and in some cases...

One egg's lower half transformed

And became the earth below,

And its upper half transmuted

And became the sky above;

From the yolk the sun was made,

Light of day to shine upon us;

From the white the moon was formed,

Light of night to gleam above us;

All the colored brighter bits

Rose to be the stars of heaven

And the darker crumbs changed into

Clouds and cloudlets in the sky.

Sanskrit scriptures and Vedanta

The earliest ideas of "Egg-shaped Cosmos" comes from some of the sanskrit scriptures. The Sanskrit term for it is Brahmanda (Brahm means 'Cosmos' or 'expanding', Anda means 'Egg'). Certain puranas such as brahmanda purana speak of this in detail.

See also

• Origin belief
• Cosmic egg
• Phanes

This article is becoming very long. ... Mythology A world egg or cosmic egg is a mythological motif used in the creation myths of many cultures and civilizations. ... Phanes is a Greek deity, hatched from the World-Egg by Kronos and Ananke, and is the primeval deity of procreation and the generation of new life. ...

External links

• Creation
• The Cosmic Egg Creation Myths and Total Solar Eclipses How Cosmic Egg creation myths were most probably inspired by total solar eclipse phenomena

References

• Eino Friberg, trans., The Kalevala: Epic of the Finnish People. Otava Publishing Company, Ltd., 4th ed., p. 44. (1998) ISBN 951-1-10137-4
• Elias Lönnrot, Kalevala. (1849)