Parallels between Old and New World religions

The following are numerous parallels between Middle Eastern and Mesoamerican cultures in particular, representing primarily religious and mythological iconography, doctrines and rituals. Oddly enough, there is no hard, scientific evidence showing diffusionism between Old and New World cultures of the past 5,000 or so years that explains these correspondences.

The explanations for these similarities are therefore confined to a few possibilities: One is that some of these commonalities were brought with tribes as they migrated, very possible with such concepts as the “sacred mountain” or myths revolving around the sun, moon and other celestial bodies or nature-worshipping aspects, such as the cross representing the four directions. The myths would change, naturally, as the peoples traveled, because the skies would look different, and the local species of flora and fauna would change from place to place and era to era.

Another apparent explanation is that these religious and mythological characteristics are hardwired into the human brain, as an aspect of the “God part” of the brain. Or, at the very least, the ability to think in this manner is certainly part of the mass human experience, as, if one human brain can come up with these ideas, then another can as well.

Then there’s the “100th monkey theory” pointing out that development in tool-making, for example, seems to spread at roughly the same time in various parts of the world, with no apparent physical link between cultures.

In any case, the parallels are real, startling, profound and fascinating.

Bearded “Semitic” men depicted on stelae
Gods on crosses
Cross as a sacred symbol
Dying and resurrected or reborn grain gods arising out of the underworld/ground
Gods’ body parts hung on a tree
Creation myths
Defeat of a father’s murderer
Slaying a monster to create the world
Creation via a god speaking “the Word”
Concept of order out of chaos
Gods, heroes and Orion
Gods whose bones are ground before being resurrected
Sun and moon as twin gods, heroes or eyes of a god or gods
Religious organizations with priests and building dedications
Councils of gods
New Year ceremonies
Kindling the yearly “New Fire”
Stretching the cord of the four directions
Ritual processions
Purification and baptism
365-day year consisting of 360 plus five “empty” days added to the end
Raising of the “World Tree”
Rebirth and renewal of the king
Sacrifice as renewal of life
Fish symbolizing birth and rebirth
Gods as fishermen
Fish and grain myths
King lists
Symbolism in genealogies
Ancestor veneration
King as divine or servant of God(s)
Sacrifice of the sacred king proxy
King as guardian and gardener
First man/first father myths
King as axis mundi
King as the World Tree
Pillars of the cosmos
Sacrifice of the tree
Milky Way as the sacred tree of life
World Tree of Life as a cross
Serpent worship
Supernatural or divine scribes
Scribal practices in common
Cardinal point myths
Wombs of Earth and Sky
Uterine symbolism
Emergence from caves myths
Winged sun disc glyphs
Moon goddess myths
Seeded earth symbolism
Tree of Life as mother
Earth separated from the sky by a divine figure holding up the latter while standing on the former
Primordial mound of creation/mountain
Primordial waters of creation
Temples or other sacred sites flooded with creation waters
Nine Lords of the Underworld
Dog as the guide to the underworld
Deceased as stars
Field of Reeds as point of creation
Wheeled funerary objects
Incense and horned altars
Images of victors standing or sitting on the backs of vanquished
Banners as symbols of divinity
Depictions of rulers grasping captives by hair, about to strike
Images of captives with jaws removed
Flower ear ornaments
Decapitation/dismemberment of the grain god

Egyptian skybearers

Mayan skybearers

Regarding the term “Semitic,” which is used here to describe a type and as a reflection that I am quoting the original author’s work discussed in this thread, a book by Mormon writer Diane Wirth, it should be noted that neither Wirth nor the Mormon Church came up with this designation. Indeed, it was noticed shortly after the conquest during the 16th century that there were stelae with “Jews” on them, as they were then described.

Mayan gods fish from their boat, much like the Christian motif of Jesus and his disciples as “fishers.”

Combined with the observation of many other Mesoamerican religious and social characteristics similar or nearly identical to those in the Judeo-Christian doctrines and traditions, these images led many explorers, researchers and scholars of the past to submit that Israelites, Hebrews and Jews had made their way to the Americas, leaving behind their religion.

This notion was fleshed out for decades by many people, who sought to prove the “Lost Tribes” had made it to the Americas. As stated by William Stiebing in Uncovering the Past: A History of Archaeology (Oxford University Press, 1993; p. 174, etc.):

…one of the most popular theories credited American antiquities to the “Lost Tribes of Israel.”

If anything, this “Lost Tribes in America” literature led to the creation of the Mormon Church, not the other way around.

Note that my work refutes the religious arguments of the Mormon Church vis-a-vis the “Lost Tribes” making it to the Americas and a historical Jesus Christ “walking the Americas.”

It should be noted that the conquering Spanish were completely dumbstruck by the abundant use of the cross in Central America, and they made the typical apology of the prescient devil preceding them to put Christ’s symbols into the heads of the heathens.

Moreover, the natives of Mesoamerica were also so struck by the presence of their sacred cross symbol among the Spaniards that the Aztecs in particular believed Cortez was their god Quetzalcoatl returning to reign under this sign. In fact, it was significantly because of this parallel of the cross that the Spanish were given such access to the Mexican rulers, leading to the eventual conquest.

One major reason there are so many parallels between the Old and New Worlds is that many of the rituals, rites and myths revolve around our natural environment, including the sun, moon, planets, stars, constellations, wind, water, foliage and fauna. The differences between cultures frequently are based on location and era, with environmental factors contributing to myths and traditions.