Editing Creation myth (section)

===Emergence===
In emergence myths, humanity emerges from another world into the one they currently inhabit. The previous world is often considered the womb of the [[Earth goddess|earth mother]], and the process of emergence is likened to the act of giving birth. The role of midwife is usually played by a female deity, like the spider woman of several mythologies of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Male characters rarely figure into these stories, and scholars often consider them in counterpoint to male-oriented creation myths, like those of the ''ex nihilo'' variety.<ref name=Leeming2005>{{harvnb|Leeming|chapter="Creation"|2011a}}</ref>

[[File:Sipapu (small round hole) in floor of ruined kiva in Mesa Verde National Park.jpg|thumb|upright|left|In the [[kiva]] of both [[Ancestral Puebloans|ancient]] and present-day [[Pueblo people]]s, the [[sipapu]] is a small round hole in the floor that represents the portal through which the ancestors [[Hopi mythology#Four Worlds|first emerged]]. (The larger hole is a fire pit, here in a ruin from the [[Mesa Verde National Park]].)]]

Emergence myths commonly describe the creation of people and/or supernatural beings as a staged ascent or [[metamorphosis]] from nascent forms through a series of subterranean worlds to arrive at their current place and form. Often the passage from one world or stage to the next is impelled by inner forces, a process of germination or gestation from earlier, embryonic forms.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|2010|pages=21–24}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Long|1963}}</ref> The genre is most commonly found in Native American cultures where the myths frequently link the final emergence of people from a hole opening to the underworld to stories about their subsequent migrations and eventual settlement in their current homelands.<ref>{{harvnb|Wheeler-Voegelin|Moore|1957|pages=66–73}}</ref>