An examination of anthropological data in the form of myths and legends from various less complex societies than our own, regarding the origin of death, reveals several major themes. In the forbidden fruit theme, disobedience to divine commandments results in the death of the offenders and their descendants. In the delayed or wrong message theme, God's message giving immortality to humanity is forgotten, garbled, or delayed by the messenger. In the molting theme, human beings never receive the property of shedding their skin as do some reptiles, thus losing immortality. In the moon theme, humans lose their ability to come back to life as does the new moon. Other themes on the origin of death focus on the banana, overpopulation, anger, greed and jealousy. In the various myths discussed, death is never discussed as a necessary natural condition for humankind. Nevertheless, for these primitive cultures, the myths account in a reasonable manner for death continuing on earth today.
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