Mythology
A myth is a story about the remote past which is considered true within the society in which it is told.[1] Creation myths take place before the world reached its present form in the most remote time – In Chinese mythology once up on a time in China the oldest village in chaina 'xi an' the ghost existing in this village their name is 'ving chan gon tai chi' their have one head raund clean and small hare in their head long nose crepy smile small eyes long ear and golden earrings downside of head long and red colour strings like red tenticals they manipulate human body and they have teleportation power telekinesis power the flying in air they can immediate blue and purple light they eat body of and animal and they are very very powerful the easily defect other ghost,which.
Content of myths
[change | change source]All cultures have developed their own mythology over time. Mythology includes the legends of their history, their religions, their stories of how the world was created, and their heroes. These stories have a great symbolic power, and this may be a major reason why they survive as long as they do, sometimes for thousands of years.
The main characters in myths are usually gods, demigods, or supernatural humans,[2][3][4] while legends generally feature humans as their main characters.[2] Many exceptions or combinations exist, as in the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid.[5] Myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests and closely linked to religion or spirituality.[2] In fact, many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths to be true accounts of their remote past.[2][3][6][7]
Creation myths take place in some early primordial age when the world had not reached its present form.[6][8] Other myths explain how the society's customs, institutions and taboos were established and sanctified. A separate space is created for folktales,[2][6][7] which are not considered true by the people who tell them. As stories spread to other cultures or as faiths change, however, myths can come to be considered folktales.[2][9] Sometimes myths and legends get merged. Their divine characters get recast as humans or as demihumans (such as giants, elves, and faeries).[3]
Creation myths describe the "official" belief as to how world was created. These myths differ greatly between societies, as any collection of myths clearly shows.[10] Over the last three centuries, the power of myths over the minds of people has been challenged by the growth of science.[11]
Historians' views on myths
[change | change source]Although myths are often considered to be stories of events that have not happened, many historians think myths are about actual events that have become connected with strong symbolic meaning, or that have been changed, or shifted in time or place, or even reversed. One way of thinking about this process is to imagine 'myths' as lying at the far end of an imaginary line. At one end of the line is 'dispassionate account', and 'legendary occurrence' or 'mythical status' is near the other end. As an event progresses toward the 'mythical' end of this line or continuum, the way people think, feel and say about the event changes. It may gain greater historical significance while the 'facts' become less important. By the time one arrives at the mythical end of the line, the story has "taken on a life of its own" and the facts of the original event have become almost unimportant.
Related pages
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References
[change | change source]- ↑ Bascom, William (1965). "The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives". The Journal of American Folklore. 78 (307): 4. doi:10.2307/538099. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 538099.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Bascom, William. 1984. The forms of folklore: prose narratives. Sacred narrative: readings in the theory of myth. (ed) Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 5–29.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "myths", A Dictionary of English Folklore
- ↑ O'Flaherty, p.78: "I think it can be well argued as a matter of principle that, just as 'biography is about chaps', so mythology is about gods".
- ↑ Kirk, p. 8; "myth", Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Eliade, Mircea.1963. Myth and Reality, transl. Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper & Row.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Pettazzoni, Raffaele. 1984. The truth of myth. in Sacred narrative: readings in the theory of myth. (ed) Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press,98–109. pp. 99–101
- ↑ Dundes, Alan 1984. Sacred narrative: readings in the theory of myth. Berkeley: University of California Press, Introduction, p 1.
- ↑ Doty, William 2004. Myth: a handbook. Westport: Greenwood, p. 114.
- ↑ Fraser, James. 1906–1915. The golden bough: a study in magic and religion. Macmillan, 12 volumes plus an index volume.
- ↑ Watson, Peter 2009. Ideas: a history, from fire to Freud. Folio Society, London 2009; Watson, Peter 2009. Ideas: a history, from Wittgenstein to the word wide web. London: Folio Society.