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    Myths and Culture

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    Tiger Knee
    Myths are traditional stories that serve to explain cultural worldviews and ideals to society. While often seen as false, myths communicate important truths about a culture's values and beliefs. They convey a group's identity, philosophy, and perception of origins through narratives passed down through oral tradition. Studying myths provides insights into a culture's history and traditions, such as how Greek myths reflect battles and Philippine creation stories emphasize equality.

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    Myths and Culture

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    Tiger Knee
    90 views4 pages
    Myths are traditional stories that serve to explain cultural worldviews and ideals to society. While often seen as false, myths communicate important truths about a culture's values and beliefs. They convey a group's identity, philosophy, and perception of origins through narratives passed down through oral tradition. Studying myths provides insights into a culture's history and traditions, such as how Greek myths reflect battles and Philippine creation stories emphasize equality.

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    a very simplified approach to myths and culture understanding

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    Myths are traditional stories that serve to explain cultural worldviews and ideals to society. While often seen as false, myths communicate important truths about a culture's values and beliefs. They convey a group's identity, philosophy, and perception of origins through narratives passed down through oral tradition. Studying myths provides insights into a culture's history and traditions, such as how Greek myths reflect battles and Philippine creation stories emphasize equality.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx or pdf
    90 views4 pages

    Myths and Culture

    Uploaded by

    Tiger Knee
    Myths are traditional stories that serve to explain cultural worldviews and ideals to society. While often seen as false, myths communicate important truths about a culture's values and beliefs. They convey a group's identity, philosophy, and perception of origins through narratives passed down through oral tradition. Studying myths provides insights into a culture's history and traditions, such as how Greek myths reflect battles and Philippine creation stories emphasize equality.

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    Some of the key takeaways from the passage are that myths are traditional stories that convey cultural truths and values of a group of people, and studying myths can provide insights into a culture's worldview, beliefs, and customs.

    According to the passage, myths typically have supernatural elements, take place in the distant past, are transmitted orally over generations, and can vary in their retellings. They also usually involve gods/goddesses and have a beginning, middle, and end like a plot.

    The passage states that myths are relevant in understanding culture because they promote cultural values, describe patterns of behavior for a society, and reveal a group's cultural identity and beliefs about origins through the narratives.

    Gregor Alfonsin C.

    Pondoyo, July 24, 2010

    Myths

    A myth is “a traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings,


    ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as
    by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or
    ideals of society: the myth of Eros and Psyche; a creation myth” (thefreedictionary.com).
    Because of this definition, most people nowadays associate myths to false stories or
    fantasy, fictitious set of events or unproved belief of certain phenomenon. Hence, it is
    “an idea or story that many people believe, but that is not true…” (Longman Dictionary,
    2004). There is a negative connotation on myth and its importance in understanding
    culture therefore is undermined.

    Part of being human is the ability to communicate through language. We express


    emotions through formed words that have meanings that we ourselves have set. Most
    importantly we tell stories. In fact “Human beings have told stories from time
    immemorial, for stories are a natural product of spoken language, an outgrowth of the
    imaginative power that most clearly separates us from other animals” (Powell, 1998).

    The word myth comes from the Greek word mythos which means “speech”, “story”, or
    “plot”. Because it is a story it is understandable that it has therefore a beginning, a
    middle part, and an ending, in short, a plot. Furthermore it has characters that are
    mostly composed of gods/goddesses, supernatural beings, but also humans and
    animals. Myths also have settings but what
    distinguishes it from most novels or pocket
    books nowadays is that myths’ time
    settings occur in the distant past. Thus,
    “long, long time ago” is common like in
    native stories of Bikolanos, Tagalogs, and
    even Maranaos here in the Philippines.
    Places in myths can either be actual places
    or imaginative areas like “the underworld”, “limbo”, “Mount Olympus”, or “heaven”.

    Previously, we have presented a definition of myth as being a traditional story.


    Traditional comes from the Latin word trado which means “hand over”. So, a myth is a
    story that is told from one generation to the other by word of mouth. Therefore they
    present cultural realities for they promulgate values and concerns and “describe
    patterns of behavior that serve as models for members of society…” (Powell, 1998).
    Because myths are transmitted by mouth, their authors are not known or synonymous.
    Additionally, their oral transmission makes them vulnerable to omissions and additions
    or simply, changes. Variations will then occur like in the story of Oedipus which has
    happy and tragic endings. Another example of variation is evident in the creation story
    of Genesis there is a slight difference in the order of creation of man and other living
    things in chapter 1 and 2.

    Because myths contain in them distinct linguistic pattern in delivering (such as in the
    different tribes here in the Philippines) and certain values which a group of people or
    region hold dear, myths clearly opens up to its hearers (or readers) the cultural identity
    of a group of people. It is a narrative of who a group of people think they are and their
    belief of the origin of things, their philosophy in life, and their passion, commonly held
    values and etiquettes, and their worldview. Myths should not be limited in their being a
    story or their literal meaning but be understood in their historical and cultural
    background in which they were propagated. Ergo, myths are in fact truths. They are
    cultural truths that a group of people exhibit or hold.

    Mythology or the study of myths is therefore relevant in studying cultures. Norsemen


    valued physical features and so their gods and goddesses are described as very
    muscular. Greek and Roman myths are reminiscent of battles and conflicts and
    incidentally their history is also somewhat paralleled. The Bible’s creation somewhat
    emphasizes man’s higher status than woman and in contrast, Philippine creation stories
    centers upon man and woman coming from the same giant bamboo and so equality
    egalitarian emphasis is clear. Furthermore, myths here in the Philippines also give
    notice to the importance of families “as the Foundation of Values” (Menez, 1996).
    Sources and Suggested Readings

    Eugenio, Damiano L. (2001). Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths. Quezon city,
    Philippines. University of the Philippines Press.

    Myth. (2004). Longman Dictionary of American English New Edition. USA. Pearson
    Education Limited. Page 595

    Menez, Herminia (1996). Explorations in Philippine Folklore. Quezon city, Philippines.


    Ateneo de Manila University.

    Myth. (n.d.). In.The Free Dictionary. Retrieved from


    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/myth

    Mythology of the Ancient World. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ancient-


    mythology.com/

    Powell, Barry B. (1998). Classical Myth. 2nd Edition. USA. Prentice-Hall, Inc.

    Sison, Emmanuel S. (2005). Tales from the Land of Salt: A Glimpse into the History and
    the Rich Folklore of Pangasinan. Makati city, Philippines. ELMYRS Publishing House

    Storm, Rachel (2000). Asian Mythology: Myths and Legends of China, Japan, Thailand,
    Malaysia and Indonesia. New York. Annes Publishing Limited.

    The Importance and Value of Myth and Mythology. (n.d.). Retrieved from
    http://electricka.com/etaf/muses/mythology/mythology_popups/importance.htm

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