Foundation of Mythology Short Answers Essay Example
Foundation of Mythology Short Answers
Philip Calio
Hum 105
5/22/2013
Elisabeth Nicholes
Foundation of Mythology Short Answers
“It’s a Myth.” A term commonly used today but what does it mean? It is a term used to describe the questions humans cannot answer such as the explanation of the meaning of the universe or why we are here. Myths reflect human nature, with its needs and desires, hopes and fears (Rosenberg, 2006). Academically myths are studied to understand the anthropology of past cultures. My definition of a myth is tales or stories passed down from generation to generation that gives us our beliefs and guiding principles which we use to determine how we will interact with the world.
Myths from different cultures around the world have very similar themes because myths, at its core meaning, are stories used to pass down universal, cultural, and spiritual “truths” from each generation. So the ancient Hawaiians told stories of gods to help their children understand the things that they were unable to describe such as the Goddess Pele whom Nathaniel Emerson defined CCORDING to Hawaiian myth, Pele, the volcanic fire-queen and the chief architect of the Hawaiian group, was a foreigner, born in the mystical land of Kuai-he-lani, a land not rooted and anchored to one spot, but that floated free like the Fata Morgana, and that showed itself at times to the eyes of mystics, poets and seers, a garden land, clad with the living glory of trees and habitations a vision to warm the imagination (1915). Even though cultures are physically separated and probably never interacted, every culture always questioned things they couldn’t understand so through time, myth, legends, fables or whatever reference you want to call it were created and passed down to help the human psyche make meaning of those things. Belief, knowledge, mythology and religion are words that for the most part say the same thing as it relates to mythology. Cultures passed down knowledge
Philip Calio
Hum 105
5/22/2013
Elisabeth Nicholes
Foundation of Mythology Short Answers
“It’s a Myth.” A term commonly used today but what does it mean? It is a term used to describe the questions humans cannot answer such as the explanation of the meaning of the universe or why we are here. Myths reflect human nature, with its needs and desires, hopes and fears (Rosenberg, 2006). Academically myths are studied to understand the anthropology of past cultures. My definition of a myth is tales or stories passed down from generation to generation that gives us our beliefs and guiding principles which we use to determine how we will interact with the world.
Myths from different cultures around the world have very similar themes because myths, at its core meaning, are stories used to pass down universal, cultural, and spiritual “truths” from each generation. So the ancient Hawaiians told stories of gods to help their children understand the things that they were unable to describe such as the Goddess Pele whom Nathaniel Emerson defined CCORDING to Hawaiian myth, Pele, the volcanic fire-queen and the chief architect of the Hawaiian group, was a foreigner, born in the mystical land of Kuai-he-lani, a land not rooted and anchored to one spot, but that floated free like the Fata Morgana, and that showed itself at times to the eyes of mystics, poets and seers, a garden land, clad with the living glory of trees and habitations a vision to warm the imagination (1915). Even though cultures are physically separated and probably never interacted, every culture always questioned things they couldn’t understand so through time, myth, legends, fables or whatever reference you want to call it were created and passed down to help the human psyche make meaning of those things. Belief, knowledge, mythology and religion are words that for the most part say the same thing as it relates to mythology. Cultures passed down knowledge