Gregor Alfonsin C. Pondoyo, July 24, 2010 Myths A myth is ³a 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, orideals 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
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fantasy, fictitious set of events or unproved belief of certain phenomenon. Hence, it is
³an 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 ³Human 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 ³speech´, ³story´, or
³plot´. 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,
³long, 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 ³the underworld´,
³limbo´, ³Mount Olympus´, or ³heaven´.
Previously, we have presented a definition of myth as being a traditional story.
Traditional comes from the Latin word trado which means ³hand over´. So, a myth is a
story that is told from one generation to the other by word of mouth. Therefore theypresent cultural realities for they promulgate values and concerns and ³describe
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