To take root and survive, a culture must satisfy the basic needs of people who live by its rules, develop means to ensure its transmission and continuity across generations, and provide an orderly existence for members of the society. Religion, Myth and Stories -- i. Narratives, both sacred and secular -- Art and Aesthetics, Language and Language Arts including Oral Arts, Literature, and Film are all important expressions of a people's culture.
All cultures have religions, which are powerful and dynamic forces in human society. To overcome limitations, people often turn to supernatural beings and powers: e. Through ritual religion in action —e. Most cultures have religious specialists —e. Creation or origin myths explain how the world came to be in its present form, and often position "the cultural group telling the myth" as the first people or the "true" people "Myth" Such sacred stories, or narratives , concern where a people and the things of their world come from, why they are here, where they are going.
To undertake serious, open-minded cross-cultural study of world religions, Huston says we must do two things:.
All cultures create and tell stories, and myth-making is an important human creative activity. Myths, stories, legends, folklore, tall tales give valuable insights into how people perceive and think about their world.
Language arts, oral and literary traditions express how people order their experience and the universe, set standards of behavior, shape and reflect cultural values. Poets, storytellers, writers, as well as other artists and performers, make and use symbols to shape and interpret experience, create works of beauty and significance—whether religious or secular—and exercise the human imagination in a rich diversity of ways the world over.
Some poets--notably William Blake of the late eighteenth-century, and William Butler Yeats of the lateth and early 20th century Modernist period--have even created their own personal mythic systems. Myths and legends began to be recorded just as soon as humans mastered the technology of writing.
Often the very first texts were hymns to the gods or collections of mythological stories that became organised into cycles, explaining how the world was created, how humans came into existence or why Death is necessary.
Cronus therefore had a number of enemies including his mother Gaia, his wife Rhea and his son Zeus. They all conspired to overthrow and kill Cronus. While the old man moves to strike the insolent youth with his scepter, Oedipus throws the man down from his chariot, killing him.
Thus, the prophecy in which Oedipus slays his own father is fulfilled, as the old man—as Oedipus discovers later—was Laius, king of Thebes and true father to Oedipus. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search.
Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Why are myths important to culture? Ben Davis May 29, Why are myths important to culture? What is a myth definition? The hero's quest is a model for young men and women to follow, as they accept adult responsibilities. Some myths simply reassure, such as myths that explain natural phenomena as the actions of gods, rather than arbitrary events of nature.
The subjects of myths reflect the universal concerns of mankind throughout history: birth, death, the afterlife, the origin of man and the world, good and evil and the nature of man himself. A myth taps into a universal cultural narrative, the collective wisdom of man. An excellent illustration of the universality of these themes is that so many peoples who have had no contact with each other create myths that are remarkably similar.
Unlike fairy tales, myths are not always optimistic. True to the nature of life, the essence of myths is such that they are as often warnings as promises; as often laments as celebrations.
Many myths are instructive and act as a guide to social norms, taking on cultural taboos such as incest, fratricide, and greed.
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