2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
What is a myth? It tells about the life of the ancient gods, heroes and great deeds. Thanks to these stories, we get acquainted with the worldview of the people of that time, their culture and customs. Usually myths explain to us the riddles of the modern world, for example, why the sun rises, why the seasons change, why the sea foam is white. We could answer all these questions today, based on scientific knowledge, but the ancient people did not possess them, therefore they assumed that the gods led the cycle in nature.
Each of us is familiar with at least one myth. Translated from Greek, this word is translated as "tradition", "tale". Biblical myths about the creation of the world are especially famous. At the same time, it should be noted that different peoples of the world have very different versions of the appearance of the universe. In Orthodoxy, the creation of the universe took seven days; in China, it is believed that all life came from an egg. Therefore, when asked what a myth is, one can answer that this is a story of different peoples of the world about the reality around them. But the emergence of the world must lead to development or ending, so myths about the end of the world are no less frequent than about its origin.
BIn myth, nature is humanized in people, properties that are inherent only to a living being are attributed to it. For example, rivers are associated with the blood of giants who died in battle, the Sun is a deity who starts his journey every morning on a golden chariot, while it is worth considering that different nations have different names for the god.
Based on this, we can note the most important feature of the myth - it's symbolism. Therefore, in mythology, two different objects can be perceived as a single whole. For example, the bride in Slavic mythology is symbolized with a swan in a flock of geese, that is, the groom's relatives who peck at a noble bird. A single line is also drawn between bread and we alth, an egg and life, a towel and a road. At the same time, the first is characterized by the features of the second.
So what is a myth? This concept can be described as the experience of knowing the world of a whole generation, which has been collected for centuries. It serves us as a stronghold of wisdom and fidelity to its traditions and people; the faith of our ancestors was based on it. Just as many of us today believe in God, ancient peoples believed in heroes and gods that their fantasy created.
Scandinavian myths say that Odin is the only god. This is a great warrior who accompanied the Vikings in their battles. It was believed that a warrior who died in battle with a sword would certainly fall into the kingdom of this god. In another case, a man dying peacefully in bed will never be near Odin. Most likely, it is precisely this that can partially explain their striking strength and power, which rested onfaith.
Slavic myths open up a completely different world for us, which is closer to the Russian mentality and understandable to us according to the general principles of creation, although it contains no less mysteries. In this mythology, the world is saturated with a powerful supernatural force, which is not so dangerous for a mortal, but also beyond his control. The Slavs believed in the transmigration of souls, in the soul of stones, flowers, fire and much more. At the head of this world is the god Rod and his beloved Lada, as well as their descendants - Svarog, Mother God, Iria, Ra, Mokosh, Siva, Svyatogor, Chernobog, Dyy. These deities ruled our world, keeping it in balance.
What is a myth? For today's generation of fantasy films and video games, it's hard to imagine what he's all about. Are these really the gods on whose shoulders the universe stands, or is it the fantasy of an uneducated ancient man? But you can think for a moment that, perhaps, a myth is a reflection of reality that passed through the prism of the soul of our descendants …
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