myth – a kind of story – sacred – reference to sacred beings provides template for ritual...

Myth

• Myth – A kind of story– Sacred – reference to sacred beings• Provides template for ritual practice by describing

event or practice that ritual re-enacts

– Usually refers to remote time, or somewhere outside of time

– In calendrical festivals/rituals of intensification, this time “comes” again as the observation goes on

Narrative and storytelling

• Importance of storytelling in non-literate societies– Or in societies with robust oral traditions– Folklore from myth to homilies

• Myth remains important in complex societies– Now transmitted via mass media and electronic

media

Performance and narrative• Performative/narrative– Most recent approach– Stresses that myths grow in contexts of

performance and storytelling• Embodiment also – reenactment of stories of the

deities/saints/figures of myth

Genres – oral/textual/audio-visual– How are myths related and transmitted

generation to generation?• How are myths kept “alive”?• New components are woven into them as time

goes on so they do not become “stale”

• “Storytime” – reading for children• Comics• Films• Games?