MYTHS AND LEGENDS

MYTHS AND LEGENDS

Hello everyone, Here I am Siddharth from Share Knowledge to tell you something about Myths and Legends of the old times and some of them are believed now also. So let's begin.

WHAT ARE MYTHS?

Wherever people lived together, they told stories about the creation and destruction of universe, of how people and animals first came to be, of the characters of gods and goddesses they worshiped. These tales are called Myths, and, with their cast if of heroes and monsters, explain how life works.

WHAT ARE LEGENDS?

Legends, too, are tales of adventure, but, unlike myths, are thought to have some basis in historical fact.

Myths and Legends are a record of how people from past saw the world.

BEGINNINGS

In every culture from Asia to Americas, creation myths exist to explain how the world began, and how the first people came to exist. In Norse mythology, the creator god Odin made the earth from a giant's flesh, and the sky from his skull. One of the Aztec creator gods, Quetzalcoatl, also known as the plumed serpent god, made heaven and earth from a body of the serpent.

KING ARTHUR

The legend of Arthur, king of the Britons, has endured for centuries. Films and books retell the story of the knights of the Round Table at Arthur's court in Camelot. The real Arthur was probably a Romano-British chief who fought against the Saxon (German Warrior) invasion in the 16th century.

 

A scene from the film Excalibur

LEGENDARY ANIMALS AND PLANTS

Animals and plants play a major role in world legend. Mythical animals include the dragon, the unicorn and the phoenix, all endowed with special powers. For eg: The phoenix was believed to bring prosperity whenever it appeared, and bad luck whenever it departed.

FAIRIES

 

Between 1917 and 1920, two English schoolgirls in Cottingley, England, took a series of photographs, which they claimed were of fairies. Experts believed that the photographs were genuine for many years, until, in later life the girls confessed that the images were fake.

DRAGON

The Chinese dragon represented wisdom and goodness, and is still a symbol of good fortune today.

YETI

For centuries, people have searched for the Yeti-an ape-man believed to dwell in Himalayas.

MANDRAKE

In medieval times, mandrake was attributed with magical powers. Its roots were thought to resemble human legs, and it was said to scream when uprooted. People who heard its scream went insane.

A still from movie Harry Potter

NAVAJO CREATION

In Navajo mythology, the maize (corn) often symbolizes a creation goddess. Many Navajo blankets, based on the design of sandpaintings, depict healing ceremonies involving the sacred plant.

RA

The sun god Ra or Re, was the creator god of ancient Egypt. Ra created all the other gods and when he cried, his tears became humans. In ancient Egyptian mythology, Ra's granddaughter the sky goddess Nut, swallows Ra every night, and gives birth to him each morning, creating a new day. During the night, Ra fights the evil serpent Apep. Ancient Egyptians believed that if Apep succeeded in devouring Ra, the world would end.

P'AN-KU

Yin-Yang Symbol

A Chinese myth tells of a cosmic egg formed at the start of time. When the egg hatched, P'an-ku emerged as a first being. He filled the spaces between the two opposite forces of Yin (White), which represents the heavens, and Yang (Black), which represents the earth. When P'an-ku died, his eyes became the sun and the moon, his tears became seas and his fleas became humans.

AMATERASU

When Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess, was frightened by her brother, Susanowo, the storm god, she hid in a cave. Consequently, heaven and earth were plunged into darkness, and the crops died. The other gods placed a mirror by the cave entrance and lured Amaterasu out with her own reflection, restoring light to the world.

ATLANTIS

The Greek philosopher, Plato, invented a fabulously rich island in the Atlantic-then claimed it was lost beneath the waves during a great storm. People have searched for Atlantis ever since.

URBAN MYTHS AND LEGENDS

In 1935, the New York Times reported that an alligator had been found in the city's sewers. Since then, rumors have spread of a colony of Giant white alligators living under New York. The tale of a vanishing Hitch-hiker, told throughout Europe and America, is an example of an old legend adapted to suit modern times. The 19th century vision tells of a traveler who mysteriously disappears during a journey in a horse-drawn carriage; in the modern version, the traveler is a Hitch-hiker, and the vehicle is a car.

These are some of the MYTHS & LEGENDS of old times and these times.

-by Siddharth