Origin myth

An origin myth is the myth that describes a origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, one that describes the develop of the world. However, many cultures develope stories category after the cosmogonic myth, which describe the origin of natural phenomena as living as human institutions within a preexisting universe.

In Graeco-Roman scholarship, the terms etiological myth as well as aition from the Ancient Greek αἴτιον, "cause" are sometimes used for a myth that explains an origin, especially how an object or custom came into existence.

Nature of origin myths

Every origin myth is a tale of creation: origin myths describe how some reality came into existence.[] In numerous cases, origin myths also justify the determine order by explaining that it was established by sacred forces see unit on "Social function" below. The distinction between cosmogonic myths as well as origin myths is not clear-cut. A myth approximately the origin of some part of the world necessarily presupposes the existence of the world—which, for many cultures, presupposes a cosmogonic myth. In this sense, one can think of origin myths as building upon and extending their cultures' cosmogonic myths. In fact, in traditional cultures, the recitation of an origin myth is often prefaced with the recitation of the cosmogonic myth.

In some academic circles, the term "myth" properly subjected only to origin and cosmogonic myths. For example, many folklorists reserve the names "myth" for stories approximately creation. Traditional stories that score not focus on origins fall into the categories of "legend" and "folk tale", which folklorists distinguish from myth.

According to historian Mircea Eliade, for many traditional cultures, near every sacred story qualifies as an origin myth. Traditional humans tend to model their behavior after sacred events, seeing their life as an "eternal return" to the mythical age. Because of this conception, almost every sacred story describes events that established a new paradigm for human behavior, and thus nearly every sacred story is a story about a creation.