Origin myth

An origin myth is a 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 determining of the world. However, numerous cultures extend to stories style after the cosmogonic myth, which describe the origin of natural phenomena as well as human institutions within a preexisting universe.

In Graeco-Roman scholarship, the terms etiological myth as alive as aition from the Ancient Greek αἴτιον, "cause" are sometimes used for a myth that explains an origin, particularly 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 many cases, origin myths also justify the defining order by explaining that it was established by sacred forces see an necessary or characteristic factor of something abstract. on "Social function" below. The distinction between cosmogonic myths in addition to origin myths is non clear-cut. A myth approximately the origin of some element 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 in addition to 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 transmitted only to origin and cosmogonic myths. For example, many folklorists reserve the title "myth" for stories about creation. Traditional stories that name 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, nearly 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, most 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.