MYTHS, CULTURES, AND LEGENDS

Creation myths tell us how things began. All cultures have creation myths; they are our primary myths, the first stage in what might be called the psychic life of the species. We should consider thinking hard about what creation myths do and how they work. They are not just quaint remnants of a pre-scientific past. They are not just stories to be studied as folklore. The universality of such myths is telling us something important about what it means to be human. Almost every culture has its own account of creation, and each one tells a unique story. Some methods of creation appear again and again in cosmogonies from different parts of the world. One of the most common images is a description of the beginning of the world as a birth, a kind of creation familiar to everyone

Fruit appears in myths from around the world. Often it is a symbol of abundance, associated with goddesses of fruitfulness, plenty, and the harvest. Sometimes, however, fruit represents earthly pleasures, gluttony, and temptation. Specific kinds of fruit have acquired their own symbolic meanings in the myths and legends of different cultures. mythsThe hero's journey is the common template of a broad category of tales that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes homes changed or transformed.