A
culture hero is a
mythological hero specific to some group (
cultural,
ethnic,
racial,
religious, etc.) who changes the world through
invention or
discovery. A typical culture hero might be credited as the discoverer of
fire, or
agriculture,
songs,
tradition and
religion, and is usually the most important legendary figure of a people, sometimes as the founder of its ruling
dynasty. The hero is sometimes said to be still living, but is often instead a star, constellation or purely spiritual in nature.
In many cultures, particularly Native American, the mythical figure of the
trickster and the culture hero are combined. To illustrate, Prometheus, in Greek mythology, stole fire from the gods to give it to humans. He is more of a culture hero than a trickster. In many North American Indian mythologies, the coyote spirit stole fire from the gods (or stars or sun) and is more of a trickster than a culture hero. Natives from the Southeastern United States typically saw a rabbit trickster/culture hero. The
Western African trickster spider
Ananse is also widely-disseminated.
In some cultures, there are dualistic myths, featuring two culture heroes arranging the world in a complementary manner.
Dualistic cosmologies are present in all inhabited continents
[1] and show great diversity: they may feature culture heroes, but also
demiurges (exemplifying dualistic
cosmogony in the latter case), or other beings; the two heroes may compete or collaborate; they may be conceived as neutral or contrasted as good versus evil; be of the same importance or distinguished as powerful versus weak; be brothers (even twins) or be not relatives at all.
[2]
The term is sometimes used to describe great authors or artists in a metaphorical sense (i.e.
Mzwakhe Mbuli, a
South African poet
[1]).
Partial list
- Bedig-wajo (western)
- Ktaden (eastern)
- Glooscap
Banks Islander mythology
Māori mythology
- Changing Woman
- The Diyin dine
Solomon Islander mythology
Weenhayek mythology
External links
Notes
1.
^ Zolotarjov 1980: 54
2.
^ Zolotarjov 180: 40–43
References
- Zolotarjov, A.M. (1980). "Társadalomszervezet és dualisztikus teremtésmítoszok Szibériában", in Hoppál, Mihály: A Tejút fiai. Tanulmányok a finnugor népek hitvilágáról (in Hungarian). Budapest: Európa Könyvkiadó, 29–58. ISBN 963 07 2187 2. Chapter means: “Social structure and dualistic creation myths in Siberia”; title means: “The sons of Milky Way. Studies on the belief systems of Finno-Ugric peoples”.
The word mythology (from the Greek μύθολογία mythología, from μυθολογείν mythologein
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Hero (Greek ἥρως), in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demi-god, the offspring of a mortal and a deity.
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Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significant importance.
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ethnic group or ethnicity is a population of human beings whose members identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry.[1] Ethnicity is also defined from the recognition by others as a distinct group[2]
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RACE can refer to:
- Research and Development in Advanced Communications Technologies in Europe, a program launched in 1988 by the Commission of the European Communities
- Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends, a molecular biology technique
..... Click the link for more information. religion is a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience.
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For the musical form, see .
An
invention is an object, process, or technique which displays an element of novelty. An invention may sometimes be based on earlier developments, collaborations or ideas, and the process of invention requires at least
..... Click the link for more information. Discovery observations form acts of detecting and learning something. Discovery observations are acts in which something is found and given a productive insight. Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for
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Fire is an oxidation process that releases energy in varying intensities in the form of light (with wavelengths also outside the visual spectrum) and heat and often creates smoke. It is commonly used to describe either a fuel in a state of combustion (e.g.
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Agriculture (from Agri Latin for ager ("a field"), and culture, from the Latin cultura "cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil". A literal reading of the English word yields "tillage of the soil of a field".
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Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:
- Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given
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tradition comes from the Latin word
traditio which means "to hand down" or "to hand over." It is used in a number of ways in the English language:
- Beliefs or customs taught by one generation to the next, often orally.
..... Click the link for more information. religion is a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience.
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A dynasty is a succession of rulers who belong to the same family for generations. A dynasty is also often called a "house", e.g. the House of Saud or House of Habsburg.
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trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, human, or anthropomorphic animal who plays pranks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and norms of behaviour.
While the trickster crosses various cultural traditions, there are significant differences between tricksters in the traditions
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West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa (which coincides with common reckonings of the region) includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of around 5 million
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Anansi is one of the most important characters of West African lore. He is a trickster and a culture hero, who acts on behalf of Nyame (his father, the sky god) and brings rain to stop fires and performs other duties for him. His mother is Asase Ya.
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Dualistic cosmology is a collective term, the present article shows certain myths and motifs which are termed as such in the ethnographic and anthropological literature.
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Demiurge (from the Greek δημιουργός dēmiourgós, Latinized demiurgus
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The Raven and The First Men, showing part of a Haida creation story. The Raven represents the Trickster figure common to many mythologies. The work is in the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver.
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Mzwakhe Mbuli, known as the People's Poet, is a popular poet and mbaqanga singer in South Africa. He was born in Sophiatown in 1958.
His works include a book of poems, Before Dawn (1989), and albums Change is Pain (1986), Unbroken Spirit
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Beings of the Ancient Age
- Atosis (also as Ato-sees) - a Medeoulin who is both snake and human, forces people to find a stick so that he can cook them with it, was blinded by Moosbas
- Asban (also Azeban, lit.
..... Click the link for more information. Glooscap (also spelled Gluskabe,Glooskap, Gluskabi, Kluscap, Kloskomba, or Gluskab) is a mythical culture hero, and "transformer" of the Wabanaki peoples.
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Indigenous Australians can be classified into about 400 separate language groups, each of which has a distinct culture. For this reason it is incorrect to classify any attribute as universal to them as a whole.
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Bunjil is the supreme god, represented as an eagle. The Kulin claim he is a culture-hero who taught them all the important skills of life, but the Wurundjeri claims he created mankind. He now lives in the sky. Binbeal, the rainbow spirit, is his son.
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In Australian Aboriginal mythology, I'wai is the culture hero of the Koko Y'ao. I'wai was a crocodilian man who brought most of the Koko Y'ao religious rites and ceremonies.
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In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Wurrunna is a culture hero.
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Abrahamic mythology is a term used in comparative mythology to refer to those aspects of religious belief and tradition common to the Abrahamic religions, as distinct from those of the "Pagan religions" from which most mainstream research in this field suggests they developed.
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Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people, based on principles and ethics embodied in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and the Talmud. According to Jewish tradition, the history of Judaism begins with the Covenant between God and Abraham (ca.
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