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105-441: They were important features of the mythological landscape and cult practice of Celtic , Estonian , Baltic , Germanic , ancient Greek , Near Eastern , Roman , and Slavic polytheism . They are also found in locations such as India (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu) , Japan ( sacred shrine forests ), China ( Fengshui woodland ), West Africa and Ethiopia ( church forests ). Examples of sacred groves include

210-534: A community deems to hold religious significance are known as sacred trees . The most famous sacred grove in mainland Greece was the oak grove at Dodona . Outside the walls of Athens , the site of the Platonic Academy was a sacred grove of olive trees, still recalled in the phrase "the groves of Academe". In central Italy, the town of Nemi recalls the Latin nemus Aricinum , or "grove of Ariccia ",

315-622: A moral , fable , allegory or a parable , or collection of traditional stories, understood to be false. It came eventually to be applied to similar bodies of traditional stories among other polytheistic cultures around the world. Thus "mythology" entered the English language before "myth". Johnson 's Dictionary , for example, has an entry for mythology, but not for myth. Indeed, the Greek loanword mythos ( pl. mythoi ) and Latinate mythus (pl. mythi ) both appeared in English before

420-423: A taboo as it is believed that as sunrise is the beginning of the day to mankind, sunset is perceived as the beginning of day to those who dwell in the grave area. Burials are almost always postponed until the next day except in certain cases where it is allowed, provided that additional rules are observed, such as, women and children are not allowed at the night time burial ceremony. An ancient ritual of renaming

525-449: A "disease of language". He speculated that myths arose due to the lack of abstract nouns and neuter gender in ancient languages. Anthropomorphic figures of speech , necessary in such languages, were eventually taken literally, leading to the idea that natural phenomena were in actuality conscious or divine. Not all scholars, not even all 19th-century scholars, accepted this view. Lucien Lévy-Bruhl claimed that "the primitive mentality

630-419: A Greek colony, had a sacred grove so close by it that Julius Caesar had it cut down to facilitate his siege . In Pharsalia , the poet Lucan dramatized it as a place where sunlight could not reach through the branches, where no animal or bird lived, where the wind did not blow, but branches moved on their own, where human sacrifice was practiced, in a clear attempt to dramatize the situation and distract from

735-449: A book on the comparative study of mythology and religion—argued that humans started out with a belief in magical rituals; later, they began to lose faith in magic and invented myths about gods, reinterpreting their rituals as religious rituals intended to appease the gods. Historically, important approaches to the study of mythology have included those of Vico , Schelling , Schiller , Jung , Freud , Lévy-Bruhl , Lévi-Strauss , Frye ,

840-480: A critical role in the protection of watersheds and water sources. Indigenous Bunong people in Mondulkiri province , Cambodia consider forests to be sacred. Deforestation and land concessions in the country has threatened their land tenure and traditions. In India, sacred groves are scattered all over the country, and do enjoy protection. Prior to 2002, these forest regions were not recognized under any of

945-477: A failed or obsolete mode of thought, often by interpreting myth as the primitive counterpart of modern science within a unilineal framework that imagined that human cultures are travelling, at different speeds, along a linear path of cultural development. One of the dominant mythological theories of the latter 19th century was nature mythology , the foremost exponents of which included Max Müller and Edward Burnett Tylor . This theory posited that "primitive man"

1050-634: A long series, grouped as four volumes, from 1955 onwards. Reports documenting the archaeological fieldwork have been published in the Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome . The hieron, one of the best-preserved and most complete series of 4th century BCE structures, contained a series of buildings of unusual construction, ranged on several formal terraces. In its synthesis of Achaemenid and Ionian features it foreshadowed Hellenistic style. The sacred precinct

1155-446: A methodology that allows us to understand the complexity of the myth and its manifestations in contemporary times, is justified. Because "myth" is sometimes used in a pejorative sense, some scholars have opted for "mythos" instead. "Mythos" now more commonly refers to its Aristotelian sense as a "plot point" or to a body of interconnected myths or stories, especially those belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition. It

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1260-535: A myth can be highly controversial. Many religious adherents believe that the narratives told in their respective religious traditions are historical without question, and so object to their identification as myths while labelling traditional narratives from other religions as such. Hence, some scholars may label all religious narratives as "myths" for practical reasons, such as to avoid depreciating any one tradition because cultures interpret each other differently relative to one another. Other scholars may abstain from using

1365-481: A national historic site (国の史跡). The Kamigamo Shrine and the Shimogamo Shrine , along with other Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) , have been designated World Heritage Sites since 1994. The Utaki sacred sites (often with associated burial grounds) on Okinawa are based on Ryukyuan religion , and usually are associated with toun or kami-asagi – regions dedicated to

1470-486: A pattern of behavior to be imitated, testifies to the efficacy of ritual with its practical ends and establishes the sanctity of cult . Another definition of myth comes from myth criticism theorist and professor José Manuel Losada . According to Cultural Myth Criticism, the studies of myth must explain and understand "myth from inside", that is, only "as a myth". Losada defines myth as "a functional, symbolic and thematic narrative of one or several extraordinary events with

1575-711: A place named Mangatoor in Kerala. Sacred groves are being destroyed as a part of urbanization . The family "Nalukettil Puthenpurayil" still protects sacred groves. Dev Bhoomi, or the "Land of Gods," is part of the 133 sacred groves in the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand. Known for its rivers, lakes, caves, and forests, it is considered the holiest land in the region. Local communities honor deities like Haat Kaali, Kotgyari Devi, and Mahakaali. Unlike typical forests, these sacred groves are alpine meadows, deeply tied to

1680-536: A poetic description of the sea as "raging" was eventually taken literally and the sea was then thought of as a raging god. Some thinkers claimed that myths result from the personification of objects and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients worshiped natural phenomena, such as fire and air, gradually deifying them. For example, according to this theory, ancients tended to view things as gods, not as mere objects. Thus, they described natural events as acts of personal gods, giving rise to myths. According to

1785-600: A primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's customs , institutions , and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals . The word "myth" comes from Ancient Greek μῦθος ( mȳthos ), meaning 'speech, narrative, fiction, myth, plot'. In turn, Ancient Greek μυθολογία ( mythología , 'story', 'lore', 'legends', or 'the telling of stories') combines

1890-621: A scholarly term for "[a] traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events." The Greek term mythología was then borrowed into Late Latin , occurring in the title of Latin author Fulgentius ' 5th-century Mythologiæ to denote what is now referred to as classical mythology —i.e., Greco-Roman etiological stories involving their gods. Fulgentius' Mythologiæ explicitly treated its subject matter as allegories requiring interpretation and not as true events. The Latin term

1995-609: A significant role in the folk beliefs of the Germanic peoples. Across Benin and Togo (Dahomey Gap, West Africa), sacred forests form islands of biodiversity in the middle of overgrazed, woody, semiarid savannahs and croplands. Due to their tendency to be maintained over long periods of time, the sacred forests contain valuable remnants of ecological communities from the once extensive forests. Soils in these forests store significant amounts soil carbon as both soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC). Soil inorganic carbon

2100-636: A small town a quarter of the way around the lake. In antiquity, the area had no town, but the grove was the site of one of the most famous of Roman cults and temples: that of Diana Nemorensis , a study of which served as the seed for Sir James Frazer 's seminal work on the anthropology of religion, The Golden Bough . A sacred grove behind the House of the Vestal Virgins on the edge of the Roman Forum lingered until its last vestiges were burnt in

2205-565: A step further, incorporating the study of the transcendent dimension (its function, its disappearance) to evaluate the role of myth as a mirror of contemporary culture. Cultural myth criticism Cultural myth criticism, without abandoning the analysis of the symbolic , invades all cultural manifestations and delves into the difficulties in understanding myth today. This cultural myth criticism studies mythical manifestations in fields as wide as literature , film and television , theater , sculpture , painting , video games , music , dancing ,

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2310-526: A surviving inscription. In the 3rd century BCE, with the fall of the Hecatomnids, Labraunda passed into the control of Mylasa . The site was later occupied without discontinuity until the mid Byzantine period. The first occurrence of "labrys" in English (1901) noted by the OED concerns this sanctuary: It seems natural to interpret names of Carian sanctuaries like Labranda in the most literal sense as

2415-436: A transcendent, sacred and supernatural referent; that lacks, in principle, historical testimony; and that refers to an individual or collective, but always absolute, cosmogony or eschatology". According to the hylistic myth research by assyriologist Annette Zgoll and classic philologist Christian Zgoll , "A myth can be defined as an Erzählstoff [narrative material] which is polymorphic through its variants and – depending on

2520-576: A world of the remote past, very different from that of the present. Definitions of "myth" vary to some extent among scholars, though Finnish folklorist Lauri Honko offers a widely-cited definition: Myth, a story of the gods, a religious account of the beginning of the world , the creation , fundamental events, the exemplary deeds of the gods as a result of which the world, nature and culture were created together with all parts thereof and given their order, which still obtains. A myth expresses and confirms society's religious values and norms, it provides

2625-601: Is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion. Myths are often endorsed by secular and religious authorities and are closely linked to religion or spirituality . Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in

2730-421: Is a condition of the human mind and not a stage in its historical development." Recent scholarship, noting the fundamental lack of evidence for "nature mythology" interpretations among people who actually circulated myths, has likewise abandoned the key ideas of "nature mythology". Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals, which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law. This idea

2835-465: Is a form of understanding and telling stories that are connected to power, political structures, and political and economic interests. These approaches contrast with approaches, such as those of Joseph Campbell and Eliade , which hold that myth has some type of essential connection to ultimate sacred meanings that transcend cultural specifics. In particular, myth was studied in relation to history from diverse social sciences. Most of these studies share

2940-621: Is an important carbon sink because it preserved over a longer time frame than the soil organic carbon. There is a high potential for development of the soils for potential carbon sequestration . Sacred groves are also present in Ghana . One of Ghana's most famous sacred groves – the Buoyem Sacred Grove – and numerous other sacred groves are present in the Techiman Municipal District and nearby districts of

3045-431: Is associated with a presiding deity, and the groves are referred to by different names in different parts of India. They were maintained by local communities with hunting and logging strictly prohibited within these patches. While most of these sacred deities are associated with local Hindu gods, sacred groves of Islamic and Buddhist origins are also known. Sacred groves occur in a variety of places – from scrub forests in

3150-443: Is dotted with shrines and sculptures. Oloye Susanne Wenger , an Austrian artist, helped revive the grove. The grove was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. Sacred forests continue to hold an important place in the everyday lives of Indigenous and rural people across South, East, and Southeast Asia. A large-scale comparative analysis of sacred groves in ten countries within these regions indicates that they have long played

3255-750: Is home of the Bono people . There are many groups of trees and groves that remain sacred to local indigenous populations, such as the Kikuyu , the Maasai , and the Mbeere tribe of central Kenya . In 2008, the Kaya forests, a group of 10 forest sites spread over 200 km (124 mi), were made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . They are a series of forests located along the coast of Kenya, accompanied by fortified villages known as kayas. These kayas were originally built in

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3360-423: Is nobody's truth. Myths are somebody's truth." One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of historical events. According to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborate upon historical accounts until the figures in those accounts gain the status of gods. For example, the myth of the wind-god Aeolus may have evolved from a historical account of a king who taught his people to use sails and interpret

3465-550: Is noted in the earliest written reports about the Germanic peoples, with the Roman historian Tacitus stating that Germanic cult practices took place exclusively in groves rather than temples. Scholars consider that reverence for and rites performed at individual trees are derived from the mythological role of the world tree, Yggdrasil ; onomastic and some historical evidence also connects individual deities to both groves and individual trees. After Christianization, trees continue to play

3570-472: Is often thought to differ from genres such as legend and folktale in that neither are considered to be sacred narratives. Some kinds of folktales, such as fairy stories , are not considered true by anyone, and may be seen as distinct from myths for this reason. Main characters in myths are usually gods , demigods or supernatural humans, while legends generally feature humans as their main characters. Many exceptions and combinations exist, as in

3675-611: Is part of the Kashima Wildlife Preservation Area . The woods include over 800 kinds of trees and varied animal and plant life. Tadasu no Mori ( 糺の森 ) is a general term for a wooded area associated with the Kamo Shrine , which is a Shinto sanctuary near the banks of the Kamo River in northeast Kyoto. The ambit of today's forest encompasses approximately 12.4 hectares, which are preserved as

3780-636: Is sometimes known as "mythography", a term also used for a scholarly anthology of myths or of the study of myths generally. Key mythographers in the Classical tradition include: Other prominent mythographies include the thirteenth-century Prose Edda attributed to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson , which is the main surviving survey of Norse Mythology from the Middle Ages. Jeffrey G. Snodgrass (professor of anthropology at

3885-510: Is sometimes used specifically for modern, fictional mythologies, such as the world building of H. P. Lovecraft . Mythopoeia ( mytho- + -poeia , 'I make myth') was termed by J. R. R. Tolkien , amongst others, to refer to the "conscious generation" of mythology. It was notoriously also suggested, separately, by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg . Comparative mythology is a systematic comparison of myths from different cultures. It seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to

3990-617: Is still followed today. Outdoor shrines or altars known as dambana , latangan , and tambara among other names were often built near the trees during shaman rituals . Aside from individual trees, natural formations, bodies of water, rocks, groves, and even entire forests also commonly became sacred places to various communities. Sacred groves, mostly connected to Thai folk belief , are known to have existed in Thailand since medieval times. Recently, new areas are being marked off as sacred as an environmental movement. Myth Myth

4095-614: Is that in the Nevet forest near Locronan in Brittany , France. Gournay-sur-Aronde (Gournay-on-Aronde), a village in the Oise department of France, also houses the remains of a nemeton . Nemetons were often fenced off by enclosures, as indicated by the German term Viereckschanze – meaning a quadrangular space surrounded by a ditch enclosed by wooden palisades. Many of these groves, like

4200-579: The Iliad , Odyssey and Aeneid . Moreover, as stories spread between cultures or as faiths change, myths can come to be considered folktales, their divine characters recast as either as humans or demihumans such as giants , elves and faeries . Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time. For example, the Matter of Britain (the legendary history of Great Britain, especially those focused on King Arthur and

4305-457: The Republic . His critique was primarily on the grounds that the uneducated might take the stories of gods and heroes literally. Nevertheless, he constantly referred to myths throughout his writings. As Platonism developed in the phases commonly called Middle Platonism and neoplatonism , writers such as Plutarch , Porphyry , Proclus , Olympiodorus , and Damascius wrote explicitly about

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4410-860: The Theologia Mythologica (1532). The first modern, Western scholarly theories of myth appeared during the second half of the 19th century —at the same time as "myth" was adopted as a scholarly term in European languages. They were driven partly by a new interest in Europe's ancient past and vernacular culture, associated with Romantic Nationalism and epitomised by the research of Jacob Grimm (1785–1863). This movement drew European scholars' attention not only to Classical myths, but also material now associated with Norse mythology , Finnish mythology , and so forth. Western theories were also partly driven by Europeans' efforts to comprehend and control

4515-810: The Anweam Sacred Grove in the Esukawkaw Forest Reserve Other well-known sacred groves in present-day Ghana include the Malshegu Sacred Grove in Northern Ghana – one of the last remaining closed-canopy forests in the savannah regions, and the Jachie sacred grove. The Tanoboase Sacred Grove and Shrine is located near the village of Tanoboase in the Techiman, Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. The site

4620-665: The Brong Ahafo Region . They provide a refuge for wildlife which has been exterminated in nearby areas, and one grove most notably houses 20,000 fruit bats in caves. The capital of the historical Ghana Empire , contained a sacred grove called al-gâba (Ar. "the forest") for performing religious rites of the Soninke people . Other sacred groves in Ghana include sacred groves along the coastal savannahs of Ghana. Many sacred groves in Ghana are now under federal protection – like

4725-622: The Colorado State University ) has termed India's Bhats as mythographers. Myth criticism is a system of anthropological interpretation of culture created by French philosopher Gilbert Durand . Scholars have used myth criticism to explain the mythical roots of contemporary fiction, which means that modern myth criticism needs to be interdisciplinary . Professor Losada offers his own methodologic, hermeneutic and epistemological approach to myth. While assuming mythopoetical perspectives, Losada's Cultural Myth Criticism takes

4830-583: The Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE. In the town of Spoleto , Umbria , two stones from the late third century BCE, inscribed in archaic Latin, that established punishments for the profanation of the woods dedicated to Jupiter ( Lex Luci Spoletina ) have survived; they are preserved in the National Archeological Museum of Spoleto. The Bosco Sacro (literally sacred grove ) in the garden of Bomarzo , Italy, lends its associations to

4935-497: The Luo people of western Kenya , and is said to be the first site they established after migrating from South Sudan . The hill is named after Ramogi, a notable Luo leader. The hill and forests are considered holy and sacred, and the Luo people use the hill for cultural and religious practices, including as a source of herbal medicine and a place of meditation . According to the Luo people,

5040-996: The Thar Desert of Rajasthan maintained by the Bishnois , to rain forests in the Kerala Western Ghats . Himachal Pradesh in the North and Kerala in the South are specifically known for their large numbers of sacred groves. The Kodavas of Karnataka maintained over 1000 sacred groves in Kodagu alone. The district of Uttara Kannada in Karnataka also harbours a large number of sacred groves. Around 14,000 sacred groves have been reported from all over India, which act as reservoirs of rare fauna, and more often rare flora, amid rural and even urban settings. Experts believe that

5145-433: The yabunikkei or Cinnamomum japonicum (a form of wild cinnamon). Direct access to the grove is forbidden. Much of the ways of the ancient inhabitants of Malaysia have largely been forgotten, mostly due to the taboos among the local populace on putting certain esoteric knowledge down in ink, thus only passed down through examples and word of mouth from mother to daughter and father to son. However, much can be observed by

5250-562: The 14th-century documents of the Teutonic Order ( sacra sylva, que Scayte vulgariter nominatur..., silva, quae dicitur Heyligewalt... ). A religious centre of intertribal significance was Romuva ( Romow ) in Nadruvia , Prussia , as described by Peter of Dusburg in 1326. For Curonians sacred groves were closely associated with the cult of the dead . By the early 15th century, with the disappearance of cremation traditions among

5355-467: The 16th century but have uninhabited since the 1940s. They are now regarded as sacred sites. Mount Kenya is a mountain of volcanic origin that stands 5,199 metres (17,057 feet) tall. It has a unique forest and plant ecosystem that holds significant biological and cultural importance, and is home to over 882 plant species. In 1949, it was designated a national park , and in 1978, the UNESCO Man and

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5460-428: The 4th century BCE. Remains of Hellenistic houses and streets can still be traced, and there are numerous inscriptions. The cult icon here was a local Zeus Labrandeus (Ζεὺς Λαβρανδεύς), a standing Zeus with the tall lotus-tipped scepter upright in his left hand and the double-headed axe, the labrys , in his right hand. The cult statue was the gift of the founder of the dynasty, Hecatomnus himself, recorded in

5565-618: The Biosphere Programme named it a Biosphere Reserve. It is considered a sacred site by the Kikuyu, who believed that the top of the mountain was the ‘house’ of God. Ramogi hill is located in the Siaya County of western Kenya. The hill and forest cover a distance of 283 hectares (699 acres) and is home to rich flora including trees, shrubs , flowers, over 100 plant species in total. It is an important historical site for

5670-553: The Carians, to commemorate Carian support in a battle. This is the mythic anecdote: the social and political reality may have been more complicated, for such ritual objects are never lightly passed from hand to hand or moved from their fixed abode. Upon receiving this precious, purely ritual axe, the Carians kept it in the Temple of Zeus at Labraunda. The figure of a double-sided axe is a feature of many coins of Halicarnassus . Coins at

5775-566: The Curonians the sacred groves of Courland had lost their crematory function but remained as an inviolable place reserved for the dead. The role of the sacred forests in the 16th-century traditions of Curonian Kings is described in a travel description by Königsberg apothecary Reinhold Lubenau: I first reached Mummel and then passed through Courland, reaching the Curonian king, where we had to watch his pagan superstitions. Since Christmas

5880-629: The Greco-Roman temenos , various Germanic words for sacred groves , and the Celtic nemeton , which was largely but not exclusively associated with Druidic practice. During the Northern Crusades of the Middle Ages, conquering Christians commonly built churches on the sites of sacred groves. The Lakota and various other North American tribes regard particular forests or other natural landmarks as sacred places. Singular trees which

5985-584: The Internet and other artistic fields . Myth criticism, a discipline that studies myths (mythology contains them, like a pantheon its statues), is by nature interdisciplinary: it combines the contributions of literary theory, the history of literature, the fine arts and the new ways of dissemination in the age of communication. Likewise, it undertakes its object of study from its interrelation with other human and social sciences, in particular sociology , anthropology and economics . The need for an approach, for

6090-482: The Lord Gautama Buddha and founded Buddhism after achieving Enlightenment . The Mayadevi Temple is located at Lumbini. In the animistic native Filipino religion called Bathala , the worshiping anito spirits, balete trees ( Ficus spp.), also known as nonok or nunuk , are regarded as abodes of spirits or gateways to the spirit world. Cutting them down was taboo , a superstition that

6195-567: The Soviet school, and the Myth and Ritual School . The critical interpretation of myth began with the Presocratics . Euhemerus was one of the most important pre-modern mythologists. He interpreted myths as accounts of actual historical events, though distorted over many retellings. Sallustius divided myths into five categories: Plato condemned poetic myth when discussing education in

6300-406: The assumption that history and myth are not distinct in the sense that history is factual, real, accurate, and truth, while myth is the opposite. Labraunda Labraunda ( Ancient Greek : Λάβρανδα Labranda or Λάβραυνδα Labraunda ) is an ancient archaeological site five kilometers west of Ortaköy, Muğla Province , Turkey , in the mountains near the coast of Caria . In ancient times, it

6405-470: The concept of the Oedipus complex in his 1899 The Interpretation of Dreams . Jung likewise tried to understand the psychology behind world myths. Jung asserted that all humans share certain innate unconscious psychological forces, which he called archetypes . He believed similarities between the myths of different cultures reveals the existence of these universal archetypes. The mid-20th century saw

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6510-597: The cultures, stories and religions they were encountering through colonialism . These encounters included both extremely old texts such as the Sanskrit Rigveda and the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh , and current oral narratives such as mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas or stories told in traditional African religions . The intellectual context for nineteenth-century scholars

6615-438: The deceased as she or he is laid into the earth is also practiced. The Orang Asli and Malay (see Malaysian names ) naming system has a living name and a spirit name, which is given during the ritual of burial. This name is known as nama arwah (spirit name). The living name is usually the given name plus the word 'anak' which means 'son/daughter of' or 'bin' and 'binti' which mean 'son of' or 'daughter of' respectively; followed by

6720-706: The ethnic identity of local groups. Their survival is believed to depend on oral traditions, with no written laws. Customary taboos forbid harming the groves, including plucking flowers, uprooting plants, or disturbing animals and religious objects. Despite the abundance of sacred groves in India, they are gradually disappearing due to cultural shifts and growing pressure to exploit the natural resources within these groves. Sacred groves in Japan are typically associated with Shinto shrines and are located all over Japan. They have existed since ancient times and shrines are often built in

6825-527: The existing laws. But in 2002 an amendment was brought in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 to include Sacred Groves under the act. In 2016, a framework was published by the intergovernmental organization ICIMOD to help assess the present day significance of sacred natural sites , including sacred groves in all Himalayan countries to enable better policy uptake of these sites. Some NGOs work with local villagers to protect such groves. Each grove

6930-493: The first example of "myth" in 1830. The main characters in myths are usually non-humans, such as gods , demigods , and other supernatural figures. Others include humans, animals, or combinations in their classification of myth. Stories of everyday humans, although often of leaders of some type, are usually contained in legends , as opposed to myths. Myths are sometimes distinguished from legends in that myths deal with gods, usually have no historical basis, and are set in

7035-402: The foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior and that myths may provide a religious experience. By telling or reenacting myths, members of traditional societies detach themselves from the present, returning to the mythical age, thereby coming closer to the divine. Honko asserted that, in some cases, a society reenacts a myth in an attempt to reproduce the conditions of

7140-540: The form of fruits and seeds) to squirrels , foxes , insects and birds. Commonly, a cat, or in most instances, many cats are kept to patrol the gardens and guard from harmful spirits as well as against rats which were believed to carry unclean spirits and diseases. However, one of the most striking examples of the tree reverence among them can be seen in the graveyards which are considered as holy ground , on which no stone structure can be built upon. The whole area are covered by large and tall trees, so much foliage that

7245-475: The gates of the house, one has to bow, as if implying or imitating respect upon entry to a sacred grove which were practiced by their ancestors . Such practices are even performed by those who have migrated into the cities who prefer to live in houses on the ground, rather than in high rise apartments. A garden of fruit trees surrounded by larger trees are planted around the houses to provide shade and an illusion of being at 'home' as well as to provide sustenance (in

7350-525: The gods where people are forbidden to go. Sacred groves are often present in such places, as also in Gusukus – fortified areas which contain sacred sites within them. The Seifa-utaki was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in 2003. It consists of a triangular cavern formed by gigantic rocks, and contains a sacred grove with rare, indigenous trees like the Kubanoki (a kind of palm) and

7455-415: The grounds onto the surface. There is also a ritual of planting small tree sapling on fresh graves by family members who will then water it and tend to it periodically. Petals from fresh red and pink roses are also brought upon visitation to be scattered on the graves and a ritual of pouring rose water upon the soils are also performed. The Malays regard visiting the graves from between sunset to sunrise as

7560-423: The influential development of a structuralist theory of mythology , led by Lévi-Strauss . Strauss argued that myths reflect patterns in the mind and interpreted those patterns more as fixed mental structures, specifically pairs of opposites (good/evil, compassionate/callous), rather than unconscious feelings or urges. Meanwhile, Bronislaw Malinowski developed analyses of myths focusing on their social functions in

7665-711: The knights of the Round Table ) and the Matter of France , seem distantly to originate in historical events of the 5th and 8th centuries, respectively, and became mythologised over the following centuries. In colloquial use, "myth" can also be used of a collectively held belief that has no basis in fact, or any false story. This usage, which is often pejorative , arose from labelling the religious myths and beliefs of other cultures as incorrect, but it has spread to cover non-religious beliefs as well. As commonly used by folklorists and academics in other relevant fields, such as anthropology , "myth" has no implication whether

7770-418: The larger cities, these houses are abandoned and allowed to return to nature. As most traditional Orang Asli and Malay houses are made of only wood, bamboo , rattan and woven palm leaves (being built without using a single nail), the remains of those houses crumble easily into its surrounding. Besides that, a practice of creating arches of vine and creeping flowering plants so that each time one were to enter

7875-582: The medicinal plants that grow in the forests of Ramogi hill are considered to have strong healing powers. The concept of sacred groves is present in Nigerian mythology as well. The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove , containing dense forests, is located just outside the city of Osogbo , and is regarded as one of the last virgin high forests in Nigeria. It is dedicated to the fertility goddess in Yoruba mythology , and

7980-547: The men and women, as well as the children, danced around the table, something that continued for the whole night. When they went to bed one after another, they invited us to eat and take with us what we would, since they would not eat what was left over, but would give it to the dogs. Neither did they want to take any payment from us for what we had eaten. The Celts used sacred groves, called nemeton in Gaulish , for performing rituals, based on Celtic mythology . The deity involved

8085-462: The midst of preexisting groves. The Cryptomeria tree is venerated in Shinto practice, and considered sacred. Among the sacred groves associated with such jinja s or Shinto shrines is the 20-hectare wooded area associated with Atsuta Shrine ( 熱田神宮 , Atsuta-jingū ) at Atsuta-ku, Nagoya . The 1500-hectare forest associated with Kashima Shrine was declared a "protected area" in 1953. Today it

8190-459: The museum at Bodrum bear the head of Apollo on the obverse and on the reverse the name of the reigning Carian ruler inscribed next to the figure of Zeus Labraunda carrying the double-bladed Carian axe. The Swedish Institute at Athens has been in charge of archeology at Labraunda, notably in a series of campaigns in 1948-53, initiated by Axel W. Persson and taken up, after the latter's sudden death, by Gösta Säflund, has published its findings in

8295-465: The myth-ritual theory, myth is tied to ritual. In its most extreme form, this theory claims myths arose to explain rituals. This claim was first put forward by Smith , who argued that people begin performing rituals for reasons not related to myth. Forgetting the original reason for a ritual, they account for it by inventing a myth and claiming the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth. James George Frazer —author of The Golden Bough ,

8400-583: The mythical age. For example, it might reenact the healing performed by a god at the beginning of time in order to heal someone in the present. Similarly, Barthes argued that modern culture explores religious experience. Since it is not the job of science to define human morality, a religious experience is an attempt to connect with a perceived moral past, which is in contrast with the technological present. Pattanaik defines mythology as "the subjective truth of people communicated through stories, symbols and rituals." He says, "Facts are everybody's truth. Fiction

8505-430: The myths of multiple cultures. In some cases, comparative mythologists use the similarities between separate mythologies to argue that those mythologies have a common source. This source may inspire myths or provide a common "protomythology" that diverged into the mythologies of each culture. A number of commentators have argued that myths function to form and shape society and social behaviour. Eliade argued that one of

8610-564: The name of the father. When a person dies, the father's name is replaced with his or her mother's name and this is made known during the reading of burial sentences. Granted World Heritage status by UNESCO in 1997, Lumbini Grove is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of Nepal . It is the place where, according to Buddhist tradition, Queen Mayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama in 623 BCE . Gautama, who achieved nirvana some time around 543 BCE, became

8715-565: The narrative may be understood as true or otherwise. Among biblical scholars of both the Old and New Testament, the word "myth" has a technical meaning, in that it usually refers to "describe the actions of the other‐worldly in terms of this world" such as the Creation and the Fall. Since "myth" is popularly used to describe stories that are not objectively true , the identification of a narrative as

8820-462: The place of the sacred labrys, which was the Lydian (or Carian) name for the Greek πέλεκυς, or double-edged axe. The same root labr- appears in the labyrinth of Knossos, which is interpreted as the "place of the axe." The double-headed axe was a central iconic motif at Labraunda. The axe cast of gold had been kept in the Lydian capital Sardes for centuries. The Lydian king Gyges awarded it to

8925-484: The rationalization of myths, putting themes formerly imbued with mythological qualities into pragmatic contexts. An example of this would be following a cultural or religious paradigm shift (notably the re-interpretation of pagan mythology following Christianization ). Interest in polytheistic mythology revived during the Renaissance , with early works of mythography appearing in the sixteenth century, among them

9030-543: The real world. He is associated with the idea that myths such as origin stories might provide a "mythic charter"—a legitimisation—for cultural norms and social institutions . Thus, following the Structuralist Era ( c.  1960s –1980s), the predominant anthropological and sociological approaches to myth increasingly treated myth as a form of narrative that can be studied, interpreted, and analyzed like ideology, history, and culture. In other words, myth

9135-547: The sacred grove at Didyma , Turkey are thought to be nemeton s, sacred groves protected by druids based on Celtic mythology. In fact, according to Strabo , the central shrine at Galatia was called Drunemeton . Some of these were also sacred groves in Greek times (as in the case of Didyma), but were based on a different or slightly changed mythology. Trees hold a particular role in Germanic paganism and Germanic mythology, both as individuals (sacred trees) and in groups (sacred groves). The central role of trees in Germanic religion

9240-542: The sacrilege entailed in its destruction. There are two mentions on this tradition in the Bible : And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of God. and where the women wove hangings for the grove. Excavations at Labraunda have revealed a large shrine assumed to be that of Zeus Stratios mentioned by Herodotus as a large sacred grove of plane trees sacred to Carians . In Syria, there

9345-492: The scorching tropical sun is reduced to a dim shadow as temperatures drop to a comfortable cool. Malay folklore relates that the trees whisper prayers to the creator in absolution of the past transgression of the ground's once human inhabitants. The trees are also allowed to take root into the graves where the grave keepers ( penjaga kubur in Malay) slowly remove gravestones (which used to be made from wood) as they are ejected from

9450-421: The symbolic interpretation of traditional and Orphic myths. Mythological themes were consciously employed in literature, beginning with Homer . The resulting work may expressly refer to a mythological background without itself becoming part of a body of myths ( Cupid and Psyche ). Medieval romance in particular plays with this process of turning myth into literature. Euhemerism , as stated earlier, refers to

9555-464: The term "myth" altogether for purposes of avoiding placing pejorative overtones on sacred narratives. In present use, "mythology" usually refers to the collection of myths of a group of people. For example, Greek mythology , Roman mythology , Celtic mythology and Hittite mythology all describe the body of myths retold among those cultures. "Mythology" can also refer to the study of myths and mythologies. The compilation or description of myths

9660-650: The total number of sacred groves could be as high as 100,000. Threats to the groves include urbanization, and over-exploitation of resources. While many of the groves are looked upon as abode of Hindu gods, in the recent past a number of them have been partially cleared for construction of shrines and temples. Ritualistic dances and dramatizations based on the local deities that protect the groves are called Theyyam in Kerala and Nagmandalam , among other names, in Karnataka . There are sacred groves in Ernakulam region in

9765-532: The uncanny atmosphere. Lucus Pisaurensis , the Sacred Grove of Pesaro , Italy was discovered by Patrician Annibale degli Abati Olivieri in 1737 on property he owned along the 'Forbidden Road' ( Collina di Calibano ), just outside Pesaro. This sacred grove is the site of the Votive Stones of Pesaro and was dedicated to Salus , the ancient Roman demi-goddess of well-being. The city of Massilia ,

9870-483: The variant – polystratic; an Erzählstoff in which transcending interpretations of what can be experienced are combined into a hyleme sequence with an implicit claim to relevance for the interpretation and mastering of the human condition." Scholars in other fields use the term "myth" in varied ways. In a broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story , popular misconception or imaginary entity. Though myth and other folklore genres may overlap, myth

9975-470: The ways and habits of the natives of Malaysia which include 18 tribes of Orang Asli ( Malay for Natural People) and the Malays , who are often regarded as the 19th tribe. There is a practice of tree planting around houses to the extent that the walls and wooden structures are allowed to give way to the roots of creeping plants, purposely sown at the bases of these structures. With increased migration towards

10080-739: The winds. Herodotus (fifth-century BCE) and Prodicus made claims of this kind. This theory is named euhemerism after mythologist Euhemerus ( c.  320 BCE ), who suggested that Greek gods developed from legends about humans. Some theories propose that myths began as allegories for natural phenomena: Apollo represents the sun, Poseidon represents water, and so on. According to another theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise judgment, Aphrodite romantic desire, and so on. Müller supported an allegorical theory of myth. He believed myths began as allegorical descriptions of nature and gradually came to be interpreted literally. For example,

10185-405: The word mȳthos with the suffix - λογία ( -logia , 'study') in order to mean 'romance, fiction, story-telling.' Accordingly, Plato used mythología as a general term for 'fiction' or 'story-telling' of any kind. In Anglicised form, this Greek word began to be used in English (and was likewise adapted into other European languages) in the early 19th century, in a much narrower sense, as

10290-750: Was a grove sacred to Adonis at Afqa . A sacred grove is known as alka(s) in Lithuanian and elks in Latvian , however, the terms are also sometimes used to refer to natural holy places in general. The first mention of Baltic sacred groves dates back to 1075 when Adam of Bremen noted Baltic Prussian sacred groves and springs whose sacredness was believed to be polluted by the entry of Christians ( solus prohibetur accessus lucorum et fontium, quos autumant pollui christianorum accessu ). A few sacred groves in Sambian Peninsula are mentioned in

10395-536: Was approaching, they went hunting in their holy forest, where they do no hunting and do not cut a single rod throughout the rest of the year. All that they now hunted there: roe deer, red deer and hares, they skinned, cooked and placed on a long table. They fastened a large number of wax candles to the table, for the souls of their parents, children and relatives. After this, standing and walking to and fro, they ate and drank, and forced us to do likewise. Later, they brought an empty beer keg and beat on it with two sticks, and

10500-1029: Was central to the " myth and ritual " school of thought. According to Frazer, humans begin with an unfounded belief in impersonal magical laws. When they realize applications of these laws do not work, they give up their belief in natural law in favor of a belief in personal gods controlling nature, thus giving rise to religious myths. Meanwhile, humans continue practicing formerly magical rituals through force of habit, reinterpreting them as reenactments of mythical events. Finally, humans come to realize nature follows natural laws, and they discover their true nature through science. Here again, science makes myth obsolete as humans progress "from magic through religion to science." Segal asserted that by pitting mythical thought against modern scientific thought, such theories imply modern humans must abandon myth. The earlier 20th century saw major work developing psychoanalytical approaches to interpreting myth, led by Sigmund Freud , who, drawing inspiration from Classical myth, began developing

10605-523: Was held sacred by Carians and Mysians alike. The site amid its sacred plane trees was enriched in the Hellenistic style by the Hecatomnid dynasty of Mausolus , satrap (and virtual king) of Persian Caria (c. 377 – 352 BCE), and also later by his successor and brother Idrieus ; Labranda was the dynasty's ancestral sacred shrine. The prosperity of a rapidly hellenised Caria occurred during

10710-618: Was primarily concerned with the natural world. It tended to interpret myths that seemed distasteful to European Victorians —such as tales about sex, incest, or cannibalism—as metaphors for natural phenomena like agricultural fertility . Unable to conceive impersonal natural laws, early humans tried to explain natural phenomena by attributing souls to inanimate objects, thus giving rise to animism . According to Tylor, human thought evolved through stages, starting with mythological ideas and gradually progressing to scientific ideas. Müller also saw myth as originating from language, even calling myth

10815-530: Was profoundly shaped by emerging ideas about evolution . These ideas included the recognition that many Eurasian languages—and therefore, conceivably, stories—were all descended from a lost common ancestor (the Indo-European language ) which could rationally be reconstructed through the comparison of its descendant languages. They also included the idea that cultures might evolve in ways comparable to species. In general, 19th-century theories framed myth as

10920-545: Was then adopted in Middle French as mythologie . Whether from French or Latin usage, English adopted the word "mythology" in the 15th century, initially meaning 'the exposition of a myth or myths', 'the interpretation of fables', or 'a book of such expositions'. The word is first attested in John Lydgate 's Troy Book ( c.  1425 ). From Lydgate until the 17th or 18th century, "mythology" meant

11025-643: Was usually Nemetona – a Celtic goddess. Druids oversaw such rituals. Existence of such groves have been found in Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Hungary in Central Europe, in many sites of ancient Gaul in France, as well as England and Northern Ireland . Sacred groves had been plentiful up until the 1st century BC, when the Romans attacked and conquered Gaul. One of the best known nemeton sites

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