r/folklore

Link to the 1971 monograph by Greek folklorist Georgios A. Megas, about Cupid and Psyche and other Animal as Bridegroom tales. The conclusions may be dated, but he gives a rundown of every Greek variant collected until then.

Understanding what makes Mythology…Myth?

Hey! I’m a writer and I’ve been looking into History, Theology, Mythology, and in general the Humanities for my biggest project yet. Something I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around is what makes Mythology a myth. Obviously, Google is free, so I search the definition and I’m met with:

“Mythology is a collection of traditional stories, myths, and legends—often featuring gods, heroes, and supernatural elements—that belong to a particular culture, religion, or society. It serves to explain natural phenomena, cultural traditions, or fundamental aspects of existence, such as creation and death.”

In summary I’ve interpreted it to mean “Mythology is supernatural stories to further society and explain phenomena we couldn’t comprehend at the time.”

Call me crazy but isn’t that just…religion? Like obviously people worshipped this in the past, but what differentiates mythology from religion? Again, Google is free and I see: “Mythology acts as the narrative foundation, while religion is the practice.”

No hate to whoever came up with this but I genuinely cannot wrap my head around this explanation. We have the Bible that is FILLED to the BRIM with narratively driven stories, I would know, I’m an Ex-Christian currently exploring faith and religion, but I HAVE READ THE BIBLE!!! This tells me that the vast majority of the Bible should by definition be considered a mythological text, not a holy text. I would understand if that narrows down the options to “A mythology has no holy text, a religion does.” But that doesn’t make up for the Reconstruction Faiths and at that point we have to get into philosophy(or at least that’s where my adhd takes me). A pseudo Ship of Theseus question appears. “If a holy text is edited and changed, at what point is the faith no longer the same?”

We know the Bible has been edited, altered, and changed. There’s no arguing that, but at what point is it no longer the same? The Dead Sea scrolls are about 80% the same to the Bible today’s standard Bible, but things aren’t added like certain psalms and different wordings. The Bible also has other texts like the Apocrypha, things that most denominations don’t accept but arguably the two largest ones (Catholic and Orthodox) actually do believe in them. You also have your…I don’t wanna say \*fan fictions\* because these are things people believe in, but like how Hellenism has Homer’s Odyssey, Christianity has Dante’s Inferno. Neither of which are actually deemed as historical nor real in the slightest.

If religion is something people believe in and is more centered around practice, and myth is centered around stories, is Dante’s Inferno Christian Myth? Is the Apocrypha not things that should be considered true as the biggest denominations believe them to be so? Why do we consider Christianity as a Religion and Greek Myth as a Myth even though Hellenism exists today? And why is it so taboo to break “societal norms” by saying the words “Christian/Christianity” and “Myth” in the same sentence?

This went on probably WAY longer than needed but I had to get this out of my system. I love to learn and incorporate the things I love into my projects. If you can help me, please do. If you read this far thank you so much for actually being interested in my passion!!!