{"id":868,"date":"2024-02-15T11:18:09","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T13:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whoweare.elementor.cloud\/?p=868"},"modified":"2024-08-15T16:34:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T18:34:18","slug":"origin-myths-cultural-narratives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whoweare.elementor.cloud\/en\/origin-myths-cultural-narratives\/","title":{"rendered":"Once upon a time"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Once upon a time<\/h3>\n
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in a tiny village nestled amid rolling hills and ancient forests lived a young woodcutter.\u00a0 One fine day, returning from work, he hears laughter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Deciding to investigate, he finds some beautiful women bathing in a pond, and on the water\u2019s edge a pile of feathered cloaks.\u00a0 Hidden from view, he manages to grab one of the fluffy garments and stuffs it into his bag.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Once the group of bathing ladies decide they\u2019ve had enough, they put on their cloaks, transform into swans and fly away.\u00a0 All except one maiden who can\u2019t find her feathers. \u00a0 Pretending to offer assistance, our lovestruck lumberjack manages to lure the distressed damsel back to his digs.\u00a0 Eventually they get to know each other, marry, have kids, live happily and prosper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Until one day, the ex-swan maiden discovers her feathered cloak stashed away, figures out the devious deception, and flies off forever.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\nswan maiden finds her wings<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n
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The network of narrative<\/h3>\n
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If you\u2019re at all interested in traditional European folklore, this swan maiden story probably sounds familiar. \u00a0 A lesser known fact is that the tale is also related to the Cyclops story.\u00a0 As is the Amazon myth about the existence of a powerful, warrior tribe consisting only of women.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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In the last chapter we mentioned that the Cyclops myth was part of a family of stories that evolved from an older narrative, about a group of primeval guardians of all the natural resources necessary for human survival. \u00a0 The tales of powerful, magical maidens and the Cyclops type story are in turn related via a common ancestral narrative originating in Africa.<\/p>\n
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As far as we can tell, the original mythology, carried out of Africa by our ancestors around 60000 years ago, goes roughly as follows : The Earth is a feminine entity that gave birth to humanity.\u00a0 We all emerged from holes in the ground, from caves.\u00a0 Women emerged from the Earth with similar creative powers and abilities.\u00a0 Not only were they also able to give birth to tiny humans, but they controlled all the essential resources and possessed all the important cultural knowledge.\u00a0 The primeval guardians of knowledge, or the master of animals we encounter in later legends, were initially women.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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This still seems to be very much the case today, my wife definitely holds all the arcane knowledge of what\u2019s what : how to behave in public, when to use the precious cutlery and much more.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\nVenus of Willendorf<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n
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In any case, the notion that men must acquire and subdue women in order to be happy and prosper, is still alive.\u00a0 We could even consider it a Jungian archetype.\u00a0 I\u2019m referring to the ongoing struggle in many countries to control reproductive rights.\u00a0 Or the violence and dishonesty that sometimes still exist in our desire for intimate sexual relationships.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Even the Amazon idea of a separate society for women still crops up in modern times.\u00a0 Not just in books and movies, like DC\u2019s \u201cWonder Woman\u201d, but in serious political rhetoric.\u00a0 For example, in the year 2000 Andrea Dworkin called for the establishment of a \u201cwoman\u2019s homeland\u201d as a response to the ongoing \u201coppression\u201d.<\/p>\n
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The Enuma Elish<\/h3>\n
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It’s not surprising that we, in the modern world, are able to share and record stories with some accuracy over time, thanks to the written word – we\u2019ve got ancient manuscripts, books and even facebook.\u00a0 But how did we manage to conserve these stories so faithfully during the millenia before writing was invented?\u00a0 All we had was our oral traditions.\u00a0 And despite that, scholars are telling us that myths were passed down with unwavering precision over generations.\u00a0 Any changes in the narrative appear to actually be deliberate.\u00a0 Names and characters were replaced on purpose in order to make some political statement, due to the adoption of a new religion for example.\u00a0 Because we wanted to differentiate ourselves from a neighboring civilisation, with whom we had become enemies. Or because we were a desert faring peoples and the story had initially been invented in a lush tropical region that was completely alien and incomprehensible to us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This happens even in literary societies.\u00a0 We have examples of narratives being adapted to the changing cultural environment. \u00a0 A case in point would be a comparison of the earliest versions of Genesis from the old testament (written around the 10th century BCE) and something called the Enuma Elish (13th century BCE).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"swan](\"https:\/\/whoweare.elementor.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/swan-maiden.jpg\")
\n![\"Paleolithic](\"https:\/\/whoweare.elementor.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/venus-of-Willendorf.webp\")
\n![\"ancient](\"https:\/\/whoweare.elementor.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/sky-of-nuit.gif\")
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/whoweare.elementor.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tribal-dance.jpg\")
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