Myths on Water
General
The Myth
The Myth is an imaginary narration of fabulous and magic genre, telling the exceptional deeds of heroes and supernatural beings. It gives a fanciful and an irrational explanation to the many events and the natural phenomena that man was not able to explain, as for example the origin of mankind, the existence of life and of the universe, the prevalence of death over life, the eternal contrast between good and evil.
In this sense the myth is also the idealization of an event or of a character, so important to attract and fascinate in a deep and irrational way the popular collective imaginary.
The world “myth” derives from the Greek language and means exactly story, legend.
The myths originally were handed down from generation to generation orally by word of mouth, thanks to men responsible for this function: wizards, priest, cantors, bards.
Only in a second moment some poets wrote down the Myths, even if this didn’t prevent their popular oral transmission.
Since the most ancient times all the people have felt the necessity of relating their own vision of life and of the world: the Myths express the fundamental conceptions of each society, the experience of the people, they represent the soul of a community, in this sense, they are a precious and irreplaceable cultural heritage of any people or social group, as they reveal their way of living, their uses, the costumes, the religious beliefs. Every people on the Earth, as primitive and culturally simple can be, have produced their myths, relating to the differences of time and place, social and economical organization.
At the same time, even if they belong to people completely different among one another, the myths present some identical characteristics as the essence of the human nature is almost equal; therefore also the myths belonging to people living in primitive state as the Boscimans or the Bantus, have something in common with those read in the pages of people that have attained, in their historic path an elevated degree of civilization as the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans.
The Myths are an example of the culture and civilization reached by each people: varying from the simplest and unsophisticated narration to the most elaborated expressions, being, always the symbol of the prestige of advanced and complex forms of civilization.The grandeur of the myths is entrusted to the written codification given by the greatest authors of the past. For the Latin world the encyclopaedic references were the Latin writers Ovid and Virgil, that represent the most authoritative and reliable source, from which all the other writers drew inspiration. Ovid’s “Metamorphosi” have been an important reference point for all the Middle Ages. Their tales and stories have the precise objective to give an explanation to reality, to what man can’t explain, to what somehow, concerns man and his necessities.
Myths, legends and tradition in Sicily
Sicily is perhaps the most suggestive and exciting land in the Mediterranean area where legends and traditions meet, making it a cradle of great civilization.
Since ancient times it has been the scenery of Myths and legends that have intermingled with its religious roots, many of them have much to do with water as the symbol of life, of agriculture, of what was really important and essential to the insular life.
Sicily is unique as unique is his people that have been able to preserve a specific cultural identity throughout the centuries and the different dominations: The Phoenicians, the Greek, the Byzantine, the Arabs, the Normans, the Swabians, the Aragonese, the Spanish, the Angevins, the Austrians, the Bourbons.
This land of culture and kindness is open to all his visitors with the incantation of his eternal beauty, with the majesty of his history, the splendour of his art and the magnificence of his monuments, and above all, with the hospitality of this people.
Strong is its tradition of ancient myths linked to water, some of them will be presented as an example of our greatest cultural heritage.
(This is a work of the Italian School Liceo "Ugo Mursia" in Carini)
The Myth
The Myth is an imaginary narration of fabulous and magic genre, telling the exceptional deeds of heroes and supernatural beings. It gives a fanciful and an irrational explanation to the many events and the natural phenomena that man was not able to explain, as for example the origin of mankind, the existence of life and of the universe, the prevalence of death over life, the eternal contrast between good and evil.
In this sense the myth is also the idealization of an event or of a character, so important to attract and fascinate in a deep and irrational way the popular collective imaginary.
The world “myth” derives from the Greek language and means exactly story, legend.
The myths originally were handed down from generation to generation orally by word of mouth, thanks to men responsible for this function: wizards, priest, cantors, bards.
Only in a second moment some poets wrote down the Myths, even if this didn’t prevent their popular oral transmission.
Since the most ancient times all the people have felt the necessity of relating their own vision of life and of the world: the Myths express the fundamental conceptions of each society, the experience of the people, they represent the soul of a community, in this sense, they are a precious and irreplaceable cultural heritage of any people or social group, as they reveal their way of living, their uses, the costumes, the religious beliefs. Every people on the Earth, as primitive and culturally simple can be, have produced their myths, relating to the differences of time and place, social and economical organization.
At the same time, even if they belong to people completely different among one another, the myths present some identical characteristics as the essence of the human nature is almost equal; therefore also the myths belonging to people living in primitive state as the Boscimans or the Bantus, have something in common with those read in the pages of people that have attained, in their historic path an elevated degree of civilization as the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans.
The Myths are an example of the culture and civilization reached by each people: varying from the simplest and unsophisticated narration to the most elaborated expressions, being, always the symbol of the prestige of advanced and complex forms of civilization.The grandeur of the myths is entrusted to the written codification given by the greatest authors of the past. For the Latin world the encyclopaedic references were the Latin writers Ovid and Virgil, that represent the most authoritative and reliable source, from which all the other writers drew inspiration. Ovid’s “Metamorphosi” have been an important reference point for all the Middle Ages. Their tales and stories have the precise objective to give an explanation to reality, to what man can’t explain, to what somehow, concerns man and his necessities.
Myths, legends and tradition in Sicily
Sicily is perhaps the most suggestive and exciting land in the Mediterranean area where legends and traditions meet, making it a cradle of great civilization.
Since ancient times it has been the scenery of Myths and legends that have intermingled with its religious roots, many of them have much to do with water as the symbol of life, of agriculture, of what was really important and essential to the insular life.
Sicily is unique as unique is his people that have been able to preserve a specific cultural identity throughout the centuries and the different dominations: The Phoenicians, the Greek, the Byzantine, the Arabs, the Normans, the Swabians, the Aragonese, the Spanish, the Angevins, the Austrians, the Bourbons.
This land of culture and kindness is open to all his visitors with the incantation of his eternal beauty, with the majesty of his history, the splendour of his art and the magnificence of his monuments, and above all, with the hospitality of this people.
Strong is its tradition of ancient myths linked to water, some of them will be presented as an example of our greatest cultural heritage.
(This is a work of the Italian School Liceo "Ugo Mursia" in Carini)
posted by Stergios Nastopoulos @ 1:35 AM
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