INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY & FOLKLORE

This video under the course comparative Mythology & Folklore intends to give you an introduction about the course particularly on the Nature of Mythology & Folklore, the Myth and its Relationship to other Narrative Forms and on the Principles & Significance of Studying Comparative Mythology & Folklore.

[theelectricorigins]

Such definition of Myth is incomplete at best. Myth comes from Greek 'mythos' which means story. It doesnt mean it is false at all (that's a modern misconception). Origin is likely unknown despite there are several theories. It is not about super-human beings though. Ancient gods were what we call planets. That's what comparative myth should study, analogies and shares in the roles of deities. Jung called them Archetypes, Levi-Strauss labelled them as Mythemes and Bartlett as Schemes.
'Comparative Mythology' must answer the question: If the 'Telephone Game' is able to distort any story (even written or own-witnessed) and our memories are reconstructed every time we access them and modified according to 'social contagion', then why are so many identical ARCHETYPES in every single culture around the world?
Maybe our ancestors lived some real events which were so catastrophic and traumatic that they remained UNCONSCIOUSS (causing reenactment with role exchange) and triggered the appearance of Religions which diluted the effect of the Chinese Whispers.