The problem of defining myth

The first thing that one realises in trying to grasp the semantic implications of myth is that myth can cover an extremely wide field. The way in which the term myth is commonly used reveals, too, that the word is loaded with emotional overtones. These overtones creep not only into common parlance but also, somewhat surprisingly, into scientific usage. That myth does, in fact, carry emotional overtones in this way is perhaps most easily seen if we think of terms such as prayer, liturgy, ritual drama, spell: they are all used for different religious genres but would seem to be more neutral than myth. It appears to be difficult for many scholars to discuss myth simply as a form of religious communication, as one genre among other genres. If one differentiates between four levels, namely, form, content, function and context, it is much easier to encounter the varied uses which the concept has acquired in scientific literature. By this it is possible to delimit and yet be flexible at the same time. There is no need to welcome with open arms just any traditions into the fold of myth research: but nor is it necessary to exclude, for example, studies of myth where the context criterion, i.e. a context of ritual, is not fulfilled. The degree of flexibility that can be achieved is dependent on the approach that the scholar has chosen

Epics along the Silk Roads : mental text, performance, and written codification

The idea of launching studies on the epics to be found along the Silk Roads was born in France and Finland almost simultaneously in 1989-90. At the 25th General Conference of UNESCO held in Paris in October-November 1989, a long and bureaucratic, yet historical process was brought to a happy end when the Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore was adopted by the Conference. The aim of this hitherto most authoritative document about the importance of folklore and oral traditions for national, ethnic, and regional cultural identities and for world culture in general was to raise awareness of the role of modern documentation work in creating new cultural resources through conservation, preservation, and dissemination of fragile local traditions (Honko 1989a, 1990b).Issue title; "Epics Along the Silk Roads.

Die Dynamik in der kulturellen Veränderung und Institutionalisierung

to be adde

Epic and identity : national, regional, communal, individual

The ethnologists and folklorists present at the meeting agreed that the term was used in three different ways, firstly, "tradition as something that is handed down in a continuous process of transmission." This meaning was the least interesting of the three, because it reflected only the most common everyday usage found in dictionaries. It seemed to lack analytic power; that is, it was not problematic in a fruitful way. The second meaning, "tradition as the stuff out of which cultures are made and which we have deposited in our folklore archives," was problematic because it raised the question of how tradition and culture relate to each other. Tradition was seen as a haphazard collection of material and immaterial items. The third meaning, "tradition as something representative of a social group (based on selection by members of the group or by outside agents)," proved to be the actual core of the debate. As in the previous case, an additional term offered itself" "group identity." The third meaning clearly referred to those elements in the traditions of a group that signify the group's typicality, its character and possibly uniqueness.Issue title; "Epics Along the Silk Roads.

Vapauttakaamme Elias Lönnrot

Kalevalan ja vertailevan eepostutkimuksen tarina alkaa romantiikasta. Romantikkojen kirjallisuusnäkemyksessä eepokset asettuivat näkyvälle arvosijalle. Niissä oli suuren kertomuksen tunnuspiirteitä, ja niitä sävytti omalaatuinen kulttuurinen tietoisuus, josta alettiin käyttää nimitystä kansanhenki. Tällä sanalla oli sekä yleismaailmallinen että ahtaampi kansallinen ulottuvuutensa. Toisaalta eepoksiin ja yleensä kansanrunouteen oli siivilöitynyt aikojen myötä ihmiskunnan esikirjallisten hengentuotteiden parhaimmisto; tässä mielessä kansanrunous oli todella kansojen runoutta kuten J. G. von Herder tähdensi. Toisaalta eepokset olivat muinaisen kollektiivisen kansanhengen puhetta, esi-isien lähettämiä viestejä tietylle yhteisölle vaiheessa, jossa se tuli tietoiseksi itsestään ja loi oman identiteettinsä