COURSE WORK PLAN & HANDOUTS

SECOND SEMESTER 2021-2022

Course : ELT 108

Program/ Year : BSED 2 (ENGLISH)
Descriptive Title : MYTHOLOGY and FOLKLORE
Contact Hours : 3 hours per week
Course Instructress : JINGLE A. PADAYAO , MPA, LPT

Course Description:
This course introduces the pre-service English teachers to the exploration of mythology and
folklore from different countries to gain insights into people’s origin, desires, fears, instincts, and
needs. With this, they will be able to demonstrate content and research-based knowledge and
principles of mythology and folklore in English language teaching as basis for their creative
mythological presentations, narrative reports in folklore, and an enriched reading list of folkloric
literature in the curriculum.
At the end of the course, the pre-service teachers should be able to:
 demonstrate content and principles of mythology and folklore from different countries in order to gain
insights of people’s origin, desires, fears, instincts, and needs through a creative presentation; and
 demonstrate understanding of research-based knowledge and principles in mythology and folklore
literatures through a research of mythologic and folkloric texts in one’s locale.
 gain insights into the beginnings of mythology as an attempt of ancient people to explain nature and of
natural phenomena.
 discover similarities (and contrasts) among the myths of the different countries and draw implications
thereafter.
 reflect on the values derived from mythology, a rich body of knowledge.

Week 1
TOPIC 1: FOLK LITERATURE: Mythology and Folklore—An Overview
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the course, the pre-service teachers should be able to:
 describe folk literature as a relevant artifact of history; and
 define different terms relating to the subject matter.

Introduction
Myths began before even the most basic understanding humans had of life. They started in ancient
cultures, often as a result of visions from unknown divinity, voices heard in the howling of wind, hope for rain
and for food, success in the hunt, and nearly infinite other reasons. Myths are the precursor for art, religion,
and languages, too. The fear of the unknown and what it might mean for unsuspecting people encouraged
them to come up with stories or tales offering answers to so many questions that seemed unanswerable. They
gave the youth, and even the elderly, a sense of moral obligation and something to look up to.
Everyone has a life sense demanding them to be remembered by something unique, so that their life is
meaningful and may affect people in a lasting way. Myth’s gave people an idea of what they could be, where
they are going, and how the future might affect them. Before grand societies and cultures existed, myths did. A
civilized state has mythology at its foundation.
People from long ago looked to their stories of myth as we look to the creations of our imaginations,
most of which have a link to what was told in the past. Hundreds of unique tales of the Greek gods are retold
all the time. Modern day literature has a hardline connected to the ancient tradition of myth. King Arthur,
Moby Dick, the tale of Jonah: they are all widely known and well understood, though their stories are some of
the oldest records of human history.
The roots of Mythology are so deep into human culture and shape us in enormously significant ways.
They give us direction and purpose. Perhaps part of the reason we seek refuge in the stars with our

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development of near fictional technology is due to the longing our species has felt to know how the gods of
Norse lived.

Abstraction/ Generalization
The terms myth and folklore, are often used interchangeably, leading to the misconception that they
mean the same thing: fanciful tales. Although it's true that these terms may refer to bodies of writing that
answer some of life's basic questions or present commentary on morality, each type presents a distinct reader
experience. They've all stood the test of time, which speaks volumes about their ongoing hold on our
imaginations.

Definition of Terms
Myth: (1) a story (2) that is usually of unknown origin and (3) at least partially traditional (4) that ostensibly
relates historical events usually of such description as (5) to serve to explain some particular event, institution,
or natural phenomenon (Webster)
Myths are certain products of the imagination of a people which take the form of stories.
(H.J. Rose, A Handbook of Greek Mythology)
A myth is a story about gods, other supernatural beings, or heroes of a long past time.
(M. Reinhold, Past and Present)
Myth is a cognitive structure analogous to language through which primitive people organize their
experiences. (J. Peradotto, Classical
Mythology)
Myth is the symbolic form which is generated, shaped, and transmitted by the creative imagination of pre- and
extra-logical people as they respond to and encapsulate the wealth of experience.
(R.J. Schork, “Classical Mythology,” The Classic Journal)

Fairy tale: a make-believe story about fairies, wizards, giants, or other characters who possess magical or
unusual powers

Folklore: traditions, customs, and stories of one culture or group of people

Legend: a story about the past that is considered to be true but is usually a combination of both fact and
fiction

Mythology: a group of myths from a single group or culture

Supernatural: more than what is natural or normal; showing godlike or magical powers; exhibiting
superhuman strength

Types of Myth
 PURE MYTH OR TRUE MYTH OR MYTH PROPER
Myths of this kind tend to be examples of primitive science or religion. They explain natural
phenomena or the origin of things, and they describe how individuals should behave toward the
gods.
 SAGA OR LEGEND
Myths of this variety tend to be examples of primitive history; they contain a germ or seed of
historical fact and enlarge upon it with great flourish. A good example of a saga or legend in the story
of the war at Troy.
 FOLK-TALE OR FAIRY-TALE
Myths of this species tend to be examples of primitive fiction. Tales of this sort are told for pleasure
and amusement. Frequently the stories contain supernatural characters such as ghosts, elves, dwarfs,
or demons, and they often include elements of magic, e.g., spells, potions, and objects.
Sources of Mythology and Folklore
Aesop’s Fables: a collection of fables under the name of Aesop over 2,000 years ago in Greece. According to
Herodotus, Aesop lived in the mid-sixth century and was a slave and that he was killed by the people
of Delphi, perhaps for seditious or sacrilegious beliefs.
A Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights): a collection of stories and fables from
Arabia, Egypt, India, and Persia that were compiled from oral tales that had been passed down

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through these cultures for generations. Some of the well-known characters include Aladdin, Ali Baba,
and Sinbad the Sailor. Jinn are common figures in these stories.
The Great Epics of the World: Myths and legends are usually sourced from the existing epics of the different
cultures of the world. The Iliad and The Odyssey of the Greeks, The Aeneid of the Romans, The
Mahabharata and Ramayana of India, Beouwolf of England, The Song of Roland of France, El Cid of
Spain, Sha Namah of Persia, Gilgamesh of the Babylonians, etc.
The Panchatantra: a collection of fables which was used to educate Indian princes into becoming wise kings.
It is supposed that Aesop’s Fables largely owed much from the Panchatantra.
The Poems of Hesiod: Theogony and Works and Days. Hesiod is an early Greek poet who probably flourished
around 700 B.C. Much of Greek mythology came from his two complete works.

THE GREAT THEMES OF MYTH

CREATION
Creation myths set the stage for more particular myths supporting social structures, the relation of
human beings to the natural world, and questions of life and death. A creator deity brings into being the sun,
moon, and stars, seas and mountains, and so on, along with deities that personify them, then plant life,
animals, and humans that populate the world.
GODS AND GODDESSES
Universally, people believed in ideal beings leading them. Such deities possess human characteristics:
they have parents and offspring, and they belong to some social grouping. An important role of mythology is
to reinforce and justify relations of power and leadership
HEROIC FIGURES
Heroes and heroines are semi-divine beings: in many mythologies they have superhuman powers
through divine parentage; or they may have acquired divinity through their deeds as men or women on earth,
with the help of a deity, by use of magic weapons, or acquisition of magic powers through ingenuity or
trickery.
MONSTERS AND DEMONS
Monsters and demons are most familiar as the beings that a heroic figure confronts and overcomes.
They defy divine order both in their appearance –typically but not invariably deformed or hideous – and in
their actions, such as attacking or capturing a human or divine victim.
ANIMALS
They are featured as wild creatures – predatory beasts or the elusive prey of hunters; or as helpful
beings tamed by humans, or as possessing powers. Deities may disguise themselves as animals; or they may
have heads or other features in token of the characteristics they supposed to have in common, or of a clan
fetish.
THE UNDERWORLD
Inevitably associations with burial prompt tales of gloom and terror of the unknown yet inevitable. A
strong mythic duality: Earth swallows up the dead, but equally it produces food plants and harbors mineral
wealth.
JOURNEYS, QUESTS, AND TRIALS
Quests and journeys bring mythological figures into a number of situations where they can prove their
strength. In numerous myths loyalty to the dead initiates journeys to the underworld to try to bring loved ones
back to life.
THE AFTERLIFE
The afterlife, some form of existence after death, takes as many different forms in mythologies as the
culture from which they are drawn. Some speak of paradise where the pains of life on earth are left behind.
After death comes judgment, a rigorous trial is conducted, and torture awaits those who fail the trial.

WORLDS DESTROYED
Creation may be seen in myth as chance event or something that occurred despite opposing forces;
likewise, an end to the world in its present form may be inevitable or threatened, whether by divine will, as a
result of attack by forces of evil, or in punishment for human misdeeds.

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THE MYTHOLOGIES OF THE WORLD
Mesopotamian Mythology. The Assyro-Babylonian tradition had its core of mythology of the Sumerians. The
gods included Annu (sky), Enlil (storm), Enki (water), Ea (wisdom), Ishtar (fertility), Erishkigal (underworld).
Canaanite Mythology. Canaan is here used in its biblical sense : Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. The divinities
included El (the creator), Baal (heavy rains).
Egyptian Mythology. The dying and rising vegetation gods of both Mesopotamia and Canaan have their
counterpart in the Egyptian mythology. Osiris, Isis, Horus, and are the deities.
Greek Mythology. The major deities were associated with aspects of nature such as Zeus (sky and thunder) or
Poseidon (sea), and with abstract qualities, such as Athena (wisdom) or Apollo (arts, healing,
prophecy).
Roman Mythology. It incorporated those of conquered peoples but was in many respects an adaptation of the
Greeks. Juno, originally an Etruscan deity of the moon, protected the city of Rome. Quirinus, a Sabine
war god, was assimilated to Romulus, deified mythical founder of Rome.
Celtic Mythology. Celtic mythology is preserved in Wales and Ireland which the Romans failed to subdue.
The druids and bards preserved the tradition of the people led by a warrior elite with spectacular
achievements in terms of conquest and plunder but without the organizational skills to consolidate an
empire.
Norse Mythology. Norse or Germanic mythology also glorifies battle but against a harsher natural
background: life derives from ice and fire and is ultimately consumed by them. The individual’s self-
sacrifice in the service of Odin (death and magic) who brings the reward of unlimited food and drink –
and more fighting – in Valhalla. Other gods are Thor, Frigg, and Balder.
Mexican and South American Mythologies. The mythology of the warlike Aztecs in Meso-America also
justified bloodshed, though they adopted the practice of sacrifice for which they are so vilified from the
Toltecs, the first of many older civilizations that they overcame. The empire-builders of South America,
the Incas, like the Aztecs, considered themselves the elect of the gods, their ruler offspring of the sun.
The heavens, with astronomical observations and calendrics, dominated mythology.
Persian Mythology. Initially, Persian mythology reflected a life of warriors and of nomadic pastoralists
beginning to turn to agriculture in fertile pockets amid harsh deserts and mountains. It supported a
cult held in the open air, sometimes on mountaintops, with the deities personifying beneficent and
destructive forces of nature. Later developments stressed this duality of good and evil, light and dark
in constant battle.
Indian Mythology. The Vedic mythology of India, derived from the Aryans, also has Indra, a warrior sky god,
insuring fertilizing rain and dispatching earlier inhabitants of the new homeland and demonizing them.
Sacrifice and cult itself were deified developing an endless conflict of gods and demons of Hinduism,
together with cyclic creation, maintenance of the balance of good and evil, and destruction to prepare
the way for new creation.
Chinese Mythology. Chinese mythology is rooted in its vast land, in veneration of its emperors, whose good
rule brought prosperity and was a mark of heavenly approval, and in reverence for ancestors, the link
between humans and gods. Three philosophies shaped Chinese mythology : (1) Taoism taught that
cosmic energy and all life in mystically compounded of yin (the negative, female principle) and yang
(the complementary positive, male principle); (2) Confucianism upheld the leadership of emperor and
aristocracy, with mythology showing the benefits of learning and discipline; (3) Buddhism brought
elements of Indian thought on reincarnation, the conflict of good and evil, and judgment.
Japanese Mythology. Like in China, native mythology centered on land, and the establishment of imperial
dynasties was combined with Buddhist doctrine on death and the afterlife, ultimately from India and
related to Persian traditions, for example Yama/Yima as first man and king/judge of the dead.

Characteristics of Myth
• Mythos –authoritative speech
– a traditional story

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• A story is a narrative with plot
– It has beginning, middle, and end.
– It contains characters having certain mental imprints.
– It describes conflict, resolution and within a setting.
– with collective importance
– Myths are “traditional” tales from Lat. trado, “hand over.”
– Handed over orally and transmit a culture’s sense of itself: past wisdom, memories, and
models
– Oral transmission will create constant changes in the myth.
– Various ways of emphasizing motives and meaning for the group.
 A myth has no identifiable author.
• A myth that is written down in a literary form uses a story that preceded it.
• Sometimes the myths are even different in detail.
• One version is not truer than another.

Types of Myths by Morford and Lenardon

– Pure Myth or True Myth or Myth Proper or Divine Myth
• Primitive Science or Religion
– natural phenomena or the origin of things
– how individuals should behave toward the gods
– Saga or Legend
• Primitive History
– historical fact
– Folk-tale or Fairy-tale
• Primitive Fiction
– for pleasure and amusement

Types of Myths by Eliot

– Primitive myths
• stories about nature as told by shamans
– Pagan myths
• Greek and Roman’s tales of the interplay between deities and humans
– Sacred myths
• stories from current eastern and western religions such as Christianity and Hinduism
– Scientific myths
• considered as the most solemn and revered creeds of science

Types of Myths by Leeming

– Cosmic myths
• including narratives of the creation and end of the world
– Theistic myths
• portray the deities
– Hero myths
• with accounts of individuals
– Place and object myths
• describe places and objects

Types of Myths in The New Encyclopedia Britannica

– Cosmological myths (concerned with the creation of cosmos).
– Life-crisis myths (deal with the crucial events in human life; birth, puberty, marriage and death).
– Hunting and agricultural myths (revolve around animals and hunt).
– Myths about extra ordinary individuals (focus on extra ordinary individuals such as culture hero,
trickster, god-king, and savior).

Mythology serves many purposes.

– Myths grant continuity and stability to a culture.

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– Myths present guidelines for living.
– Myths justify a culture's activities.
– Myths give meaning to life.
– Myths explain the unexplainable.
– Myths offer role models.

APPLICATION/ REFLECTION: (long-sized bond paper)

I. Using a Graphic Organizer, write a summary of your own understanding of the lesson.

II. From the lesson, I realized that …

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