Nyina Kigwa Essay

937 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cultural significance essay

What is a myth? There is such a vast amount of written material in the world that one could classify as myth, however, there are 5 essential features fabricated by anthropologist Robert Winzeler that help dictates whether or not a story is a myth. This essay’s goal is to analyze the story of Nyina Kigwa and to see whether or not Winzelers essential features apply to it. Winzeler's first essential feature is that a myth must be a story, not a statement of belief or doctrine. Secondly, myths must include personalities that vary in form, such as an animal, human, supernatural entities, and sometimes a combination of multiple features. Thirdly, it must be a believed story and not just known; take Harry Potter as an example, it is a widely popular story but not believed. Winzeler fourth essential feature is that a myth must not have a known author. For example, we know that J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter, but no one knows who wrote the story of the classical myth hero, Hercules. Lastly, classic mythological stories involve larger than life connotations. Using Winzelers five essential factors, let's discover whether the story of Nyina Kigwa resembles a classical myth or just another story. …show more content…

Nyina Kigwa is not a formal name for the story, at least in the text that was present. When searched online, there were very few documents in English, the rest were in Kinyarwanda. From the information that was available, the story of Nyina Kigwa was discovered by Father F. Dufays and Father P. Loupias from a Mututsi, a member of a people forming a minority of the population of Rwanda and Burundi. The mututsi fought his fellow tribesman he sought protection from missionaries and told the story in return for the protection he

Show More
Related

  • Leslie Marmon Silko's Yellow Woman

    1543 Words  | 4 Pages

    This legend story her grandfather had read to her as a child had always been something she had always been aware of, and as she continues to experience events that have remarkable similarities to the story causes her to question who she really is. The narrator does suggest though that one person would believe these events from the past could happen in the future, that person would be her grandfather. This is seen in the text by the narrator saying “ but if old Grandpa weren’t dead, he would tell them what happened— he would laugh and say, “ stolen by a ka’tsina, a mountain spirit”” (Silko 576). This line really adds to the readers understanding of how this event happened in the past. The narrator’s grandfather had lived in a time where these stories likely had occurred and woman had gone missing for several days and came back. For the narrator, though, she had been accustomed to today’s society where if a woman went missing people were less likely to think she was taken by a mountain spirit. Not only people wouldn’t believe she was taken from a mountain spirit, many people would not believe her story as it had been something that occurred in the

    Read More

  • Percy Jackson And Cronus Comparison Essay

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    That the main thing is there was a struggle for power in both stories. That the main thing is there was a struggle for power in both stories. Myth do matter because they are fun to read and teacher wants to help students pay attention and learn and why not have fun doing it. The book is about Greek mythology and it should have another Greek myth in the book so it can make people learn about Greek myth and learn the characters from Greek myth and in the

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Greek Mythology

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    In considering the relationship between the meanings of myths and their representation of women, we learned that the major role in shaping the narratives was played by men.

    Read More

  • Paul Tillich Unbroken Myths Summary

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    Paul Tillich’s description of the original understanding of the word myth as an account of an interaction between the human and the divine are that myths are symbols of faith, which tell stories to portray situations of ultimate concern. Myths may be ‘broken’ or ‘unbroken.’ Unbroken myths are myths which are accepted as literal statements of reality. Broken myths are myths which are interpreted as myths, as symbolic statements of reality.

    Read More

  • The Adventures of Esplandian, by Garci Rodriguez Ordonez De Montalvo

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    Myth… legend or fable? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a myth as, “A story that was told in an ancient culture to explain a practice, belief, or natural occurrence.” Children, often sit around, listening to their elders speak of myths. These myths have existed throughout American culture for many centuries and will continue for many centuries to come. These myths, legends, and fables provide the elders with enjoyment, as they observe the children, listening so intensely, believing every detail, amazed at the unimaginable adventures told in each story. Myths reflect experience but go beyond limitations. Indeed the children enjoy the excitement of the fantasy a myth creates. As we grow, we need to realize that these myths, tell an imaginary story and only contain a kernel of truth. Myths serve as a mental escape, stories with few actual facts embellished with many fantasy details. Although, used to entertain, these myths can hurt or even destroy the individuals that believe them.

    Read More

  • Myth In Religious Worlds Analysis

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    Williams Paden discusses the world building character of myths and their capacity to shape time and delineate scared and profane space for the communities that believe and transmit them. In William Paden, “Myth,” in Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion, he explains that within religious worlds, myths set a foundation that advance to shape a person’s way of life. Subsequently, they shape their belief and conscience. His theory relates to an element an indigenous story which is the creation story precisely the story of the turtle island. For the Ojibway and Anishinaabe people, the creation story was used as a grounding prototype to shape their belief and their outlook on how the world was created. The story shows how myth is being

    Read More

  • The Hero Myth of the Matrix

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Linda Seger all myths, in all cultures are much the same. In these myths it is just the time, place and setting that changes. This is why Hollywood is so successful at making good movies, because they base it off these myths. The most popular myth is that of the hero, because for most of us this is what we want to be. With this myth we can live that experience through these characters. In the creation of a hero there are ten stages, using the Matrix as an example we will look at these ten stages.

    Read More

  • Myths of Cultures and Civilizations

    1415 Words  | 3 Pages

    From before the dawn of civilization as we know it, humanity has formed myths and legends to explain the natural world around them. Whether it is of Zeus and Hera or Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-mikoto, every civilization and culture upon this world has its own mythos. However, the age of myth is waning as it is overshadowed in this modern era by fundamental religion and empirical science. The word myth has come to connote blatant falsehood; however, it was not always so. Our myths have reflected both the society and values of the culture they are from. We have also reflected our inner psyche, conscious and unconscious, unto the fabric of our myths. This reflection allows us to understand ourselves and other cultures better. Throughout the eons of humanity’s existence, the myths explain natural phenomena and the cultural legends of the epic hero have reflected the foundations and the inner turmoil of the human psyche.

    Read More

  • Hercules

    3153 Words  | 7 Pages

    1.     What Is A Myth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Eric Csapo's Theory Of Mythology

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his research on mythology, Eric Csapo examines its large role in the ancient Mediterranean. He begins with a rejection to begin his argument with a definition of myth. He states that “it [the definition] is rather always the final precipitate of an already elaborate theory” so he starts at the basis of any theoretical interpretation, he asks what we mean by “myth.” Csapo immediately addresses the flaw of selectivity in the vocabulary used to describe a story. Most commonly the words myth, folktale, and legend are confused and misappropriated. One delineation he discusses is that myths, in theory, are based on ritual and as a product of humans, are received as true accounts of the past. He continues with the discrepancy of the word truth that anthropologists struggle with. This said, Csapo ultimately rejects these confining definitions for their cross-cultural differences and ends with the notion that myth is a social ideology that stresses the reception over the content.

    Read More

  • Mythology In Mythology

    881 Words  | 2 Pages

    Myths relate to events, conditions, and deeds of gods or superhuman beings that are outside ordinary human life and yet basics to it” ("Myth," 2012). Mythology is said to have two particular meanings, “the corpus of myths, and the study of the myths, of a particular area: Amerindian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so on as well as the study of myth itself” ("Mythology," 1993). In contrast, while the term myth can be used in a variety of academic settings, its main purpose is to analyze different cultures and their ways of thinking. Within the academic setting, a myth is known as a fact and over time has been changed through the many different views within a society as an effort to answer the questions of human existence. The word myth in an academic context is used as “ancient narratives that attempt to answer the enduring and fundamental human questions: How did the universe and the world come to be? How did we come to be here? Who are we? What are our proper, necessary, or inescapable roles as we relate to one another and to the world at large? What should our values be? How should we behave? How should we not behave? What are the consequences of behaving and not behaving in such ways” (Leonard, 2004 p.1)? My definition of a myth is a collection of false ideas put together to create

    Read More

  • Gemina Essay

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gemina by Aime Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is the second book in the Illuminae Files trilogy. The story is presented through a collection of files, transcripts, journal pages, and text messages, which lead the reader through the events that happened on the space station Heimdall. I chose to write about the form, structure, and plot of Gemina, and the title of the book. Gemina is a sci-fi story, taking place on the space station Heimdall at the edge of the universe. The protagonists, Hanna and Nik, live on this space station, which includes a wormhole used to teleporting across the universe.

    Read More

  • Native American Folklore As Mythology

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    Essentially, there are three typical characteristics of mythology. Classic myths often include gods or supernatural heroes, are “closely linked to religion,” and “generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form” (“Mythology” Wikipedia). Furthermore, myths provide an explanation for the existence of life and how the world came to be.

    Read More

  • The Chronicles of Narnia and The Bible

    1849 Words  | 4 Pages

    “A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence.” ― Rollo May

    Read More

  • A Fear of Death: Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum

    2314 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thury, Eva and Margaret K. Devinney. “Theory: Man and His Symbols.” Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. 519-537. Print.

    Read More

More about Nyina Kigwa Essay

Open Document