Myth and Mythology

Abstract

Myth and mythology of Africa refer to the collection of imaginative, explanatory and intuitive stories that express the collective belief of Africans with regard to basic issues that pertain to life, living, and death. Most studies on myth or mythology have often discussed it from external perspectives. This chapter therefore interprets myth as both a product of the environment and the mind. Essentially, it draws examples from creation, founding or origin, afterlife and hero myths; and through them, highlights similar African beliefs. This provides the opportunity for the discussion of myth that authorizes and validates current social customs; and others that explain certain religious ceremonies or origin of things and yet others that serve to mediate between the contradictions in life. The perception and reconciliation of these opposites are taken as reflections of the mind’s binary organization.