Folktale why

Whereas every ancient culture and society possesses their own share of myth and folklore tales to explain the world, their are similar topics and stories present among cultures worldwide.

A popular myth that spans over different cultures and societies is the one of the Great Flood. This narrative is told in many different cultures all over the world, from the biblical Old Testament, to Native American tribes and Chinese people. Why are these ancient stories still important in our society today? With the rise of digital media, television and the internet, myths and folklore tales have become less and less popular and have been suppressed in many societies, and at its best have been seen in the form of Disney movies in the cinema.

One might ask itself what the importance of these old stories is nowadays, when science has the answer to most important questions about life. We certainly do not need myths anymore to tell us how the world came to be about, and most people do not assume that a hurricane or earthquake is the rage of the gods.

So why should we preserve myths and stories from dying out? Well, there are a few important reasons for that. Cultural preservation and collective identity. The most common and logical explanation why we should preserve myths, folktales, legends and fairytales is because they belong to our history, they are part of our culture and thus should be preserved in order to understand our past properly.

But myths are not only important when understanding our past, they also play a part in our present. Myths and stories connect us deeply on a personal level to our ancestors, spanning time and space.

Through reading or listening to these stories, we get a glimpse of how our ancestors thought, behaved and acted in everyday life. We can see that they indeed had the same fears, wishes and needs as we do today. Stories of unrequited love, jealous husbands and females going out in the world to find themselves illustrate that we are in fact not very different than our ancestors. Tales make us understand them better, making history more tangible. Humanity might have come a long way in the past years to advance science, technology and medicine, but in our core, we are still the same as we were back then, with all of our human emotions and problems.

Myths reconnect us to our true selves. On top of that, these stories make us remember our connection to the collective energy and the deeper soul of the world. They bring us back to our core and connect us to our heart and our innermost essence. By listening, sharing and remembering these old stories, a deep, primal and ancient part of us is activated within us. Whereas facts talk to our mind, stories talk to our heart. We identify with them and realize that we all share a common ground. In times of climate change and major political disputes, this is now more important than ever.

Radin, Paul, editor. African Folktales and Sculpture. New York: Bollingen Foundation; distributed by Pantheon Books, , reprinted , folktale 5, page Skip to main content. You are here Home » An African Folktale. Briefly, it goes like this: "Long ago, the Sun and the Water lived together in friendship on earth. When it was completed, he asked the water to come and visit him the next day. Again the water addressed the sun, but, receiving the same answer, and more of his people rushing in, the water very soon overflowed the top of the roof, and the sun and the moon were forced to go up into the sky where they have remained ever since.

Many years ago, the sun and water were great friends, and they both lived on the earth togther. The sun very often used to visit the water, but the water never returned the visits. At last the sun asked the water why he never visited. The water replied that the sun's house was not big enough, and that if he came with all his people, he would drive the sun out of his home. APA 6th ed. Note: Citations are based on reference standards. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study.

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