Table Of ContentAmerican, African, and Old European
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American, African, and
Old European Mythologies
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012
in
http://archive.org/details/americanafricanoOObonn
American, African,
and Old European
Mythologies
Compiled by
BONNEFOY
YVES
Translated under the direction of
WENDY DONIGER
by Gerald Honigsblum,
Danielle Beauvais, Teresa Lavender Fagan, Dorothy Figuiera,
Barry Friedman, Louise Guiney, John Leavitt,
Michael Sells, Bruce Sullivan, and David White
The University of Chicago Press • Chicago and London
BRIGHTON
—
a
YVES BONNEFOY,
ascholarandpoetofworldrenown,is
professorofcomparativepoetics, CollegedeFrance.
AmonghismanyworkstohaveappearedinEnglish, two
—
havebeenpublishedbytheUniversityofChicagoPress
volumeofpoetry, In theShadow'sLight(1991),andawork
ofcriticism, TheActandPlaceofPoetry(1989), both
translatedbyJohnT. Naughton.
WENDY DONIGER
istheMirceaEliadeProfessorinthe
DivinitySchool,andprofessorintheDepartmentofSouth
AsianLanguagesandCivilizations, theCommitteeonSocial
Thought, andtheCollege, attheUniversityofChicago.
UnderthenameofWendyDonigerO'Flahertyshehaswritten,
amongotherbooks, Women,Androgynes,andOtherMythical
Beasts(1980), Dreams, Illusion,andOtherRealities(1984),
and TalesofSexandViolence:Folklore, Sacrifice,and
DangerinthejaiminiyaBrdhmana(1985),allpublished
bytheUniversityofChicagoPress.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress, Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress, Ltd., London
© 1991, 1993byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved. Published 1993
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
02010099989796959493 54321
ThispaperbackisdrawnfromMythologies, compiledby
YvesBonnefoy, translatedunderthedirectionofWendyDoniger,
andpublishedbytheUniversityofChicagoPressin 1991.
Thatworkwasoriginallypublishedas Dictionnaire
desmythologieseldesreligionsdessocietestraditionnelleset
dumondeantique, sousladirectiondeYvesBonnefoy
publieavecleconcoursduCentreNational
desLettres, © 1981, Flammarion, Paris.
ThepreparationofthecompleteEnglisheditionwas
supportedbygrantsfromtheFrenchMinistryofCulture,
theAndrewW. MellonFoundation,andthe
NationalEndowmentfortheHumanities.
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper.
PaperbackISBN: 0-226-06457-3
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Dictionnairedesmythologiesetdesreligionsdessocietes
traditionnellesetdumondeantique. English. Selections.
American, African, andOldEuropeanmythologies/compiledbyYves
Bonnefoy translatedunderthedirectionofWendyDonigerbyGerald
;
Honigsblum . . . [etal.].
p. cm.
Translationofselectionsfrom:Dictionnairedesmythologieset
desreligionsdessocietiestraditionnellesetdumondeantique.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
— —
1. Religio—n, Primitive Encyclopedias. 2. Indians Religionand
mythology Encyclopedias. 3. Mytholog—y, WestAfrican
Encyclopedias. 4. Mythology, European Encyclopedias.
I. Bonnefoy, Yves. II. Title.
BL430.D5313 1993
291.1'3—dc20 92-39231
CIP
a
Contents
Preface to the Paperback Edition, by Wendy Doniger vii
Preface to the English Edition of the Complete Work, by Wendy Doniger ix
Preface to the French Edition of the Complete Work, by Yves Bonnefoy xv
Contributors xxi
PARTI INTRODUCTION:
THE INTERPRETATION OF MYTHOLOGY
Toward a Definition of Myth 3
The Interpretation ofMyths: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-CenturyTheories 5
Myth and Writing: The Mythographers 10
Prehistoric Religion 11
"Nomadic Thought" and Religious Action 21
PART2 THE A MERICAS AND
THE SOUT H PACIFIC
The Mythology of the Inuit of the Central Arctic 25 The Earth in Mesoamerican Religions 64
Native American Myths and Rituals ofNorth Fire in Mesoamerican Mythology 67
America 32 The Mesoamerican Image of the Human Person 68
The Creation of the World in Native American Cosmic Disorder, Illness, Death, and Magicin
Mythology 40 Mesoamerican Traditions 69
The Sun Dance among the Native Americans: The Myths and Rituals ofthe South American
Revival of 1973 43 Indians 72
Mesoamerican Religion 45 Indians ofthe South American Forest 74
Mesoamencan Mythic and Ritual Order 49 Religions and Cults of the Societies ofthe Andes 81
Mesoamerican Creation Myths 53 Religious Thought and Prophetism among the Tupi-
Mesoamerican Religious Conceptions ofSpace and Guarani Indians ofSouth America: The Land
Time 56 Without Evil 86
The Sky: Sun. Moon, Stars, and Meteorological Religions and Mythologies ofOceania 88
Phenomena in Mesoamerican Religions 60 Papua New Guinea 104
CONTENTS
PART AFRICA
3
Forms of the Symbolic Function in the Artand Myth Totemism and the Institution ofthe Binu among
of Sub-Saharan Africa 113 the Dogon 139
The Mythology ofthe Mande and the Choice of the Yoruba Myths and Religion, and Their Afro-American
Dogon as a SubjectofStudy 117 Extensions 140
Graphic Signs and the Seed ofKnowledge: The Religion and Myths of Bantu Speakers 150
The 266 Basic Signs in West Africa 118 Cosmogonies of Bantu-speaking Societies 152
Twins, a DominantTheme in West African Twins in Bantu-speaking Societies 158
Mythologies 121 Sacred Kingship among the Bantu Speakers ofZaire
The Placenta in West African Myths and Rituals 123 and Southern Africa 159
West African Myths ofCircumcision 125 Sacred Kingship among the Bantu Speakers ofthe
West African Myths of Blacksmiths 127 Great Lakes Region 164
Myths and Practices ofSacrifice among the Myths of Cosmic and Social Harmony among the
Dogon 130 Dinka, Anuak, and Shilluk 169
Masks in West African Traditional Societies 133 The Mythology ofthe Kabyles ofthe Maghreb 172
Astronomyand Calendars in West Africa 137
PART CELTS, NORSE, SLAVS,
4
CAUCASIANS, AND THEIR NEIGHBORS
The Indo-Europeans 179 Nehalennia 220
The Myths and Narratives ofthe Celts of the Ogmios 220
Islands 185 Ritona 221
The Religion and Myths ofthe Continental Celts of Rosmerta 221
Gaul 188 Sirona 221
The Religions ofthe Continental Celts ofSpain, Great Smertrios 222
Britain, and the Danube 195 Sucellus, the God with a Hammer 222
Druid and Poet: The Irish filidh and the Welsh Taranis 224
bardd 196 Tarvos Trigaranus 225
MotherGoddesses and Collective Deities in the Celtic Teutates, Toutatis 225
and Celto-Roman World 197 Elements ofthe Sacred among the Germanic and
Some Religious Aspects ofCelticArt 197 Norse Peoples 226
Unidentified Figures ofCeltic Deities 199 Sacrifice in Germano-Norse Paganism 235
Gallo-Roman Deities 200 The Aesir and the Vanir 237
Celtic Sacred Monsters 202 Norse Magic 238
The Mythic Origins and Successive Populations of Heimdallr 240
Ireland 203 Loki 240
Myths ofSovereignty from Wales (the Slavic Myths, Rites, and Gods 241
Maginogi) 206 The Kinship ofSlavic and Norse Mythologies: The
Arthurand the Arthurian Heroes in Wales 211 Problem of Perun-Perkun-Perkunas-
Celtic "Apollos" 213 Fjorgyn(n) 248
Cernunnos, the God with the Horns ofa Stag 214 Baltic Myths and Religious Categories 251
Cu Chulainn and Conchobar: The Warrior Hero in The Mythology ofAlbania 253
Irish Mythology 216 The Religion and Myths ofthe Georgians ofthe
Epona 218 Mountains 254
Esus 218 The Religion and Myths ofthe Ossets 262
Fionn and the Fian 219 The Religion andMyths ofArmenia 265
Index 269
Preface to the Paperback Edition
This is one of four paperback volumes drawn from the full, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, about Mike Fink
clothbound, two-volume English-language edition of Yves andJohnHenryandJoeHill, perhapsevenstoriesaboutJack
Bonnefoy's Mythologies. Thesepaperbackvolumesarenotan Kennedy. Manyscholarswould regard this sortofAmerican
afterthought but were part of the publication plan from the mvthologvaslegend orfolkloreratherthanas mythologyin
beginning. Indeed, one of the reasons why we restructured the narrower sense of religious narrative. In any case, it is
theoriginalFrencheditionaswedidwastomakethesesepa- nota partofthiscollection.
rate volumes ultimately available. For although there is a ButAmerican mythologyin thesenseinwhich thiscollec-
sweep and majesty in the full edition, both in French and in tionwasconceivedisabodyofnarrative that traces itsroots
English, abreathtakingscope thatis the true raisond'etreof backtoatimelongbeforeEuropeansorAfricansreachedthe
the work as a whole, there is also, in the English version, a shores of the New World. It is the mythology of the people
pattern thatallows readers tofocusononecultureata time. weusedtocall"pre-Columbian" (asiftheyhadbeenwaiting
And it is with such readers in mind that the University of around all those centuries for Columbus to appear so that
Chicago Press has issued these paperbacks. Together, they they could at lastenter the story ofcivilization) but nowcall
cover almost all of the full edition: along with the present Native Americans. It is a mythology that stretches from the
volume, the series includes Roman and EuropeanMythologies, Inuiton the northernmosttipoftheNewWorld, theCentral
Asian Mythologies, and Greek and Egyptian Mythologies. Each Arctic, totheTupiGuaraniofTierradelFuego, atthebottom
contains, in addition to the culturally specific material, the of the New World. This body of stories survived, adapted,
prefaces and the general introductory section of the full changed, and appeared in new transformations even when
work, whichdeal with methodologicalissuesrelevanttoany most of the storytellers, and most of their civilizations, had
partofit. beendestroyedbytheinvaders from the Old World.
Sinceeachcultureposesdifferent problems, andeach sec- So much for the first group. But is it, in fact, a group at
tion of essavs embodies the work of a different group of all? I think it is. Geographically there are undeniable links,
French scholars, eachsectionhasitsownmethodologicalfla- and the perceptive readerofthis volumewill seeothersorts
vor and makes its own contribution to the more culturally of links as well, common tropes and images that form a
specific studv of mvthologv. This volume, combining three bridgebetweenculturesthatsharelittleelse,neitherlanguage
cultural groupings (African, American, and Old European), nor ecology, neither political/economic systems nor reli-
presents threedifferentsortsofchallenges toourconceptual giousworldviews. CanwegobeyondthisgroupofAmerican
frameworks ofcategorization, two ofthem diametrically op- mythstoincludeAfricanmyths?Hereweencounteroursec-
posed toone another ond major problem of categorization. African mythologies
Tobegin with, the adjective "American'' may be mislead- haveageographicalcontiguitythatmightjustifysomesortof
ing, foritrefers not towhatcitizensoftheUnitedStatestend grouping, despite the great variety in linguistic and other
to regard as American (that which pertains to "America the culturalformsamongDogonandDinka, Bantuspeakersand
Beautiful,"thefiftystates),buttowhatcitizensofothercoun- Kabyles. Thisvarietymakesitessentialatleasttodistinguish
tries (including Canadians, who are sometimes justly dis- sub-Saharan fromNorthern, and EastAfricanfromWestern,
gruntled at ouronomastic imperialism) regard as Am—erican, asour subgroupings imply and allow. Indeed, the mytholo-
thatwhichpertainstoallthreepartsoftheAmericas North, gies represented hereare almost entirely from sub-Saharan,
South, and Meso (or Central). American mythology in the Western Africa, which is hardly surprising since this is also
first sense does exist of course; it is the Swedish-American Francophone Africa, the Africa that the French know best
mythology of Paul Bunvan and the African-American my- both politicallyand academically.
ptheoalnosgyanodfBArf'reircaFnosxwahndoBprleanrtReadbbiintt,hethNeemwytWhoorllodgythoefsEeuerdos- thoBluotgiheoswtougseetfhuelr?isIitthtaosgrlooungp bAfereincatnheanhdabAitmeorficWaenstmeyr-n
that they brought with them from the ancient traditions of scholars to group African and American and Oceanic my-
their original homelands. American mythology of this sort thologies together, usually (at least since Levy-Bruhl) under
wouldalsoincludestoriesaboutcowboysandIndians, about somepejorative term suchas "primitive" or"savage." In re-
PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
centdecades, morepoliticallysensitivescholarshavetriedto whomwehavewidelyusedthoughinappropriateterms. For
uselessvalue-ladenwords,like"tribal"or"preindustrial"or the peoples thatwehave called "Old Europeans" arein fact
"third world," but theseattempts hardly providea solution, closely linked historically, linguistically, and geographically,
since the problem resides not in the choice of a word for a butwehavenoadequateword forthemasa group. Wecan-
groupbut in thedecision tolookforanywordatalltogroup notcall them "Indo-Europeans" withoutincluding theother
together peoples so disparate as Inuit and Papuan. Treating members ofthat group, such as the ancient Greeks and Ro-
them as a single group implies that their individual differ- mans(whohavetwovolumesoftheirowninthispaperback
ences are relatively unimportant in comparison with the series),andnoothertermhasanyrecognizablecurrency. But
really important fact that, unlike us, they have no written sincewedobelievethatitisusefultoreadtheirmythologies
texts, ornointernalcombustionengines, orno"rationality." as a group, we have settled for the slightly awkward "Old
Toavoid such falseidentification ofAmericanand African European," given that these cultures are all geographically
mythologies,wedecidedtoaddathirdgroup—tothisvolume, circumscribedbywhatwenowcallEurope, andthattheyare
thegroupthatwearecalling"OldEuropean" Celts, Norse, rooted in an ancient time in which the links between them
Slavs, Caucasians,Teutons,andwhatforwantofamorepre- wereevencloserthantheyare now.
cisetermwehavecalled"theirneighbors."Indeed, "OldEu- Here, then, are three groups of mythologies thatbear far
ropean"ishardlyalaser-sharpfocusinthefirstplace,evenif strongertieswithineachgroupthanbetweenanyonegroup
we assume that readers will not think that the term desig- andanother. Thereaderwhoreadsthrougheachofthemin
nates octogenarian Frenchmen. And here we encounter a turn will come away, I believe, with a rich sense ofthe cul-
problem of categorization that is the mirror image of the turaldiversityofmythologies.
problem presented by grouping Africans or Americans, let
aloneAfricans-and-Americans, culturallydiversepeoplesfor WendyDoniger
