7 characteristics of LEGENDS

The characteristics of the legends are that are usually transmitted orally, that include elements of tradition, fantastic elements, that have archetypes, etc. In unProfesor we tell you in detail.

A legend is a story that is transmitted by oral tradition., which combines real elements with imaginary or magical elements. These types of texts are framed in a specific geographical and historical context and are closely related to the local culture and traditions. On many occasions, legends are accepted as true stories, since the character, the historical moment or the place mentioned in the story is known by all.

In this lesson of a PROFESSOR we want to explain what are the characteristics of legends, so that you can identify them when you find yourself in front of one of them. Join us on this journey between history and imagination that legends propose!

• They are embedded in a context. In each of the legends you can recognize the place, the year or the character in which things happen. The context is easy for the readers or listeners of the story to identify and this makes them fully involved in the plot.
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• They are transmitted orally or in writing. The legends began to spread through the oral tradition in its origin, since these stories passed from one generation to another. However, they can now also spread in writing. Today it is possible to find compilations of legends in digital or printed format.
• Includes some element of tradition. Another of the characteristics of the legends is that they include elements or symbols of the cultural context of the story, such as witches, goblins, saints, ghosts, wizards, magical places, etc. For example, in rural areas of Latin America, the figure of the leprechaun is part of local folklore, so it is not surprising that it appears in most of the legends of this area.
• There is some reality in them. the legends are based in whole or in part on a fact, a real character or a real moment in history. This characteristic is what allows the narrated story to be placed in a specific context. For example, historical legends about real battles or urban legends occur in a place known to all the people and that is what gives authority to the story.
• The legends are anonymous. We must also highlight another of the characteristics of the essential legends and that is that they do not belong to a known author. For this reason, the details are modified over time. The collective contribution is responsible for the fact that there are multiple versions of the same story. For example, the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table has many versions, collected in books and stories from oral tradition.
• They have a fantastic component. The legends are not 100% real stories, but have elements of a supernatural, fantastic or magical nature. Some examples could be haunted places or characters with paranormal powers. In the legend of La Llorona, for example, the woman in the story automatically disappears before the gaze of her next victim.
• The characters are archetypes. The characters of the legends are archetypes. This means that they are universal representations of human behavior, as heroes, wise women or a villain. For example, the historical legends of each country often have a hero who saved a large number of people from the power of a wicked witch or other villain.

As you can see, legends are distinguished from other texts because they are based on reality and are usually anonymous creations. In unProfesor we discover the different parts of a legend so that you learn to detect this narrative genre.

Now that you know the characteristics of legends, we are going to focus on a subgenre of legends that is very well known: the urban legend.

An urban legend is a story that belongs to culture or folklore. contemporary and born from a popular belief, sometimes related to something superstitious. Despite the fact that the facts are improbable, it is presented and reported as if it were real events. Some of these urban legends are based on real events, but as they are told, they tend to become exaggerated and mixed with fictitious and distorted events.

These are the urban legend features:

• They are built on the basis of real facts but distorted, exaggerated and mixed with some fiction or fantasy
• They usually leave us one moral or teaching
• These stories have been adapted or appropriate to the present moment
• The protagonists of the story are usually relatives or acquaintances of someone close
• The fictional story is disseminated spontaneous

In unProfesor we discover the different types of legends that exist.

we leave you with some examples of legends so you can see how these texts are located in real time and space, but include fantastic elements in their narration.

Bacá Legend

The mexican legend of bacá explains the story of a creature in the form of a shadow that the peasants make appear thanks to pacts with the demons. The creature guards property and crops, scaring off thieves.

The Bacá has the capacity to transform into any objectbut can't talk. At night, in the vicinity of protected places, terrifying roars of the spirit are heard.

It is also said that Bacá not only protects what peasants already have, but also helps them to increase their properties, since, frightened, the nearby settlers habitually sell their land to them.

Urban legend of the beginning of Barcelona

This legend explains in a very mystical way where the name of Barcelona comes from. It is said that long ago Hercules, the famous Greek mythological hero, was sailing off the coast of Barcelona along with 9 other ships. Although the weather was very mild, suddenly, unexpectedly, a terrible storm broke out. The ships separated trying to find refuge where they could take shelter.

Once the storm had passed, they sought each other out to regroup. When they were all realized that a ship was missing: number 9. They desperately searched for it and finally found it at the foot of the Montjuïc mountain, where there was a beautiful beach. What they found was not the ship, but the wreckage.

They saw that it was such a beautiful place that they decided found a city and call it "Barca Nona" in memory of the ship number 9 that had swallowed the sea.

If you want more, here we discover the legend of La Llorona.

Now you know what the legends features and what exactly are urban legends. If you are interested in continuing to learn more types of text, do not hesitate to consult our writing section.

Baroja, J. c. (1991). Of archetypes and legends (Vol. 113). AKAL Editions.

Magan, P. m. (2016). The legends and their didactic value. Cervantes Virtual Center, 400, 392-403.