The 5 differences between myth and legend

Since prehistoric times, human beings have tried to give a find meaning in everything that happens in the world. Based on what we know and experience, we are able to try to elaborate explanations of why things are the way they are, where we come from and where we are going.

Different peoples and cultures have been establishing different histories for this purpose, in many cases inserting religious and supernatural elements. Many of them have ended up configuring myths and legends. Today these two concepts are often confused, so in this article you can find 5 differences between myth and legend.

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Myth and legend: what are they and how are they alike?

When it comes to interpreting the way in which the human being has been building cultural elements and ways of explain reality from a non-scientific perspective, it is common to come up with concepts that are very similar between Yes.

After all, all the ways of explaining something through narratives have many things in common, and their structure is usually the same: approach, middle and end. However, if we put the magnifying glass on the way in which different societies and civilizations have tried to describe what has been happening in the world over the centuries, it is possible to find distinctions. This also applies to knowing the differences between myth and legend, two types of narrative that are very frequent, and that they supposed the default explanation to everything that the human being saw and that at that moment escaped the rationality.

When we talk about myths and legends, we are talking about forms of narrative expression that are part of the collective imagination of a people with the intention of trying to explain an aspect of reality for which at the time of the story's birth there was still no explanation, or whose origin it has been tried to magnify. These are stories that have been transmitted orally through the generations, many of them reaching our days. But what do we understand by myth and what by legend?

A myth is considered to be that narrative that is located outside of real space-time and that usually has as protagonists divine or supernatural entities, or great heroes who perform incredible feats and whose figure has not existed in the world real. In general claim to explain abstract concepts whose origin is uncertain, like the world, life, love or hate. Its main function is to try to make sense of things, using analogies between what we do not understand and elements present in our life.

A legend, although it is also a story in the form of a narrative that is transmitted through the generations and that usually has supernatural and fictional elements, tries as a general rule to give an explanation of a concrete historical fact. They are usually based on real historical events, although they incorporate fantastic elements that alter, modify or give a different meaning to history. Its function is to highlight the characteristics of a real character or people, not trying both to give a meaning to reality but to promote social values ​​and ideologies concrete.

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Five fundamental differences between myth and legend

Noting how we have defined each of them already it is possible to differentiate between myth and legend. Even so, in order to facilitate the understanding of their differences, we can find that 5 of the main differences between one and the other are the following.

1. What are they based on

One of the most identifiable differences from the given definitions is what each type of story is based on. The legend is based on an actual historical event subject to direct observation that later becomes richer and deformed over time.

The myth, however, is a fictional elaboration created directly from fantasy from analogies between the real and symbolic elements.

2. What do they intend to explain

As we have been able to contemplate, legends and myths have traditionally had a different objective despite being similar in the way of posing it. Legends usually pretend to show, promote or enrich a real value, historical event or character, having a rather educational purpose. As far as the myth goes, is an attempt to explain reality in a mystical way, trying to understand the why and the origin of things.

3. Temporal / spatial situation

One of the most visible differences between myth and legend is the temporal or spatial context in which they appear. Generally, we can observe that the legend is limited to a specific and real historical moment, in a territory perceptible as existing or even imaginary contextualized in a part of the world concrete.

In the case of myth, the time period or location in which the events occur is situated outside the real world, being unrecognizable. In some cases they speak of the beginning of time or its end, or they are situated on a different plane of existence from ours.

4. Type of characters

The type of characters that appear in the story also changes between myth and legend. While in the legend, although fictional or supernatural beings also usually appear the characters are human beings who have existed or they are part of real peoples, in myths the protagonists are directly supernatural beings, gods or heroes who, as a general rule, have not been represented in the real world.

5. Supposed origin

Although this aspect is linked to that of the temporal-spatial situation, it is interesting as a difference between myth and legend. We are talking about the origin to which the story told within the story itself is attributed.

Generally the legends are attributed to the testimony of people who say they have lived or seen the event that is being discussed, being the product of a direct observation of the events. However, the myths refer to metaphysical aspects that man has not been able to observe for himself. Thus, as a general rule, its creation is attributed to the transmission of information by gods or spirits, who have decided to communicate certain knowledge to man.

Bibliographic references:

• Armstrong, K. (2010). A Short History of Myth (Myths series). Knopf Canada.
• Fine, G. TO. (1982). "The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings by Jan Harold Brunvand." Western Folklore. Western States Folklore Society. 41 (2): 156–157.
• Graf, F. (1996). Greek Mythology: An Introduction. Translated by Marier, Thomas. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Pierre Grimal (2008). Mythologies: From the Mediterranean to the Ganges. Madrid: Editorial Gredos.
• VVAA. (2007). Current Spanish Literature Manual. Ed. Castalia.