Category Archives: Myths

Sacred narratives

The myth of Chang’e

Background:

L. is a 19-year-old Chinese-American college student currently studying in Los Angeles, California. He grew up his whole life in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia Area, colloquially known as the DMV Area, and as such, feels connected to the local east coast culture. He attributes his connection to his Chinese culture through his family, not so much Chinese media.

Context:

This myth in Chinese folklore and culture serves to explain why the moon exists and why specifically it floats above us all. It involves human conflict and celestial powers with a recurring but never fully complete end to the story.

Main piece: 

Q: “Can you tell me again about Chang’e?”

A: “Chang’e is the moon goddess of China, but once upon a time, she was a commoner married to Hou Yi the legendary archer. When Hou Yi leaves home, he leaves his magic immortality pills at home with her. People got wind of it, and everyone wanted to become immortal, so they went after Chang’e and the immortality pills. In order to protect the immortality pills and keep them safe, she took them and started running. She kept on running and running and running. But one day, they finally caught up to her at a mountain’s edge, and she couldn’t run or escape. She was like ‘you’ll never catch me alive or these pills’ so she took the pills. She took one, but of course there was still one left, so she took it too. And then she started floating, higher and higher and higher, out of reach of the bad guys. She floated all the way to the moon where she became the moon goddess. Up in the moon, she made a jade palace and found the white rabbit to keep her company. Every so often based on the lunar calendar, she meets her husband Hou Yi again and they reunite before they are separated again.”

Analysis:

Using Levi Strauss’s theory of paradigmatic structuralism, the creation myth of Chang’e can be analyzed according to his framework. In his framework, like language, myth is a semiotic system, a system of signs, a series of symbols, able to be decoded. Furthermore, all humans think in binaries and key binary oppositions where in these common patterns of human thought, we can find shared meaning across myth. The binary oppositions in the myth of Chang’e include human versus celestial, day versus night, and greed versus selflessness. Chang’e who was once just a normal commoner ascended to celestial status after taking both magic immortality pills, crossing the border between human and celestial. Furthermore, as the moon goddess, she represents the antithesis of the sentient sun that Hou Yi mercifully spared in his quest to save the people of China. Lastly, the greed she was forced to commit by taking both immortality pills forever separated her from the human world—an everlasting consequence of the people’s treacherous lack of selflessness toward her and Hou Yi. These binary oppositions contribute to how the myth is understood today by in-group identifiers like L. and how it presents similar parallels in shared meaning to other creation myths like it.

The Story of Mulian

Background: My informant, CL, grew up in Taiwan, and speaks Mandarin, Hakka, English, Japanese, and Cantonese. Interview conducted in English over FaceTime.

Me: Do you know why Taiwan celebrates Ghost Month?

CL: “There’s a famous story in China regarding ghost month. The story of Mulian. He sees that his mom did a lot of bad things when she was still alive. So after she died she became a starving ghost. Mulian tried to use his powers because he’s a Buddhist, just tries to bring food to his mom because she’s a starving ghost. But whatever he served to her became burning…ashes right away. There was no way for his mom to eat it. He cries out, sees that his mom is tortured, and asks for a blessing from the Buddha. Buddha told him that because his mom did bad things, she has to suffer. Buddha told him that to reduce his mom’s suffering, the only way is to do good things, which is why they started Ghost Month: to worship ghosts, pray, and hopefully they can go to heaven. And finally the mom got released from the devil because Mulian did a lot of good things.

Me: So is Ghost Month just a thing for Buddhists then?

CL: No. Most people in Taiwan are Buddhist, but the Mulian story is famous–when I was a kid, a lot of TV shows talk about it because we didn’t know why we had Ghost Month. It’s about doing good things so your ancestors won’t be punished. In the old times less people could read, most people were farmers. So using drama or live shows let people in the countryside understand the purpose of the story: to do good things so your ancestors won’t be punished.

Me: Are ancestors just for Buddhists?

CL: No, we all have ancestors. Buddhists go to the temple to pray for them, but we still respect ancestors.

Analysis: Although the Mulian story is seemingly grounded in a more institutional presence like Buddhism, from my knowledge Ghost Month is widely celebrated throughout Taiwan regardless of its religious implications, much like Christmas in the US. Ancestor worship goes back to Confucian and perhaps Daoist ideology as well, so there’s a convergence of beliefs and practices at play here. Its structure is very much the classic cautionary tale, that shapes an idea of what “good” behavior would look like, particularly conveyed in an oral retelling to illiterate villagers. It’s clear to see why the story has stuck around, because its narrative progression is logical and points to a fairly universal moral message–respect your elders and ancestors, or else face karmic retribution.

The Lost Dutchman’s Mine

–Informant Info–

Nationality: American

Age: 53

Occupation: Senior VP for a development company

Residence: Pheonix, Ariozna

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

(Notes-The informant will be referred to as MW and the interviewer as K)

Background info: MW is a father of 2 who grew up and now resides in Pheonix, Arizona. I was told this story over the phone.

K: So, what’s the uh title of the story? And how do you know it? Like who told it to you or where did you like hear it?

MW: It’s called The Lost dutchman’s mine, and I heard about it from uh…my parents and friends, I guess

K: It’s one of those things you just kind of always hear? Is it like a fireside story or…?

MW: Yeah, yeah. It’s definitely a fireside story, but not really like…scary, ya know? Just a story you hear around.

K: Ok cool, uh…whenever you’re ready to tell it, go-ahead

MW: So the story goes that uh…way back in the 1800s, like during gold rush time there was an uh…Dutch guy that came down to Arizona. One day he went into an uh…bar or something in the settlement with this huge *exaggerates voice here for emphasis* chunk of gold. Everyone asked him where it came from, and he uh refused to uh tell them outright. He only left one hint for people.

K: What was the hint?

MW: Oh uh…It was like…you could see the entrance of the mine from weaver’s needle which is a mountain in Arizona. It’s like an uh peak that looks like the eye of a needle

K: So, has anyone found it? Or has anyone gone like looking for it?

MW: Oh yeah! Loads have gone looking; I think like 2 or 3 people have even died from trying to find it, but no one has found it yet.

K: So, do people actually believe in it? Or is it more of a fun let’s go look kinda adventure?

MW: Like most stories, I guess there are always believers, most people uh…go hik8ing up in the mountains to try and find it in like..highschool or right before college though *laughter* I remember doing it with my friends when I was like 16 or 17.

K: Oh! So there’s a right of passage aspect to it?

MW: Sometimes yeah, definitely.

Interpretation:
I really enjoyed hearing this story. It, at least from my perspective, did encompass the American dream in a sense. The idea of both the gold rush, which has long been held as a pinnacle of American determination and achievement, and the idea of adventure and finding a long-lost mine combine to form, as stated, a tale of the American dream in a sense. Another aspect I want to note is the coming of age part of the story. This story, at least according to the informant, dates back to his great-grandfather. That part of the story represents a lot of long-held more conservative beliefs. Arizona, for a very long time, has held conservative values. The informant noted that it was really only high school boys who went to try and find the mine as a coming of age process. Even later on in life, it was mainly men who attempted. The idea of a rugged mine full of riches hidden deep within the scorching mountains, and someone going to find it, is very traditionally masculine.

Ghost of highway 1

–Informant Info–

Nationality: American

Age: 56

Occupation: Housewife

Residence: Pheonix, Ariozna

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

(Notes-The informant will be referred to as HW and the interviewer as K)

Background info: MW is a mother of 2 who grew up in Pacific Grove, northern California, and now resides in Pheonix, Arizona.

K: Ok so what’s the title and where did you hear it? And what’s the uh…context for the performance? Like what circumstances was it told

HW: It doesn’t really have a title, just the ghost of highway 1 because uh…whenever you drive past highway 1 someone would tell the story, mainly on the school bus. That’s where I always heard it from, like kids telling other kids to scare them.

K: Ok, go ahead! It’s fine if its only like 2 sentences

HW: Yeah, I mean, it goes that uh a woman got hit by a car and died on this little outstretch of Highway 1 that’s not even really used anymore cuz a new uh…exit was built that had better access to Monterey (a major town in this area). So the only people that used it were locals, but sometimes a non-local would get lost and see her standing on the edge of the road and uh pick her up. There were 2 major uh…versions I guess to what she would do after. She would either like take control of the car and crash it or if you were a woman driving alone she would uh like…bless you in a sense? Like your car would drive better and you wouldn’t hit traffic and narrowly avoid getting hit kind of a thing.

K: Wow, that’s really interesting, so she was kind to women?

HW: In one version yea, but only if you were alone or with another woman. If it was a straight uh couple the car would crash. Her hatred for men was stronger than her love for women *laughter*

Interpretation:
This is actually really interesting because of how traditional this story is. I know I’ve heard the same type of story, about a woman dying by getting hit by a car and becoming a ghost hitchhiker. It’s a very popular story in common lore around the world I think. This just reinforces my belief that every kid seems to have their own version of the story. It is interesting how the informant noted that this part of the road isn’t a major part anymore, and is only really used by locals and that non-locals were really the only ones to stop and pick her up. Its as if this is a very well-known, and believed story rather than a story told on the bus to scare other kids.

The Nine Maidens of Dundee

–Informant Info–

Nationality: Scottish

Age: 67

Occupation: Electrician

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s):

(Notes-The informant will be referred to DM as and the interviewer as K)

Background info: DM is the father of 4 from Scotland who moved to the United States when he was a young child. Both his parents are Scottish, which is how he knows of Scottish folklore like the one being spoken about. He told me this story at the grove over lunch.

K: So, what’s the name o the story, how do you know of it, and what’s the uh content for the performance? I mean like…under what circumstances is it like told?

DM: Ah it’s called the none maidens of Dundee. Everyone who grew up in my little-little town knows of it, as we be right outside Dundee. It’s just sort of told around, it’s not at any parades or nothing of the sort, it’s more sad or an explanation…no more of history about the town, somethin for tourists.

K: Ok cool so…whenever you’re ready to tell the story go ahead, however you wanna tell it works.

DM: Aye. A farmer had 9 beautiful, maiden daughters. He would send the oldest one out for water at a well every day but one day she did not return. So he sent the next eldest and so on and so forth. After all nine failed to return, he went to go see for himself and saw all nine of his daughters lay dead against the well, and wrapped around them was a giant dragon that looked like an uh…a snake. The farmer then fled to his neighbors and then all of them attempted to kill the dragon. He tried to escape but then young man named Martin *raises a fist and begins to stand up* HIT the dragon while everyone yelled: “strike martin, strike!”

K: Wow, did he manage to kill the dragon?

DM: Aye. The area was named “strike-martin” which would eventually change into “Strathmartine”.

Interpretation: This was super interesting and enlightening to what Scottland and Scottish people hold dear when it comes to morals and such. The farmer’s 9 daughters were killed, the farmer ran to get help and people helped him to the point where they killed the beast that killed his daughters. You could argue that anyone would run for help after seeing their daughters killed by the dragon, but the fact that people were so willing to help fight something that had the strength to kill 9 people is striking. It shows that Scotland teaches young children that helping people is essential, and is normally rewarded, as a part of the town was named after the man who killed the dragon.