origin myths
How things began
Origin myths are traditional narratives explaining how the world, humanity, or particular peoples came into existence.
Every culture has them—creation stories, flood narratives, tales of first ancestors.
The term sometimes carries skeptical connotations, suggesting the story is believed but unfounded: The company's origin myth involves two guys in a garage.
In this extended sense, any romanticized account of beginnings qualifies.
- world eggUniverse-birthing primordial sphere
- cosmogonyStudy of universal origins
- cosmic eggMythic universe seed
- divine creationSomething fashioned by deity
- primordial chaosFormless state before creation
ancestral spirits · golden age · dreamtime · creation myths · founding fathers · demigods · oral tradition · sacred stories · African folklore · legendary kings · Enuma Elish · axis mundi · pantheon · tribal lore · trickster figures · oral · great flood · supernatural
- cultural heritagefolklore, traditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections
- folklorefairy tales, fairytales, folktales, folk tales, folk tale
- folktalesfolktales, animal fables, folktale, moral fables, fairy tales
- mythologyZeus, Apollo, Athena, Poseidon, Odin
- mythslegend, fable, fairy tale, folk tale, hero myths
- oral traditionfolk narratives, campfire tales, epics, oral poetry, storytelling circles
origin mythshistorical accounts
Records of past events
evolutionary theory · empirical evidence · archaeological record · scholarly research · evolutionary biology
origin mythseschatology
Study of ultimate destiny
Ragnarök · Book of Revelation · doomsday scenarios · apocalypse · prophecies