Entertainment / Literature / Mythology: A system of stories about the gods, often explicitly religious in nature, that possibly were once believed to be true by a specific cultural group, but may no longer be believed as literally true by their descendents. Like religions everywhere, mythology often provided etiological and eschatological narratives (see above) to help explain why the world works the way it does, to provide a rationale for customs and observances, to establish set rituals for sacred ceremonies, and to predict what happens to individuals after death. If the protagonist is a normal human rather than a supernatural being, the traditional story is usually called a legend rather than a myth. If the story concerns supernatural beings who are not deities, but rather spirits, ghosts, fairies, and other creatures, it is usually called a folktale or fairy tale rather than a myth (see folklore, below). Samples of myths appear in the writings of Homer, Virgil, and Ovid.
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Mythology Adjective Synonyms: myths, folklore, tradition, lore, stories, mythos
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Entertainment / Literature / Animism: The belief that animals, plants, and objects have their own souls or spirits inhabiting them, as in modern Japanese religions like Shinto or in many older hunter-gatherer societies in Africa, Polynesi MORE