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Myths, taboos and superstitions

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Food and Nutrition

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Abstract

A myth is a traditional narrative, usually involving supernatural or fancied persons, and embodying popular ideas on natural or social phenomena. Malinowski (1963) saw myths as being in the nature of charters; that is, stories of the first doing of an act that are still repeated in ritual or that validate some claim in social relationships. They explain why what is done today is the right thing to do. Sacredness and ritual are characteristics of myth and may be combined with elements of legends or fairy-tales. Legends recount supposed history whereas fairy-tales deal with miraculous happenings which no-one supposes to be true and which are pure entertainment. It may be that myths also serve to explain and impose order on the incomprehensible universe (Freidl and Pfeiffer, 1977).

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Further Reading

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manitoba Ministry of Health, Canada

    Paul Fieldhouse (Health Promotion Specialist)

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  1. Paul Fieldhouse
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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Fieldhouse, P. (1995). Myths, taboos and superstitions. In: Food and Nutrition. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3256-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3256-3_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-56593-339-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-3256-3

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