Most cultures have culture heroes. Typically, the culture hero assists the creator by living with the newly created humans in the world and teaching them religious rules and ceremonies and ways of survival. In short, the culture hero, unlike the warrior hero or the questing hero, establishes the community’s institutions and traditions; he literally establishes “culture.” This is not to say that the culture hero cannot also become a warrior or a questor. The culture hero sometimes takes the side of the people against the creator. In the interest of his people and their survival, he can, for instance, steal fire, as Prometheus does from Zeus. Or he can be a trickster who sometimes introduces unpleasant aspects of human life. Coyote, in a Maidu Indian myth, brings death. In matrilineal cultures the culture hero can be female, as in the case of the sisters “Life Bringer” and “Full Basket,” who teach the Acoma Indians how to live.
Often the culture hero’s powers can be attributed to divine...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Bibliography
Jung, C. G. (1951/1968). Christ a symbol of self. In The collected works of C. G. Jung: Aion (Vol. 9, Pt. 1). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Leeming, D. A. (2005). The Oxford companion to world mythology (p. 88). New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Leeming, D.A. (2014). Culture Heroes. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_147
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_147
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6085-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6086-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science