Culture Heroes: The Mythology Of Cultural Heroes

The mythology of culture heroes, both fictitious and those who are the product of mythicized historicism are important anthropological tools, which allow for an intricate understanding of a particular facet of a culture. Culture heroes provide a detailed look at many of the ideals held by cultures, as well as provides insight into cultural cognition. One might expect a degree of archetypical character behavior from cultural heroes; however, this is not the case. The manifestation of culture heroes in terms of character is rather broad; however, there are several distinct similarities in the manifestations of culture heroes cross culturally.

Before proceeding, it is pertinent to define some of the terms that will be used through the duration

of this paper. The term trickster, despite its popular connotation, does not simply refer to an individual who deceives or manipulates others. Similarly to Michael P. Carroll, tricksters for the purposes of this paper shall be “tricksters of the selfish – buffoon/culture hero variety, and unless otherwise specified, the term trickster will henceforth refer only to this character type.” Secondly, the expression culture hero will represent a mythical figure who in some way alters the world by furnishing a necessity for subsistence, or a mythicized historical figure who embodies the ideals of a society.
The idea of the culture hero is rather broad in relation to its manifestation across cultures.

In other words, culture heroes often do not manifest in a ubiquitous manner cross culturally. One common manifestation of the culture hero is in the form of a trickster. Despite the selfish amoralistic nature of the trickster, he is capable of being a culture hero. For example, across numerous Amerindian cultures, tricksters are held as culture heroes. In many Amerindian cultures, the trickster is responsible for supplying people with the necessities for subsistence, such as fire, knowledge of agriculture, and boat building. However, it is important to note that when the trickster is a culture hero, he is usually inadvertent in being placed in such a position. For example, if one looks at Anansi, the West African cultural hero, he inadvertently provides the world with wisdom. Another interesting aspect that is associated with tricksters is their shapeshifting ability. This ability further increases the variation in the possible appearances of cultural heroes cross

culturally.
Culture heroes are not relegated to being only tricksters.

Cultural heroes can come in the form of demiurges. A demiurge is a divine being sent from a higher Being. This is not to say that tricksters cannot be both culture heroes and demiurges, Anansi is a perfect example of this combination. Culture heroes can also come in the form of clever heroes. Clever heroes, similarly to tricksters, utilize subterfuge in an attempt to best their challenges. An example of a clever hero who is also a culture hero would be Odysseus, because throughout his journey in the Odyssey he utilizes his wits and deceptive tactics to triumph routinely over his

adversaries.
Despite the broad manifestation of culture heroes cross culturally, there are distinct similarities amongst numerous culture heroes in terms of their lives and their surrounding mythology. Lord Raglan formulated a system based on a series of patterns he noticed among the biographies of various heroes. He composed twenty-two facets of the “Story of the Hero of Tradition.” Interestingly, if one looks at the biographies of various culture heroes and tests them for similarity to the 22 points; it becomes clear that Raglan’s point hold some validity in recognizing patterns amongst culture heroes. For example, numerous culture heroes from Romulus to Moses share a similar birth feature. Their parents are of some high degree of nobility or royalty.
The manifestation of culture heroes in terms of character is extremely broad and varies significantly from culture to culture. Whereas some cultures are inclined to have a trickster, others have clever heroes. Despite this characteristic, there are distinct similarities found between heroes from numerous cultures.