Passing traditional customs of a community and offering of solutions to the contemporary problems facing it is achieved through storytelling. Every native setting comprises of their own kind of stories based on their geographical location and the environment they dwell in. All stories have a way that best explains the intended motive. Native American legends are among such stories and have been used so achieve certain functions.
Preserving culture and passing on traditions is among the most sought objective to achieve by many native communities. Legends are told to every generation and prove to be a convenient way of achieving such objectives. They link one generation to another ensuring that none of the member is left out in learning the ways of the community.
Most of these legends are told in the native languages. This ensures that the children in the concerned setting are in a position to effectively learn their native languages at first hand since most of the narrators were the elderly in the communities. This is important since the modern education and cultures are known for their ability of eroding culture and embracing foreign languages.
A story is more likely to give a good elaboration of an event or occurrence as it happened. Through them, it is easy to explain why certain natural occurrences such as why weather exists and the reason behind it changing from time to time. The same could also explain for the occurrences of natural calamities such as droughts or floods in a more understandable manner to the community members.
The question on where a community came from and who created them is likely to be asked by many community members. Scientific and religious explanations are also likely to suggest otherwise. Legends explain of the superior beings of a community and how they came into existence. They also explain on how to relate with their creator and who is in a position to do the same.
Every member of a community is believed to have a role to play. In most cases, the roles and obligation are defined by the gender of the members. There are also people who have authority and rule the communities. Through stories, duties are clearly outlined on relations among the members defined. Also ways of coming up with leaders are explained.
Inclusion of songs, music and dances in stories play a number of roles. They are a source of entertainment when being performed to the community. The wordings carry some meaning with them and are used to pass through some massage. Also members learn the occasions where to sing the songs or dance and the appropriate members to perform them according to the theme of the story.
Legends are a source of motivation. Existences of stories that talk of superheroes who did marvelous deeds to the communities pose a challenge to the community members. Some take such as their role model and work hard in the future to attain such recognition or glory. This works in creation of future leaders for the said communities. They also outline what to avoid in order not to be a source of shame like some of the fallen heroes.
Preserving culture and passing on traditions is among the most sought objective to achieve by many native communities. Legends are told to every generation and prove to be a convenient way of achieving such objectives. They link one generation to another ensuring that none of the member is left out in learning the ways of the community.
Most of these legends are told in the native languages. This ensures that the children in the concerned setting are in a position to effectively learn their native languages at first hand since most of the narrators were the elderly in the communities. This is important since the modern education and cultures are known for their ability of eroding culture and embracing foreign languages.
A story is more likely to give a good elaboration of an event or occurrence as it happened. Through them, it is easy to explain why certain natural occurrences such as why weather exists and the reason behind it changing from time to time. The same could also explain for the occurrences of natural calamities such as droughts or floods in a more understandable manner to the community members.
The question on where a community came from and who created them is likely to be asked by many community members. Scientific and religious explanations are also likely to suggest otherwise. Legends explain of the superior beings of a community and how they came into existence. They also explain on how to relate with their creator and who is in a position to do the same.
Every member of a community is believed to have a role to play. In most cases, the roles and obligation are defined by the gender of the members. There are also people who have authority and rule the communities. Through stories, duties are clearly outlined on relations among the members defined. Also ways of coming up with leaders are explained.
Inclusion of songs, music and dances in stories play a number of roles. They are a source of entertainment when being performed to the community. The wordings carry some meaning with them and are used to pass through some massage. Also members learn the occasions where to sing the songs or dance and the appropriate members to perform them according to the theme of the story.
Legends are a source of motivation. Existences of stories that talk of superheroes who did marvelous deeds to the communities pose a challenge to the community members. Some take such as their role model and work hard in the future to attain such recognition or glory. This works in creation of future leaders for the said communities. They also outline what to avoid in order not to be a source of shame like some of the fallen heroes.
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