Sexual snakes, winged maidens and sky gods : myth in the Pacific : an essay in cultural transparency

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What are myths ? Myths are stories about gods and men on the shores of the Mediterranean, in the Great North or in Asia, which we have become familiar with through school, television and cinema.

Or could we be mistaken ?

The myths of the Pacific are still alive, and (thanks in particular to the works of Claude Lévi-Strauss) they are now able to reveal to us the real issues, not of human nature, but of human societies.

The Pacific lifestyle is not that of a warrior society, nor is it that of peaceful farmers and fishermen ; it is a fragile equilibrium between competition and consensus. The Pacific savoir-vivre is above all the art of making all things relative. Surely, quarrels are meant to last forever, and if lineages are recited, it is to remind us of squabbles about land, the lagoon, and even the skies above the ocean - conflicts over localities and forgotten names.

Perhaps that is the price to pay for a way of life which so many observers mistook, and for still wanting to live together on islands with limited resources.

But these men - and women - are remarkably resourceful (and in that, we are surely not « myth-taken »...).