The paper deals with Muong epic tales included into the cycle of 'The Birth of the Earth and Water'. These tales, which represent a type of ritual narrative performed during traditional mourning rites (Mo), are analyzed in the context of Vietnamese folk stories from a 15th century collection entitled 'A Selection of Wondrous Tales of Linh Nam'. The comparative analysis of two bodies of narratives is used to suggest an alternative vision of the ethnic and cultural history of the Muong and the Vietnamese (Kinh). JEL Classification: Z19.
This article seeks to introduce into comparative folkloristics an epic tradition of the Muong, one of minority groups in northern Vietnam. More precisely, it deals with the epic cycle of 'The Birth of the Earth and Water', which represents an essential part of the Muong ritual narratives. This cycle was presumably created not later than the fifteenth century and was intended for practicing mourning rituals. Although in 2015 ritual narratives of the Muong were recognized as national intangible cultural heritage in Vietnam, the Muong epics have remained practically unknown and unexplored in Western scholarship.The article discusses the most common epic themes, such as creation, man's origin and reproduction, acquisition of culture, and deeds and fights of the main culture heroes through a number of motifs represented in tales constituting the Muong epic cycle. Comparative analysis of these themes and motifs in global and regional perspectives reveals obvious parallels with their representations in the world folklore as well as some specific variations and local links.Research into universal archetypes and themes, classification of recurrent motifs as well as analysis of culture heroes and revealing common patterns in their representations became main defining trends within comparative folkloristics during the twentieth century. Such endeavors resulted in many seminal works which accumulate and interpret various themes and heroes, systemize and describe thousands of narrative motifs and their variants from around the world. Yet, any survey, index or directory could not be considered complete or comprehensive while accumulation of newly discovered materials from various oral traditions is ongoing ceaselessly, enriching the existing collections with formerly unknown data.
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