Mythology of Indonesia
Mythology of Indonesia The Mythology of Indonesia is very diverse, unlike other nations or cultures with a relatively homogenous population, such as Egypt, Greece or Japan. This is because the Indonesian people consist of hundreds of ethnic groups, each with their own myths and legends that explain the origin of their people, the tales of their ancestors and the demons or deities in their belief systems. The tendency to syncretize by overlying older traditions with newer foreign ideas has occurred. For example the older ancestral mythology might be merged with foreign mythology, such as Hindu, Islam, or Christian biblical mythology. Some native Indonesian ethnic groups that were isolated from the rest of the world until recent centuries have their own native myths and gods. These native mythologies are relatively free from foreign influences, such as Torajans, Nias, Bataks, Dayaks and Papuans. By contrast, Javanese, Balinese, and to some degree Sundanese were influenced by Hindu-Bud...