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Introduction

The word "Mythology" literally means the oral retelling of myths. In the modern usage, mythology refers to a body of myths from a particular culture or reglion. A "myth" is more then a story for a myth is a story with a purpose. The word myth comes from the ancient Greek word "mythos", which means "a spoken or written story". Generally, a myth tries to explain the way the world is, the relationship between deities and the hunam beings, or express important elements to a culture. It is the messages behind the stories which is so important, since they express either religious or social meaning.

Characteristics
Myths are narratives about divine or heroic beings which are passed down through the generations, they deal with the spiritual or culture nature of a specifc culture. Many explain the world's creation, the creation of the first man and woman, as well as other cultural factors. The most commonly known are the Roman, Greek, Egpytian, Celtic, Norse, however there are many others since all cultures have their own myths and mythical beliefs.

Folklore

Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The academic and usually ethnographic study of folklore is sometimes called folkloristics.The main differences between folklore and myths is that folklore doesn't normally contain religious influences, and more modern folklore is like urban legends and ghost stories.

Legendary Creatures
A legendary creature is a mythological or folkloric creature (often known as "fabulous creatures" in historical literature). Such creatures are the dragon and griffin, and more often these creatures are combinations of more then one type of animal together such as the chimeras. However, other creatures exist and some have even been adapted to modern fiction.

Deities
Various Deities such as gods and goddesses play vitual roles in mythology, and are used to explore the values of the culture they are from. The various cultures a number of common themes which re-appear in various cultures mythology.

Gems & Stones
Various gems and stones played roles in various cultures from healing to magical and ritual uses.

Herbs
Various herbs were used in religious and magical rituals.

Conclusion
I hope to explore various aspects of the mythical and mythology. I hope others find the information as interesting as I do, however I am not expert in this field.