The deer : myths about time and space
type: Dataset
description: This thesis proposes a link between the natural history of the red deer, as seen in the writings of naturalists and huntsmen, with the folklore of Western Europe. It is a confrontation of tales that are supposed to be true, since based on observable facts, with purely fictional tales. We have altered the definition of the mytheme developed by Claude Lévi-Strauss, on the basis of narrative terms (T) and their opposite (T-1), and narrative functions (F) and their opposite (F-1). We define the mytheme as being the combination of four possible versions of a tale, the TF version and the contrapositive T-1F-1 version, as well as TF-1 or T-1F variations; like Lévi-Strauss, we consider the myth along with all of its variations. Since actual objects exist independently of the uses and representations that human populations may have of them, mythemes have been formulated concerning the red deer, its place in the environment and the right ways to use its heart, its hide or its antlers to represent the passage of time or man's destiny. We have isolated some twenty mythemes and classified them in increasing order of abstraction, considering that each of them enables a relationship to be forged between narrative terms and functions, or resolves a cognitive dissonance. However, no tale may claim to connect all these mythemes together. Most are only connected in an elliptical manner, since the narration does not provide all the details necessary to establish the plausibility or veracity of the tales. To resolve this issue, we prove the existence, in Breton contemporary religious rites, of a coherent system of cardinal and intermediary directions, based on sunrise and sunset during the solstices. Based on time and direction indications, then time and calendar indications, we restore the dates dedicated to human saints to the red deer, and the positioning of worship sites in relation to one another and the shape of procession routes to the summer solstice. By extrapolation to the upp…
identifier: NNT: 2012GRENL011
issued: 2026-05-07T08:54:33.540494
language: fr
modified: 2026-05-07T08:54:33.540499
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: archeoastronomie
keyword: archeoastronomy
keyword: calendar
keyword: celtes
keyword: celts
keyword: cerf
keyword: circumambulation
keyword: comput-calendaire
keyword: deer
keyword: ethnohistoire
keyword: folklore
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsdoctoralthesis
keyword: seasonnal-rite
keyword: shslitthumanities-and-social-sciencesliterature
keyword: theses
landing page: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00932815

The deer : myths about time and space
type: Distribution
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-07T08:54:33.545328
modified: 2026-05-07T08:54:33.523396
access URL: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00932815

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent