摘要：This article examines the relationship between regional mythologies and local spirit
concerns. It explores the extent to which teenagers in three communities are familiar
with myths about the Goddess of the Southern Ocean, Nyai Roro Kidul, and her
supposed daughter, Nyi Blorong. It shows how as one moves further away from the
Queen’s immediate domain, knowledge of this allegedly universal mythological figure
rapidly diminishes and is merged with local spirit figures of more immediate concern.
Although the mythological figures may be less immediately relevant locally, people
still retain practical knowledge about them, such as the taboos associated with the
queen and how to create amulets and other safeguards against her or her daughter’s
anger. The article finally also examines how in the non-local space of motion pictures,
different mythologies may come to be merged, unchallenged by the truth constraints
that being anchored in a locality usually places upon such tales. This loosening from
local ties allows the movement of these spirit entities into media and cyberspace in
which the direction of their further development is anything but certain since it is
determined by non-local mythmakers.
Loading...
