The Indonesian people are rich in myths as a cultural heritage of the ancestors. Myth is typically form of message which basically contains elements of belief or faith (religion). Myth belongs to the community and grows in a society who believes the existence of myth through symbolic meaning underneath. The study of myth can be traced back through various aspects, including: the insight of the myth, the symbolic meaning behind the myth, and the model of mythical analysis. There are three views of society upon myth, namely acceptance, denial, and the middle path (tolerance). Based on semiotic view of modern culture, myth is not a kind of narrative form, however myth is a phenomenon of everyday life, and has certain functions. The symbolic meaning of myth can be analysed through a linguistic-structural approach. In the study of language and culture, myths are seen as semiotic systems. Myth as a basic phenomenon of mankind’s culture in where lies kinds of religious systems underneath as part of culture used as an object of the interdisciplinary studies by implementing ethical and EMIC approach.

Keywords: symbolic meanings, myth, religious systems, cultural studies