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For other uses, see Folklore (disambiguation).

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. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to Oral history can be defined as the recording preservation and interpretation of historical information, based on the personal experiences and opinions of the speaker A proverb (from the Latin proverbium) also called a byword or nayword, is a simple and concrete Saying popularly known and repeated See also Mathematics of humor A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. Superstition ( Latin superstitio, literally "standing over" derived perhaps from standing in awe used in Latin as a unreasonable or excessive belief The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of Oral tradition, oral culture and oral lore is a way for a society to transmit history, literature, law and other Knowledges For the term in biology see Subculture (biology. For the song by New Order see Sub-culture (song. In Sociology, a group can be defined as two or more Humans that interact with one another accept expectations and obligations as members of the group and share a 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. Ethnology (from the Greek ἔθνος, ethnos meaning "habit custom convention" is the branch of Anthropology that compares and Folkloristics is the formal academic study of Folklore. What actually constitutes folklore is disputed even within the discipline but generally folklore focuses on the The word 'folklore' was first used by the English antiquarian William Thoms in a letter published by the London Journal Athenaeum in 1846. William John Thoms (1803 &ndash 1885 was a British writer credited with coining the term " Folklore " in the 1840s The Athenaeum was a literary magazine published in London from 1828 to 1921 [1]

Contents

History

The concept of folklore developed as part of the 19th century ideology of romantic nationalism, leading to the reshaping of oral traditions to serve modern ideological goals; only in the 20th century did ethnographers begin to attempt to record folklore without overt political goals. Romantic nationalism (also National Romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of Nationalism in which the state derives Ethnography ( Greek ethnos = people and graphein = writing is a genre of writing that uses Fieldwork to provide a descriptive The Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm, collected orally transmitted German tales and published the first series as Kinder- und Hausmärchen ("Children's and Household Tales") in 1812. The Brothers Grimm ( German: Die Gebrüder Grimm) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm Carl Grimm ( February 24, 1786 &ndash December 16 1859) was a German author the younger of the Brothers Grimm Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm ( Hanau, January 4, 1785 &ndash September 20, 1863 in Berlin) German Philologist

The term was coined in 1846 by an Englishman, William Thoms, who wanted to use an Anglo-Saxon term for what was then called "popular antiquities. William John Thoms (1803 &ndash 1885 was a British writer credited with coining the term " Folklore " in the 1840s " Johann Gottfried von Herder first advocated the deliberate recording and preservation of folklore to document the authentic spirit, tradition, and identity of the German people; the belief that there can be such authenticity is one of the tenets of the romantic nationalism which Herder developed. Johann Gottfried von Herder ( August 25, 1744 December 18, 1803) was a German philosopher, Poet, and Literary Romantic nationalism (also National Romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of Nationalism in which the state derives The definition most widely accepted by current scholars of the field is "artistic communication in small groups," coined by Dan Ben-Amos a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, and the term, and the associated field of study, now include non-verbal art forms and customary practices. The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private University located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

French-Canadian folklore includes tales of the "bewitched canoe"
French-Canadian folklore includes tales of the "bewitched canoe"

Types of folklore

Folklore can be divided into four areas of study: artifact (such as voodoo dolls), describable and transmissible entity (oral tradition), culture, and behavior (rituals). These areas do not stand alone however, often a particular item or element may fit into more than one of these areas. [2]

Folklore as describable and transmissible entity

Folklore can contain religious or mythic elements, it equally concerns itself with the sometimes mundane traditions of everyday life. Folklore frequently ties the practical and the esoteric into one narrative package. It has often been conflated with mythology, and vice versa, because it has been assumed that any figurative story that does not pertain to the dominant beliefs of the time is not of the same status as those dominant beliefs. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" Thus, Roman religion is called "myth" by Christians. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings In that way, both "myth" and "folklore" have become catch-all terms for all figurative narratives which do not correspond with the dominant belief structure.

Sometimes "folklore" is religious in nature, like the tales of the Welsh Mabinogion or those found in Icelandic skaldic poetry. Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( The skald was a member of a group of Poets whose courtly poetry (Icelandic dróttkvæði) is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic Many of the tales in the Golden Legend of Jacob de Voragine also embody folklore elements in a Christian context: examples of such Christian mythology are the themes woven round Saint George or Saint Christopher. The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea by Jacopo da Varagine is a collection of fanciful hagiographies or lives of the Saints that became a late medieval Blessed Jacobus de Varagine or Voragine (Giacomo da Varazze Jacopo da Varazze (c Christian mythology ( μῦθος (mythos in Greek is the body of traditional Narratives associated with Christianity. In Christian hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Saint Christopher ( Greek: Άγιος Χριστόφορος) is a Saint venerated by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians In this case, the term "folklore" is being used in a pejorative sense. That is, while the tales of Odin the Wanderer have a religious value to the Norse who composed the stories, because it does not fit into a Christian configuration it is not considered "religious" by Christians who may instead refer to it as "folklore. Odin (ˈoʊdɪn from Old Norse Óðinn) is considered the chief god in Norse paganism. "

Folktales are general term for different varieties of traditional narrative. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to basic and complex societies alike. Even the forms folktales take are certainly similar from culture to culture, and comparative studies of themes and narrative ways have been successful in showing these relationships. Also it is considered to be an oral tale to be told for everybody.

On the other hand, folklore can be used to accurately describe a figurative narrative, which has no sacred or religious content. In the Jungian view, which is but one method of analysis, it may instead pertain to unconscious psychological patterns, instincts or archetypes of the mind. Analytical psychology (or Jungian psychology) refers to the school of Psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and then advanced An archetype ( pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit or /ˈɑrkɪtaɪp/ (Amer This may or may not have components of the fantastic (such as magic, ethereal beings or the personification of inanimate objects). Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and These folktales may or may not emerge from a religious tradition, but nevertheless speak to deep psychological issues. The familiar folktale, "Hansel and Gretel," is an example of this fine line. Hansel and Gretel ( Hänsel und Gretel) is a Fairy tale of Germanic origin adapted by the Brothers Grimm and earlier by Giambattista The manifest purpose of the tale may primarily be one of mundane instruction regarding forest safety or secondarily a cautionary tale about the dangers of famine to large families, but its latent meaning may evoke a strong emotional response due to the widely understood themes and motifs such as “The Terrible Mother”, “Death,” and “Atonement with the Father. A cautionary tale is a traditional story told in Folklore, to warn its hearer of a Danger. A theme, from Old French tesme, is a broad idea in a story or literary work or a message or lesson conveyed by a written text In a Narrative, such as a novel or a film motifs are recurring structures contrasts or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes ”

There can be both a moral and psychological scope to the work, as well as entertainment value, depending upon the nature of the teller, the style of the telling, the ages of the audience members, and the overall context of the performance. A performance, in Performing arts, generally comprises an event in which one group of people (the performer or performers behave in a particular way for another group of people Folklorists generally resist universal interpretations of narratives and, wherever possible, analyze oral versions of tellings in specific contexts, rather than print sources, which often show the work or bias of the writer or editor. A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written spoken poetry prose images song Theater, or Dance) that describes a sequence of Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured deliberate manner intended to inform influence or entertain the listeners A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms Editing Language, Images or Sound through correction condensation organization and other modifications in various media

Contemporary narratives common in the Western world include the urban legend. An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them There are many forms of folklore that are so common, however, that most people do not realize they are folklore, such as riddles, children's rhymes and ghost stories, rumors (including conspiracy theories), gossip, ethnic stereotypes, and holiday customs and life-cycle rituals. A riddle is a Statement or Question having a double or veiled meaning put forth as a Puzzle to be solved This article is about the poetic technique For the form of ice see Rime ice. A ghost story may be any piece of Fiction, or Drama, that includes a Ghost, or simply takes as a Premise the possibility of ghosts or the belief A rumour or rumor (see spelling differences) is often viewed as "an unverified account or explanation of events circulating from person to person and A conspiracy theory attributes the ultimate cause of an event or chain of events (usually Political, Social or Historical events or the concealment Gossip is idle talk or Rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others An ethnic stereotype is a generalized representation of an Ethnic group, composed of what are thought to be typical characteristics of members of the group Lists of holidays The words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English-speaking countries and continents but will usually refer to one of A ritual is a set of actions often thought to have Symbolic value the performance of which is usually prescribed by a Religion or by the Traditions UFO abduction narratives can be seen, in some sense, to refigure the tales of pre-Christian Europe, or even such tales in the Bible as the Ascent of Elijah to heaven. Alien Discussions Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Adrienne Mayor, in introducing a bibliography on the topic, noted that most modern folklorists are largely unaware of classical parallels and precedents, in materials that are only partly represented by the familiar designation Aesopica: "Ancient Greek and Roman literature contains rich troves of folklore and popular beliefs, many of which have counterparts in modern contemporary legends" (Mayor, 2000). Adrienne Mayor (b1946 is a classical folklorist and historian of science Aesop's Fables or Aesopica refers to a collection of Fables credited to Aesop (620&ndash 560 BC) a slave and story-teller who lived

Vladimir Propp's classic study Morphology of the Folktale (1928) became the basis of research into the structure of folklore texts. Propp discovered a uniform structure in Russian fairy tales. Structure is a fundamental and sometimes Intangible notion covering the Recognition, Observation, nature, and Stability of His book has been translated into English, Italian, Polish and other languages. The English translation was issued in USA in 1958, some 30 years after the publication of the original. It was met by approving reviews and significantly influenced later research on folklore and, more generally, structural semantics. [3]

Material culture

Elements such as dolls, decorative items used in religious rituals, hand-built houses and barns, and handmade clothing and other crafts are considered to be folk artifacts, grouped within the field as "material culture. " Additionally, figures that depict characters from folklore, such as statues of the three wise monkeys may be considered to be folklore artifacts, depending on how they are used within a culture. The three wise monkeys ( Japanese:, san'en or sanzaru, or, sanbiki no saru, literally "three monkeys" are a pictorial maxim [4] The operative definition would depend on whether the artifacts are used and appreciated within the same community in which they are made, and whether they follow a community aesthetic. Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called

Culture as folklore

Folklorist William Bascom states that folklore has many cultural aspects, such as allowing for escape from societal consequences. William R Bascom (born Princeton Illinois, 1912 - died September 11 1981 was an American Folklorist, Anthropologist, and Museum director In addition, folklore can also serve to validate a culture (romantic nationalism), as well as transmit a culture's morals and values. Folklore can also be used to assert social pressures, or relive them, in the case of humor and carnival. Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke Laughter and provide Amusement Carnival is a festival season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February and March
In addition, folklorists study medical, supernatural, religious, and political belief systems as an essential, often unspoken, part of expressive culture.

Behavior as folklore

Many rituals can be considered folklore, whether formalized in a cultural or religious system (e. A ritual is a set of actions often thought to have Symbolic value the performance of which is usually prescribed by a Religion or by the Traditions g. weddings, baptisms, harvest festivals) or practiced within a family or secular context. For example, in certain parts of the United States (as well as other countries) one places a knife, or a pair of scissors, under the mattress to "cut the birth pains" after giving birth. Additionally, children's counting-out games can be defined as behavioral folklore. A counting-out Game is a simple game intended to select a person to be "it" often for the purpose of playing another game [5]

Categories of folklore

National or ethnic

Further information: List of mythologies

See also

References

  1. ^ Georges, Robert A. A ballad is a Poem usually set to Music; thus it often is a story told in a Song. Blason populaire is an umbrella Genre in the field of Folkloristics used to designate any item of any genre which makes use of Stereotypes usually but Childlore is the Folklore or folk culture of Children and young people Children's street culture refers to the cumulative Culture created by young Children. A counting-out Game is a simple game intended to select a person to be "it" often for the purpose of playing another game Costumbrismo refers to the literary or pictorial interpretation of local everyday life mannerisms and customs primarily in the Hispanic scene A craft is a Skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a Trade or particular art A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted Standards norms social norms or criteria, often taking the form of Folk plays such as Hoodening, Guising, Mumming and Soul Caking are generally verse sketches performed in countryside pubs private houses or An epic is a lengthy Narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation A factoid is a spurious — unverified incorrect or fabricated — statement formed and asserted as a fact but with no veracity. A festival is an event usually and ordinarily staged by a local community which centers on some unique aspect of that community Folk art describes a wide range of objects that reflect the Craft traditions and traditional social values of various social groups Folk religion consists of Beliefs Superstitions and Rituals transmitted from generation to generation in a specific Culture. Folk religion consists of Beliefs Superstitions and Rituals transmitted from generation to generation in a specific Culture. The term traditional medicine ( Indigenous medicine or folk medicine) describes medical knowledge systems which developed over centuries within various societies Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects Ethnopoetics is a poetic movement and subfield in Linguistics, and Anthropology. This article is about the poetic technique For the form of ice see Rime ice. SIMILE is a research project focused on developing tools to increase the interoperability of disparate digital collections Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous For other uses see Anecdota. For a comparison of anecdote with other kinds of stories see Myth legend fairy tale and fable. A fairy tale or fairy story is a fictional Story that may feature folkloric characters (such as fairies, enchantments]] often involving A fable is a succinct story in prose or verse that features Animals Plants inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are A ghost story may be any piece of Fiction, or Drama, that includes a Ghost, or simply takes as a Premise the possibility of ghosts or the belief See also Mathematics of humor A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" A parable is a brief succinct story in Prose or verse, that illustrates a Moral or Religious lesson Tall Tale, also known as Tall Tale The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill is a 1995 family Western movie starring Patrick An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for Enjoyment and sometimes also used as an Educational tool Lists of holidays The words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English-speaking countries and continents but will usually refer to one of The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" A riddle is a Statement or Question having a double or veiled meaning put forth as a Puzzle to be solved A saying is something that is said notable in one respect or another A saying is something that is said notable in one respect or another A proverb (from the Latin proverbium) also called a byword or nayword, is a simple and concrete Saying popularly known and repeated Superstition ( Latin superstitio, literally "standing over" derived perhaps from standing in awe used in Latin as a unreasonable or excessive belief A taunt is a Battle cry, a method in hand-to-hand combat sarcastic remark or insult intended to make the other feel miserable and powerless Weather lore is the body of informal Folklore related to the Prediction of the Weather. Material circulated in faxlore Some faxlore is relatively harmless This is a list of Mythologies of the world by culture and region The central and eastern Alps of Europe are rich in traditions dating back to Pre-Christian ( pagan) times with surviving elements amalgamated from Germanic Albanian myths can be divided into two major groups legends of metamorphosis and historical legends English folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in England over a number of centuries Estonian folklore. The earliest mentioning of Estonian singing dates back to Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum (c Folklore of the Low Countries, often just referred to as Dutch folklore, includes the epics Legends Fairy tales and oral traditions of the Finnish mythology, that of the Finnish people, has many features shared with fellow Finnic Estonian mythology and its non-Finnic neighbours the Balts and French folklore encompasses the Fables, Folklore and Fairy tales and Legends of the Gauls Franks, Normans, German folklore shares many characteristics with Scandinavian folklore and English folklore due to their origins in a common Germanic mythology. Hungarian mythology includes the myths legends folk tales fairy tales and gods of the Hungarians. The Mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved shorn of its religious meanings The Culture of Italy can be found in the Roman ruins remaining in much of the country the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church, the spirit of the Lithuanian mythology is an example of pagan Mythology containing archaic elements developed by Lithuanians throughout the centuries Montenegrin folklore shares many characteristics with Albanian folklore and Serbian folklore, which it has cultural and historical ties with A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture determined by two factors Beings of Scandinavian folklore Perhaps most abundant are the stories about the race of Trolls ' a cunning and deceitful people living in the forestlands Scottish mythology may refer to any of the mythologies of Scotland. Slavic mythology is the Mythological aspect of the Religion that was practised by the ancient Slavs. Circles Circles play a large part in Polish mythology Most ancient Slavic people worshipped in natural circles and Groves and it plays a large part Slavic mythology is the Mythological aspect of the Religion that was practised by the ancient Slavs. Swiss folklore is used to describe a collection of local stories celebrations and customs of the alpine and sub-alpine peoples that occupy Switzerland. Welsh mythology, the remnants of the Mythology of the pre Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts The folklore of the United States, or American folklore, is one of the folk traditions which has evolved on the North American continent since Europeans Latin American Folklore is the study of the informal beliefs customs and cultural traditions common in the countries in Latin America. The term Brazilian mythology is used to describe a series of cultural elements of diverse origin that are found in Brazil, comprising folk tales traditions characters and beliefs Many elements of Caribbean folklore (the orally-transmitted beliefs myths tales and practices of a people are African in origin given that Slaves brought from Africa's Colombian mythology Colombian Folklore are beliefs customs and cultural traditions in Colombia. Australian folklore refers to the Folklore and Urban legends of Australia. Chinese folklore has a long history going back several thousand years Japanese folklore is the Folklore of Japan. It is heavily influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country Korean mythology consists of national legends and folk-tales which come from all over the Korean Peninsula. Literature See also Arabic literature Arabic literature is the writing produced both Prose and Poetry, by speakers of the Jewish Mythology is generally the sacred and traditional narratives that help explain and symbolize the Jewish religion whereas Jewish folklore consists of the Aggadah ( Aramaic אגדה tales lore pl Aggadot or (Ashkenazi Aggados) refers to the homiletic and non-legalistic exegetical Iranian folklore including jokes legends games folklore heroes and beliefs is sophisticated and complex The tradition of Folklore —folktales jokes legends and the like—in the Turkish language is very rich and is incorporated into every day life and events This article is about the folklore of the Indian subcontinent. Pakistan has a wide variety of Folklore, mostly circulated regionally Philippine mythology and folklore include a collection of tales and superstitions about magical creatures and entities Applied folklore is the branch of Folkloristics concerned with the study and use of Folklore and Traditional cultural materials to address or In Music, appropriation is the use of borrowed elements ( aspects or techniques) in the creation of a new piece. Chinook winds, often just called chinooks commonly refers to Foehn winds ref> in the interior West of North America, where the Canadian Prairies and See also Folk (disambiguation, Volk (disambiguation Folk is one of the Germanic roots that mean "(of the people" or "our The notion of intangible cultural heritage (ICH emerged in the 90s as a counter part to the World Heritage that focusses mainly on tangible aspects of culture A petrosomatoglyph is an image of parts of a human or animal body incised in rock Public folklore is the term for the work done by folklorists in public settings in the United States and Canada outside of universities and colleges such , Michael Owens Jones, "Folkloristics: An Introduction," Indiana University Press, 1995.
  2. ^ Georges, Robert A. , Michael Owens Jones, "Folkloristics: An Introduction," pp. 313 Indiana University Press, 1995.
  3. ^ L. V. Propp, Morphology of the Folktale, Second Edition, revised and edited with a Preface of Louis A. Wagner, University of Texas Press, 1968.
  4. ^ Wolfgang Mieder, "The Proverbial Three Wise Monkeys," Midwestern Journal of Language and Folklore 7 (1981):5-38.
  5. ^ Kenneth S. Goldstein, "Strategy in Counting Out: An Ethnographic Folklore Field Study," in Elliott M. Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith, eds. , The Study of Games New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1971.

Further reading

External links

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Dictionary

folklore

-noun

  1. The tales, legends and superstitions of a particular ethnic population.

-adjective

  1. Of or pertaining to folklore.
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