folklore
Sign in to savethumb|A German folk tale, Hansel and Gretel; illustration by [[Arthur Rackham, 1909]] Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes material culture, such as traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also encompasses customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, including folk religion, and the forms and rituals of celebrations such as festivals, weddings, folk dances, and initiation rites.
AI overview
Folklore is the collection of stories, sayings, beliefs, and customs that a group of people share and pass along to each other—things like fairy tales, proverbs, jokes, traditional songs, and the ways they celebrate important events. It matters because it captures and preserves the distinctive culture, values, and identity of communities, from the tales they tell to the buildings they construct and the rituals they practice.
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Article
24 sectionsContents
- Overview
- Origin and development of folklore studies
- Definition of "folk"
- Folklore genres
- Verbal tradition
- Material culture
- Customs
- Childlore and games
- Folk history
- Folklore performance in context
- Backstory
- Tradition-bearer and audience
- Framing the performance
- In the subjunctive voice
- Anderson's law of auto-correction
- Context of material lore
- Toelken's conservative-dynamic continuum
- In the electronic age
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|A German folk tale, Hansel and Gretel; illustration by [[Arthur Rackham, 1909]] Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes material culture, such as traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also encompasses customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, including folk religion, and the forms and rituals of celebrations such as festivals, weddings, folk dances, and initiation rites.
Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact or traditional cultural expression. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not something one can typically gain from a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead, these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another, either through verbal instruction or demonstration.