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Folk Lore
...or Before We Had Books
"Lore":
1 - Knowledge gained through tradition or anecdote; "early peoples passed on plant and animal lore through legend"
[wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn]
2 - Accumulated facts, traditions, or beliefs about a particular subject [www.thefreedictionary.com/lore]
Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, material culture, and so forth, common to a particular population, comprising the traditions (including oral traditions), of that culture, subculture, or group. 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. While folklore can contain religious or mythic elements, it equally concerns itself with the sometimes mundane traditions of everyday life. Contemporary folktales common in the Western world include the urban legend and the conspiracy theory. There are many forms of folklore that are so common, however, that most people do not consider them to be folklore, such as riddles, children's rhymes and ghost stories, rumors, gossip, ethnic stereotypes, and holiday customs and life cycle rituals.
Folklore topics- Folklore - Ethnology - Cultural anthropology - Folktale - Oral tradition - Folk art - Folk music - Folk dance - Urban legend - Fairy tale - Children's street culture
Categories
Africa - Albania - Astrology - Australia - Bengal - China - Christmas - Europe - Fairy tale - Fakelore - Folk art - Magazines - Folklorists - Greece - Indonesia - Japan - Latin America - Legends - Myanmar - Nautical - Pakistan - Paranormal - Religion - Roma - Romania - Russia - Superstitions - Technology - Urban legends - USA - Weather
A fairy tale is a story featuring folkloric characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, talking animals and others. These stories often involve royalty, and modern versions usually have a happy ending. In cultures where demons and witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may merge into legendary narratives, where the context is perceived by teller and hearers as having historical actuality. However, unlike legends and epics they usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places, persons, and events although these allusions are often critical in understanding the origins of these fanciful stories.
Selected picture
The traditional "heart shape" appears on a 1910St. Valentine's Day card.
Web resources
- Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
- Journal of Folklore Research
- American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis J. Child
- Directory of Irish and Celtic Folklore
- Folk Beliefs in Modern Japan
- Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature
- Western Yugur Folklore
- Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative
- Folklore: Electronic journal of folklore
bailanina |
Latest page update: made by bailanina
, Oct 26 2007, 2:06 PM EDT
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