Folklore
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
""These mythical deep-rooted germs, throwing out fresh shoots from age to age in the popular literature of the race, are far more convincing proofs of the early existence of these traditions than any mere external evidence." — Sir G. W. Cox, Introduction to Mythology and Folklore |
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Folklore (or lore) consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs included in the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It also includes the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called folkloristics, and people who study folklore are sometimes referred to as "folklorists". The English antiquarian William Thoms introduced the word "folklore" in a letter published in the London journal The Athenaeum in 1846. In usage, there is a continuum between folklore and mythology. Stith Thompson (1885-1976) made a major attempt to index the motifs of both folklore and mythology, providing an outline for classifying new motifs, and within which scholars can keep track of all older motifs.
See also
- Applied folklore
- Costumbrismo
- Family folklore
- Folklore studies
- Intangible cultural heritage
- Legend
- Memetics
- Public folklore
- The law of conservation of misery
Folklore by region
- European folklore
- Morphology of the Folktale
- Morphology (folkloristics)
- Motif-Index of Folk-Literature