Folklore is any of the beliefs, customs, and traditions practiced by and passed among a group of people who share some connection. Such a group, called a folk, may consist of people of a certain ethnicity, people who live in a certain region, an extended family, or even a small group of friends. People often think of folklore as old stories and songs. But it can also include architecture, arts and crafts, dances, games, holiday and religious celebrations, jokes, proverbs, and slang. Scholars today recognize folklore as an important means of sharing learning or knowledge. Folklore also serves other purposes, such as promoting unity within a group or providing entertainment.
Much folklore passes orally from person to person. When written, folklore can be transmitted through rhymes, proverbs, or stories, or even as graffiti or e-mail messages. Some folklore is learned and passed down by imitation and custom. For centuries, for example, children have learned games such as jump rope and tic-tac-toe by watching and imitating other youngsters. Customary greetings, such as shaking hands in Western culture or bowing in Asian countries, are also learned by observing others rather than from books or school.
As people move from one land to another, they carry their folklore to new areas and adapt it to new surroundings. From the 1500’s to the 1800’s, for example, European and American slave traders brought thousands of west Africans to the Western Hemisphere as slaves. Many slaves shared with one another west African folk tales about a sly spider named Anansi. Through the years, the slaves continued to tell tales of Anansi, though the stories gradually changed to reflect life in the New World. In the southern United States, for example, the spider’s name was often changed to Miss Nancy.
Origins of folklore
Scholars once associated folklore with uneducated people who could not read or write, or with people in isolated rural societies whose ways of life had changed little for hundreds of years. The scholars thought that after people moved to cities, they gradually lost touch with “authentic” folk traditions. However, modern scholars realize that the transition to city life did not displace folklore. In fact, new folklore traditions developed with city life, including urban legends and e-mail jokes.
Modern scholars consider a folk to be any group of people who share at least one common linking factor. This factor may be geography, as in the folklore of the Ozark Mountains region; religious heritage, as in Jewish folklore; a shared occupation, as in military folklore; or ethnic background, as in Irish American folklore. Even a family or a group of friends can have a folklore made up of its own traditions and stories.
Many scholars have noticed common themes in folklore from around the world. Two German brothers, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, were among the first folklore scholars to point out such themes. From 1807 to 1814, they collected folk tales from peasants who lived near Kassel, Germany. The stories they collected became famous as Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The Grimms believed that by collecting the tales, they were preserving the heritage of all Germans. But they realized that similar versions of their tales existed throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. 
Characteristics of folklore
Folklore can be short and simple or long and complicated. Brief proverbs, such as “Time flies” and “Money talks,” are short examples of folklore. Some Indonesian folk plays, on the other hand, begin at sundown and end at dawn. Many types of folklore are spoken or sung, but others consist of behavior or gestures. For instance, Americans usually point to their chest when referring to themselves, while Japanese point to their nose. Folklore may also include everyday arts and crafts, buildings, and household objects. For example, people in many cultures make scarecrows, a common folk craft, to keep birds out of gardens.
To be considered authentic folklore, an item must exist in more than one version. Typically, the item also has existed in more than one period and place. For example, scholars have identified more than 1,000 versions of the fairy tale about Cinderella. These versions developed through hundreds of years in many countries, including China, France, Germany, and Turkey.
Changes in folklore often occur as it passes from person to person. These changes, called variations, are one of the surest indications that the item is true folklore. Variations frequently appear in both the words and music of folk songs. The same lyrics may be used with different tunes, or different words may be set to the same music. The nursery rhymes “Baa, Baa Black Sheep” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” have the same melody. Some people use the folk saying “As slow as molasses,” others “As slow as molasses in January,” and still others “As slow as molasses in January running uphill.”
Kinds of folklore
Myths
are religious stories that explain how the world and humanity developed into their present form. Myths differ from most types of folk stories because myths are considered to be true among the people who develop them.
Many myths describe the creation of Earth. In some of these stories, a figure creates Earth out of dust or mud. In others, Earth emerges from a flood or mist. A number of myths describe the creation of life and the origin of death.
Folk tales
are fictional stories about animals or human beings. Most of these tales are not set in any particular time or place, and they begin and end in a certain way. For example, many English folk tales begin with the phrase “Once upon a time” and end with “They lived happily ever after.”
Fables are a popular type of folk tale. They are animal stories that try to teach people how to behave. One fable describes a race between a tortoise and a hare. The tortoise, though it is a far slower animal, wins because the hare foolishly stops to sleep. This story teaches the lesson that someone who works steadily can come out ahead of a person who is faster or has a head start.
In many European fairy tales, the hero or heroine leaves home to seek some goal. After various adventures, he or she wins a prize or a marriage partner, in many cases a prince or princess.
One popular kind of folk tale has a trickster as the hero. Each culture has its own trickster figure. Most tricksters are animals who act like human beings. In Africa, tricksters include the tortoise; the hare; and Anansi, the spider. The coyote is a popular trickster in North American Indian folklore. Jokes that consist of short funny stories are another type of folk tale.
Folk tales have inspired many famous works of literature. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer used a number of folk tales in his Canterbury Tales. William Shakespeare based the plots of several of his plays on folk tales. These plays include King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, and The Taming of the Shrew.
Legends,
like myths, are stories told as though they were true. But legends are set in the real world and in relatively recent times. Certain legends have attracted artists, composers, and writers for centuries. One legend tells about a medieval German scholar named Faust who sold his soul to the devil. This legend has been the basis of many novels, plays, operas, and orchestral works.
Folklore includes many legendary heroes. Robin Hood was a legendary English hero who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. In Swiss legends, William Tell was an expert with a crossbow who resisted tyranny. Davy Crockett was a famous American frontiersman who was elected to the U.S. Congress from Tennessee in 1827. After Crockett died in the battle of the Alamo in 1836, he became a popular figure in American folklore. John Henry is the African American hero of many legends in the South. A famous ballad describes how he competed against a steam drill in a race to see whether a man or a machine could dig a tunnel faster. Using only a hammer, John Henry won, but he died of exhaustion.
Many legends tell about human beings who meet supernatural creatures, such as fairies, ghosts, vampires, and witches. Others tell of holy persons and religious leaders. Some legends describe how saints work miracles or blessed places or things.
The action in myths and folk tales ends at the conclusion of the story. But the action in many legends has not been completed by the story’s end. For example, a legend about a buried treasure may end by saying that the treasure has not yet been found. A legend about a haunted house may suggest that the house is still haunted. A number of legends tell of creatures that may exist, but are rarely seen, such as the Loch Ness monster, a sea serpent in Scotland; and the Yeti, a hairy beast in the Himalaya. From time to time, scientific expeditions have tried to find evidence that these creatures actually exist.
Legends also develop about the present day. Just before 2000, for example, legends predicted that widespread disasters would result from the millennium bug, a problem that caused some computers to malfunction starting on Jan. 1, 2000.
Folk songs
have been created for almost every human activity. Many are associated with work. For example, sailors sing songs called chanteys while pulling in their lines. Folk songs may deal with birth, childhood, courtship, marriage, and death. Parents sing folk lullabies to babies. Children sing traditional songs as part of games and share funny imitations of commercial jingles.
Some folk songs are related to seasonal activities, such as planting and harvesting. Many are sung on certain holidays and festivals. The folk song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is a well-known carol. Other folk songs are sung at weddings and funerals. Some folk songs celebrate the deeds of real or imaginary heroes, or build a sense of community through singing.
Superstitions and customs
are involved largely in marking a person’s advancement from one stage of life to another. For example, many cultures include a custom called couvade to protect unborn babies. In couvade, husbands pretend that they are about to give birth. They may avoid eating certain foods considered harmful to the expected baby or avoid working because such activity could cause injury to the unborn child.
A wedding custom called charivari is widespread in some European societies. On the wedding night, friends of the bride and groom provide a noisy serenade by banging on pots and pans outside the couple’s bedroom. The desire to avoid charivari led to the practice of leaving on a honeymoon immediately after a wedding.
Many superstitions and customs supposedly help affect or predict the future. The people of fishing communities may hold elaborate ceremonies that are designed to ensure a good catch. Astrologers try to foretell future events by analyzing the relationships among the planets and stars. Children may also make folded paper “fortune tellers” to playfully predict the future.
Holidays
are special occasions celebrated by a group, and almost all of them include folklore. Christmas is especially rich in folklore. A group may celebrate this holiday with its own special foods and costumes. Many groups have variations of the same folk custom. In a number of countries, for example, children receive presents on Christmas. In the United States, Santa Claus brings the presents. In Italy, an old woman named La Befana distributes the gifts. In some countries of Europe, the gifts come from the Christ child. In others, the Three Wise Men bring them.
