Folklore

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Folklore

• The American Folk Tradition

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What is folklore?

• Any of the beliefs, customs, and traditions that
  people pass from generation to generation.
• Consists of ballads, fairy tales, folk tales,
  tall tales, legends, myths, epics, arts and
  crafts, dances, games, rhymes, proverbs, riddles,
  songs, celebrations, etc.

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Where does folklore originate?

• Folklore originated out of the oral tradition -
  stories told at festivals and around campfires,
  rather than shared in print.

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Characteristics of folklore

• Theme a central idea, message, or insight that
  is revealed within a story sometimes theme is
  universal seen in stories in many different
  cultures and throughout different time periods.
• Heroes and heroines larger than life figures
  whose virtues and deeds are often celebrated in
  stories from the oral tradition.

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Storytelling techniques

• Hyperbole exaggeration or overstatement, either
  for comic effect or to express heightened emotion
• Personification human characteristics or
  personality given to nonhuman subjects, such as
  animals or natural elements.
• Idioms expressions such a Its raining cats
  and dogs! that develop in a language, region,
  community, or class of people that can not be
  understood literally.

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Types of Folklore

• Myths tales that explain the actions of gods,
  goddesses, and the heroes who interact with them.
  These stories often attempt to explain the cause
  of natural phenomena. Creation Myth a story
  that explains how the world came to be
• Fables brief stories that often feature animals
  that act like humans. Fables usually end with a
  moral, or proverb, that is directly stated.

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Types of Folklore continued

• Tall Tales - types of folk tales that use
  hyperbole. The tales often involve a hero who
  performs impossible feats. Tall tales are a form
  of legend stories based on fact that become
  less true with each retelling.
• Epics - long narrative poems about
  larger-than-life heroes who engage in dangerous
  journeys, or quests, that are important to the
  history of a nation or culture.

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Types of Folklore continued

• Folk Tale anonymous stories passed down by word
  of mouth generation after generation.
• Urban Legend exaggerated story of todays
  society.