What is Folklore?

The word folklore is often bandied about to cover a vast range of genres, tales, songs, rhymes, and even ghost stories. But is it that wide ranging? Are we using a blanket term because it’s just easier? Do we really need to categorise these things?

I myself am terrible for lumping everything under the folklore banner  which I use interchangeably with the term folktale - I do it all the time when telling my stories even though I know that I shouldn’t. But sometimes it is used because people don’t know the difference between a myth, legend, folktale or fable. 

So what are they exactly?

Given the age of some of the tales that make up our knowledge of the above, it may surprise many of you to know that the actual word ‘Folklore’ did not exist until the 1800s. It came into being through the research and scholarship of one William John Thoms (1803–1885). While he published many books in his lifetime, his dream of creating a book similar to that of the Grimm brothers, using collected tales from the British Isles, never came to light. However, his work with Notes & Queries on the subject opened the door for much of the folklore scholarship we know today.

The word ‘lore’ refers to traditional knowledge and encompasses “customs, manners, observances, superstitions, ballads and proverbs, knowledge that is passed on via word of mouth, from person to person to become stories, traditions and traditional knowledge that define communities.” (Chainey, 2019, p. 10)  The ‘folk’ part of the word was initially associated with ‘the common people’ and was inevitably laced with the class bias that was rife in the 1800s. Today, however, the term ‘folklore’ is used much more broadly and does not carry the same class-based assumptions.

Dee Dee Chainey, in her chapter ‘Popular Antiquities’ breaks down the term Folklore into the four categories below.

Material Lore: This includes physical objects that are thought of as traditional crafts, made by hand or using traditional methods. Specialised knowledge to create these items passes from person to person. It can include traditional buildings, crafts (such as corn dollies) as well as terms used for work.

Verbal Lore: Myths, legends, fairytales and folktales all fall into this category, yet other types of spoken lore do too. Proverbs, riddles, rhymes, through to folksongs and ballads, charms and spells. Even modern jokes and urban legends can be classed as folklore.

Customary Lore: This category covers the performance of actions that need to be carried out in expected ways. From calendar customs like observing festivals, to Morris dancing, and other community events right through to personal traditions, like First Footing for New Years Eve. Trick or treating, practical jokes, and even folk medicine and herbalism fall into this group.

Childlore: This is just the same as any other folklore - except it is created and shared entirely by children. From counting and rope rhymes, to how to play games and scary stories they tell each other.

So let's break things down a bit more.

Myths: often attempt to explain the origins of the world, natural phenomena, or cultural practices. They frequently feature Gods and Goddesses, or other supernatural beings. They are often considered sacred or semi-sacred within a culture. Great examples of these are the Greek and Roman creation myths.

Legends: often revolve around figures or events that may have some basis in historical fact, though they have often been embellished for effect over time. They often include fantastical elements such as superhuman abilities or miraculous events. They often focus on the deeds of heroes, and their impact on culture. Best examples of these are of course King Arthur and Robin Hood.

Folktales: Primarily fictional narratives passed down through oral tradition. They can, but not always, convey moral lessons that often contain or offer guidance on how to behave or deal with life's challenges. They often feature ordinary people or animals as their main characters. Good examples include The Kelpies and Billy Blind.

                Fairytales: A sub genre of Folktales. Characterized by the presence of magical or           fantastical elements. They often feature fairies, witches, talking animals, or other supernatural beings. Magic is a central component and many have roots in  anonymous oral traditions. They often have a clear conflict between good and evil, usually with good triumphing.

                Fables: A sub genre of Folktales. A fable is a tale that has a very particular ‘take home message’, or moral. The tale revolves around this message, in fact it is the only reason for the fable. They are usually quite short and are populated with animals or often inanimate objects with human flaws while still being true to their original nature. The best examples of these are Aesop’s fables.

In Essence: Myths explain the fundamental truths of a culture, legends embellish historical narratives, and folktales offer fictional stories with moral implications. But folklore is annoyingly messy and rarely behaves itself quite so neatly! Stories cross boundaries, borrow from one another and change as they travel. A legend can acquire the qualities of a folktale; a folktale can become attached to a particular landscape and take on the weight of legend. These categories are useful for understanding folklore, but they are not rules that every story obeys.

All in the details?

If we have all this wealth of Folkloric knowledge at our finger tips, why are some stories so short, lacking in details or meaning? The answer is that over time the importance of the message has been lost, and once it is no longer important to the society, it fails to continue to feature in daily life. Therefore, the details are often left out of any retellings and so we are left with the bare bones.

 If anyone has ever played the whisper game at a child's party (or adults for that matter), the original whisper is morphed and altered so much by the end that it is often not what it started out as. Parts are missing, other parts are added by the teller to ‘make it make sense’. And this is exactly what has happened to many, many tales over time. They become fragments of knowledge. Often meaningless, or missing details. The tale that my great grandmother knew and the tale I know will be unfortunately totally different. 

Aspects of tales are changed to become more palatable or endearing to certain areas, others are dropped from modern day recounting because they just don’t have a place in a modern society. 

Fragments of oral history are continuing to be lost day to day.

As a child who grew up marvelling at the tale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, scared to walk up a hill because The Lambton Worm could still be around, or wondering what stories the stone steps of a ruined castle could tell me, I can’t help but feel that in the age of technology, being able to sit and listen to a tale of knights and monsters, ladies and sprites, brownies and dwarves, is a welcome and sometimes necessary skill that should never be lost to time. 

Sources and Further Reading:

Chainey, D. D. (2019). ‘Popular Antiquities’. In A. Madden (Ed.), History of Folklore, Fairytales & Monsters. p. 10.