Irish Folklore

Estudios Irlandeses, 2017

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2017

Copyright (c) 2017 by Audrey Robitaillié and Marjan Shokouhi. This text may be archived and redistributed both in electronic form and in hard copy, provided that the author and journal are properly cited and no fee is charged for access. According to folk beliefs, people say that the fairies are out on the night of Samhain: "Deireann na daoine go mbíonn sidheogaí amuigh oidhche Shamhna", in the words of an informant for the Schools' Collection (NFCS 249). And so is this special issue of Estudios Irlandeses entitled "New Perspectives on Irish Folklore"! Far less risky than venturing out on the festival night, but equally audacious, this volume explores the rich traditions of Irish folklore and the various ways it is being/has been reused, repurposed and reinvented. The contributions to this issue explore multiple aspects of folklore today: from the tribulations of the folklore collectors to the reimagining of folklore for the stage, and its reuse in literature and musical compositions. Marina Warner asserts that "Every telling of a myth is a part of that myth: there is no Ur-version, no authentic prototype, no true account" (8). The same could be said of folklore, which is intertwined with mythology on many levels, for that matter. There are multiple variants of a tale type, many interpretations of a folk tune, and numerous versions of a rhyme, which all depend on the circumstances of the transmission, the informant, their locations, and so on. Folklore is a living, multi-faceted process that has as many shapes and forms as there are individuals who engage with it. It has therefore proved quite challenging to define. The Irish word for it, béaloideas, which literally means "oral instruction" (see Ó hÓgáin), embodies the orality which appears to be a common feature of the many attempted definitions. Seán Ó Súilleabháin explains it thus:

Estudis de Literatura Oral Popular / Studies in Oral Folk Literature, 2014

My definition of folklore as "artistic communication in small groups" was forged in the context of folklore studies of the 1960s, in the discontent with the definitions that were current at the time, and under the influence of anthropology, linguistics-particularly 'the ethnography of speaking'-and Russian formalism. My field research among the Edo people of Nigeria had a formative impact upon my conception of folklore, when I observed their storytellers, singers, dancers and diviners in performance. The response to the definition was initially negative, or at best ambivalent, but as time passed, it took a more positive turn.

Oral Tradition, 2003

Coming from the field of folklore studies, I understand by oral tradition the oral transmission and communication of knowledge, conceptions, beliefs, and ideas, and especially the formalization and formulation of these into reports, practices, and representations that foreground elements that favor their replication. The formalized verbal products of oral tradition range from lengthy epic poems, songs, chants, and narratives to proverbs, slogans, and idiomatic phrases, coinciding thus with the conventional categories of folklore. Yet, instead of confining the concept to the genres of folklore only, I would prefer seeing oral tradition as a conceptual entrance point into the observation, study, and theorization of the transmission and argumentation of ideas, beliefs, and practices, including the construction of various political mythologies in the organization and symbolic representation of social groups.

The Journal of American Folklore, 1971

Definitions of folklore are as many and varied as the versions of a well-known tale. Both semantic and theoretical differences have contributed to this proliferation. The German Volkskunde, the Swedish folkminne, and the Indian lok sahitya all imply slightly different meanings that the English term "folklore" cannot syncretize completely. 1 Similarly, anthropologists and students of literature have projected their own bias into their definitions of folklore. In fact, for each of them folklore became the exotic topic, the green grass on the other side of the fence, to which they were attracted but which, alas, was not in their own domain. Thus, while anthropologists regarded folklore as literature, scholars of literature defined it as culture. 2 Folklorists themselves resorted to enumerative, 3 intuitive,5 definitions; yet, while all these certainly contributed to the clarification of the nature of folklore, at the same time they circumvented the main issue, namely, the isolation of the unifying thread that joins jokes and myths, gestures and legends, costumes and music into a single category of knowledge. Disciplines

SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH

Folklore as a field of study and academic discipline was first recognized following the works of Johann Gottfried Herder in 1770s. The works of Herder, his collection of 'folktales' from German speaking regions is considered the base for later folklore collections, such as those done by the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault. Although the discipline of folklore is now well established in various institutions across the Americas, Europe and Africa and Asia. This paper tries to understand folklore in relation with the concepts such as Tradition, Heritage and Profession. How folklore in this fast changing world represents the heritage, tradition, and profession of a community? Can folklore and its performance be appreciated for its inherent economic potential as a profession? The paper, through certain examples and observation, will try to understand the significance of these concepts and attempt to answer such questions.

Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on recycled, acid-free paper ISBN: 978-0-87421-683-7 (cloth) ISBN: 978-0-87421-684-4 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dundes, Alan. e meaning of folklore : the analytical essays of Alan Dundes / edited and introduced by Simon J. Bronner. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-683-7 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Folklore. 2. Dundes, Alan. I. Bronner, Simon J. II. Title. GR71.D88 2007 398.2--dc22 2007033333 Index 427 vii P A T Alan Dundes should have put together, or so I told him. He probably would have done it, had not death in March 2005 put a halt to his tremendous production. e project came about a er I read his proposal for a new compilation of his essays following Bloody Mary in the Mirror (2002a). I wanted him to do something different from what he planned. Rather than adding another capsule of writing, I cheekily told him it was time to re ect on the body of his major work covering more than forty years. He appreciated my suggestion that he should thematize his studies under analytical headings and produce a critical, retrospective work twenty-ve years a er his monumental essay collection, Interpreting Folklore (1980b). Still a vital voice in cultural inquiry, Dundes accepted the challenge and was ready to plunge into the project with his characteristic ebullience. He even invited me to write the foreword.

globalresearch.ca, 2022

The history of folklore as an area of study is relatively recent compared to its ancient origins. In the eighteenth century the role of Enlightenment science in changing attitudes towards the study of folklore soon showed benefits with an increased understanding of ourselves and our history of survival throughout the centuries. Soon, the influence of nationalist Romanticism paved the way for much research and support for folklore as an integral part of every country's cultural heritage in the nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century folklore had moved from being the culture of 'backward peoples' to becoming a major tool in the hands of the state, leading to very different approaches to folklore in the Soviet Union and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. Post World War 2 and the decline of nationalism, folklore and folk music have taken a back seat in the spread of globalised cosmopolitan commercialism. However, the anxiety over the rapid pace of the destruction of nature (land, forests, wildlife, and seas) in the twenty-first century paves the way for a re-evaluation of folklore, not as an ancient tradition that was perceived to be replaced by science in the nineteenth century, but as a pro-nature ideology that was cleverly replaced by anti-nature industrialisation, thereby choking off its continuing relevance as an important part of our cultural and political struggle to end the ruination of the planet.

Critics have examined folklore as ancient, old fashioned, rural, peasant, uneducated, dying out and fundamentally dismissive. Against this backdrop, some critics limit the genres of folklore to three basic forms of narratives such as myth, folktales, and legends. However, this paper broadens the perspectives of folklore genres to also include material culture, music, narrative, verbal art, belief, religion, and food ways which are vital to all human beings in all societies and cultures. Consequently, though folklore connects people to their past, it is a significant part of life in the contemporary and it is at the focal point of all civilizations. Taken together, this study will employ the functionalism theory which posits that folklore must have a function.

The Journal of American Folklore, 1995

The volume is loosely structured. A chapter in the section on promoting learning, for example, is just as likely to have implications for improving the quality of life and enhancing identity and community. It seemed, however, that one or another of the three themes into which the book is divided dominated each article. Moreover, it made sense to move from promoting learning and conserving examples of folklore to questions of how this can improve the quality of life, essential aspects of which are self-esteem and closeness to others. Common principles throughout the chapters are methods of folkloristics as well as skills and abilities of folklorists that may be applied to another field, how one applies them, and some issues in application. Overall, there is a deep-seated concern for appreciating and understanding folklore and, through it, people, and for utilizing this respect for tradition and understanding of symbolic behavior to help solve social issues and improve the world in which we live. One purpose of this book is to provide guidance and direction to folklorists who are considering applying their training, skills, and knowledge to the problems of human welfare, such as aiding the homeless, caring for the elderly, or improving workplace conditions. Another is to inform practitioners in professional fields about using folklore studies to augment their own specializations, thereby enhancing the quality of education, health care, urban planning, and other services extended to the public. Regardless of the type of social application, an underlying assumption is that knowledge of folklore is vital. People tell stories. They celebrate, ritualize, play, and use figurative language. These traditional, symbolic forms and processes are universal in the species. Particular examples may express values, transmit precepts, teach and reinforce norms, or occupy leisure. Or they may project anxieties, express joy and satisfaction, provide meaning, and in other ways help people make sense of their world, cope, and act. Whatever their functions and consequences, the very existence of these forms and processes defines homo sapiens. To be effective, therefore, efforts to alter conditions, attitudes, or behavior must take into account the presence and impact of traditions and symbolic interaction. As the field of folklore studies continues to gain ground in academe, and the number of practitioners outside the academy increases, the applications are likely to multiply and diversify. We hope this book contributes to these developments by showing how folklore research is being applied in a dozen ways in our society today.