1. Folklore

2. Origins
• Impossible to trace origins – people began telling
stories as soon as spoken language emerged,
thousands of years before writing developed
• The telling of stories is a cultural universal,
common to all societies
• Telling effective and relevant stories was vital for
those who wanted power to influence society
(kings, priests, healers, etc)
• By being retold and accepted, tales were handed
down and became central to a culture’s identity

3. General Attributes
• Traditionality – deals with ancient themes and
customs
• Irrationality – often deals with supernatural
• Rurality – generally from communities that are
close to nature
• Communality – created and shared together
as a community; not private stories
• Universality – themes are common to the
human condition

4. Common Types of Folklore
• Fairy tale – fictitious stories of ordinary people
that often incorporate magic and use stark
themes of good and evil to teach moral lessons
(EX Hansel and Gretel)
• Fable – a short narrative making a moral point,
often with anthropomorphized animals (EX The
Ant and the Grasshopper)

5. Common Types of Folklore
• Legend – romantic adventure believed to be
historically true, usually concerned with heroes
and villains, great feats of courage and epic
battles (EX King Arthur)
• Myth – typically ancient stories that depict
figures of epic proportions, but contain
supernatural, often religious elements and non-human
creatures; often explain origins of things
or of humanity (EX Prometheus stealing fire from
the gods)

6. Functions
• Maintains the continuity of a culture
–Establishing group cohesion and group
feeling
–Validates certain aspects of culture and
justifies its rituals and institutions
–Teaches history and values of a people –
transmitting wisdom between generations
–Teach why things are as they are

7. Functions
• Because the information transmitted in
folklore is not transmitted as a fact or a single
answer, but is open to listener interpretation,
it helps develop flexibility of thinking
• By providing us with a sense of place, folklore
helps to give our lives meaning

8. Common Motifs
• What common threads of meaning do you see
in the following images, each from different
cultures?
• What basic human emotions and experiences
do they tap into?
• Why would cultures separated geographically
and culturally focus on similar themes?

9. Minaksi Temple at Madurai
Mithuna (loving couple) ivory carving
Ca. 16th century

10. Mali and Burkina-Faso
Dogon peoples
Ancestor couple
Wood

11. Embracing Couple
Terracotta
Precolumbian (700 – 900 CE)

12. Adam and Eve
South Germany
Stone carving
1520

13. American Gothic
Grant Wood, 1930

14. Common Motifs
• What common threads of meaning did you
see in the images, each from different
cultures?
• What basic human emotions and experiences
do they tap into?
• Why would cultures separated geographically
and culturally focus on similar themes?