How did ancient folklore come to be? What are its basic characteristics and roles?

Folklore is the study of beliefs, customs, oral literature, traditions, and modes of thinking to illuminate the meaning of these folklore phenomena over time and space. Folklore is closely related to the phenomena of life that surround us. Although people do not always realize the significance of their own lives to society as a whole, and the significance and role of what they display in their daily interactions in the dissemination and preservation of culture. However, all details about human activities can be the object of study for folklorists. And they contain and convey important cultural information.

Table of Contents [Hidden]

1 Overview

2 Origins of folklore

3 Characteristics

4 Focus

5 Development

5 Evolution

6 Methods of study

7 Subjects of study

Overview[edit] The term folklore was first used in the United Kingdom, and it derives from the English word Folklore, which originally meant "the knowledge of the people" or "the Lore of Folk", and as a scientific name can be directly translated as "the science of popular knowledge "

The Lore of Folk is the name of a science.

Folklore is a true reflection of the life pattern of the common people, including the connotation and form of food, clothing, housing, transportation, education and music, as well as the record and formation of thoughts, behaviors, rituals, and activities, all of which are the subject of folklore study, and this kind of conventions and customs are not only the enhancement of people's lives and fulfillment, but also the indispensable spiritual pillars of the national survival. Therefore, the cognition and elaboration of folklore is a subject of great importance in international academic research, and it is also the responsibility and direction of future researchers.

Origin of folklore[edit] The early representatives of folklore were the Grimm brothers of Germany. However, the term "folklore" was first coined by W.J. Thomas in 1846. Prior to this, folklore was known as volkskunde in Germany and popular antiquities or popular literature in Britain and other European countries. 1846, in a letter to the journal Temple of Athena, the British archaeologist Thomas proposed the term In 1846, in a letter to the Athenaeum, the British archaeologist Thomas proposed the term folklore to summarize this emerging discipline. Since then, folklore has taken Europe by storm.

Characteristics[edit] 1. Distinguished from the culture of the civilized and educated intellectual class, the ruling class of a class society, it is the culture of people who are considered "uncultured".

2. It is that the customs of each ethnic group are characterized by the characteristics of each ethnic group, such as the Spring Festival and the marriage and funeral of the Han Chinese, the Water Festival of the Bai Chinese, the Moon Jumping of the Miao Chinese, and the Worshiping of the Bear of the Oroqen Chinese....... All of them are characterized by strong ethnic characteristics.

3. and the lives of the masses of working people have a direct connection, from the spiritual life of the working people to the material life, from the working people's food and living to the inner activities, all have a strong reality.

4. Many folk customs have an extremely long history that can be traced back to ancient times.

5. Rich in content and vivid in form. The scope of the study of folklore is mainly the traditional national and folk material culture and spiritual culture, which includes folk customs, folk beliefs, folk culture, folk crafts, folk language, folk entertainment, folk organizations and so on.

6. To gain a deeper understanding of cultural traditions and forms of expression, such as songs, stories, dances, rituals, crafts, arts, eating habits, costumes, customs, religions, architecture, skills, and the process of their formation and the meanings behind them[1].

Focus[edit] 1. The worldview of working people. Much of what is found in folk customs and folk beliefs borders on the absurd, superstitious, and bizarre, and in fact reflects the worldview of the ancient working people under specific historical conditions.

2. It is the performance of the working people in the spiritual and material culture, especially the glorious achievements of folk literature and art, folk literature and art, whether it is folk literature, folk dance, folk language and even folk crafts, etc., are a visual embodiment of the wisdom of the working people, mood, thought, style, especially the expression of the working people's spirit of the spirit of the field of the rich imagination and outstanding talent. The development of the folk arts and crafts is a major step forward.

Development[edit] Along with the process of social civilization and the development of folklore, international academics generally tend to the study of folklore in a broad sense. It studies both human life and culture, as well as spiritual and material things; at the same time, it even extends the object of study to the life and culture of barbaric peoples. In this way, folklore has broken away from its previous narrowness and obsession and has become an independent conceptual science on a par with other social sciences.

Methodology[edit] The methodology of folklore is of course similar to that of the other humanities. For example, the comparative research method is widely used in folklore - the similarities between two peoples are an important factor in giving rise to research. Another example is the nineteenth-century school of natural mythology on various myths, and even the same people in different histories, places, such as the comparison of events.

In the twentieth century, the theory and method of "structuralism" rose to prominence, and in 1958, Levi-Strauss's Structural Anthropology and The Structure of the Kinship in France used the structural method to explore folklore, such as oral transmission. This approach attaches great importance to the way in which the object of study reveals the pattern of the event itself. Nowadays, the structural approach has become a new trend in the international arena.

With the continuous development of science, the research methods of various disciplines tend to be flexible, even folklore is no exception.

Objects of study[edit] Oral folklore (oral literature)

Myths, legends, folktales, fairy tales, proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, folk ballads, epics

Customs and folklore (ceremonial celebrations)

Familial systems, social systems, marriage and funeral rituals, superstitions, games, folk dances, folk music

Religion Folklore (beliefs)

Folk religion, Buddhism, Taoism, reincarnation of souls, monsters, divination, witchcraft, folk remedies

Material folklore (life of the common people)

Folk art, folk food, folk costumes, folk architecture

In 1914, Bunyi in England, Bauerst in Germany, and Meuse in France advocated that not only should civilized peoples be studied, but also the less cultured. but also the less cultured or savage peoples.