The document discusses the origins and general attributes of folklore. It notes that folklore emerged as people began telling stories orally and has been handed down over generations. Common types of folklore include fairy tales, fables, legends, and myths. The document also examines some functions and common motifs found in folklore across cultures.

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?