The next step is to prepare the students for the study of folklore by presenting the following information with activities as indicated in lesson plan.
The genesis of folklore as a taxonomic study of various aspects of society is a recent phenomenon despite the fact that its subject is perhaps as old as the human race. One might even venture to say that folklore came before the more enlightened disciplines of history, science, art, medicine and others, since these in a broad sense are interrelated. Historically, a definitive interest in the study of folklore seemed to come about in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the western world’s focus on reconstructing society around principles of popular sovereignty and democratic organization. With the gradual decline of dynastic rulers and emphasis on the will of the masses, the concept began to take on new dimensions and ideas. New interest in the progress of human culture as reflected in the people’s way of life took roots as classical-humanistic ideals gave way to the rise of romanticism. One recalls Rousseau’s essays on the natural man unspoiled by civilization and how he expounded on intrinsic individual worth. As early as 1517, Hernando del Castillo wrote down popular verses found in the oral tradition of his people; Charles Perrault wrote his famous Contes de Ma Mere L’oye (Tales of Mother Goose) that were made available in many different languages.
It was not until 1878 that systematic folklore studies were introduced by the London Folklore Society, even though previously the word “folk-lore” was first used by the British archaeologist William J. Thomas in a letter published by the London Journal Athenaeum in 1846. The term was subsequently adopted by the London Folklore Society and later incorporated into different languages: (French (traditionnisme), Spanish (saber popular), Italian (demologia or demopsicologia), Danish (folkemunde), and German (volkskunde). Eventually, it was linked with “primitive cultures,” traditions, customs and beliefs of peasants, fishermen and villages.
Folklore is often defined as the study of the lore of the “uneducated masses”, a definition which does not do justice to its nature and complexity. Regardless of its definition, folklore is an important complement to all cultural science. Through folklore, one can gain insight into the collective mind of a people at a given place and time; close scrutiny of a legend can help understand migrations of people as well as early contacts between different nations. Many folklore ballads contain references to unrecorded historical facts. Alexander Krappe, among other folklorists, maintains that the scope of folklore is to reconstruct the spiritual history of man as exemplified in the more or less inarticulate voices of the folk.
Folklore is manifested in different forms and draws on documents which are partly historical, from chronicles, old law codes, proverbs and is expressed in as many different forms as life itself. Regardless of its traces or origins, it becomes the collective expression of its people. Some of the more popular categories of folklore suggested by various folklorists are popular beliefs and traditional customs, literature of oral tradition and folk arts (these include proverbs, riddles, folk poetry, folk music, folk dance and others). These different forms are manifested in a variety of expressions depending on the language. Many legends reflect the history of a given country. Others, like proverbs, reflect the mores of a national group and at the same time also convey universally accepted precepts that are found in similar or even identical wording in different cultures and languages.