Definition of Folklore

Folklore is a collection of fictional stories about animals and people, of cultural

myths, jokes, songs, tales and even quotes. It is a description of culture,
which has passed down verbally from generation to generation in any written
or oral form. It is also known as folk literature or oral traditions. Folklore
depicts the way main characters manage their everyday life events, including
conflicts or crises. Simply, folk literature is about the individual experiences
from a particular society. The study of folk tradition and knowledge is called
folkloristic. Although some folklores depict universal truths, it is also that
unfounded beliefs and superstitions are basic elements of folklore tradition.

Types of Folklore
Following are the major forms of folklore:

Folk song

Folk tales

Fairy tales

Tall tales

Ballads

Folk dramas

Proverbs, charms and riddles

Use of Folklore by Children

Examples of Folklore from Literature

Example 1
Rudyard Kipling was keenly interested in folklore, as he has written many
English works based on folklore such as, Rewards and Fairies and Puck of
Pooks Hill. His experiences in Indian environment have led him to create
several works about Indian themes and tradition. Since Kipling has lived a
great deal of life in Indian region, therefore, he was much familiar with the
Indian languages. His popular work,The Jungle Books, consists of plenty of
such stories that are about traditional folktales. He also has Indian themes in
his work, Just So Stories, in he has given many characters recognizable
names related to Indian languages. Helen Bannerman has also penned an
Indian themed folktale, Little Black Sambo,during the same period.

Function of Folklore

The main purpose of folklore is to convey a moral lesson and present useful
information and everyday life lessons in an easy way for the common people.
Folk tales sugarcoat the lessons of hard life in order to give audience pointers
about how they should behave. It is one of the best mediums to pass on living
culture or traditions to future generations. Currently, many forms of folk
literature have been transformed into books and manuscripts, which we see in
the form of novels, histories, drama, stories, lyric poems and sermons, etc.
Folk literature is, however, not merely a carrier of cultural values; rather, it is
also an expression of self-reflection. It merely not serves as a platform to hold
high moral grounds without any relevance to present day reality; instead
writers use it as a commentary or satire on current political and social reality.
In the modern academic world, folklores and folktales are studied to
understand ancient literature and civilizations.

Characteristics of Myth
Myth usually features ruling gods, goddesses, deities, and heroes having god-
like-qualities, but status lower than gods. Often, the daughter or son of a god
(such as Percy Jackson) is fully mortal, and these characters have
supernatural abilities and powers that raise them above average human
beings. Myths are mostly very old, and happen to rule the world, when
science, philosophy and technology were not very precise, as they are today.
Therefore, people were unaware of certain questions like why the color of sky
is blue, or why night is dark, or what are the causes of earthquakes etc. Thus,
it was a myth that explained natural phenomena as well as described rituals
and ceremonies to the people.

Examples of Myth from Literature

Example 1

Roman and Greek myths, though originally have not been available in
English, have deeply influenced English works. During the times of ancient
Greeks, they had a belief that some invisible gods like Zeus had created this
world. We read in such Greeks stories that passions for humans controlled
the gods, and hence gods fought for them. Likewise, Romans also had beliefs
in deities like Greeks. Due to mythological influences, many literary authors
refer to the Greek and Roman myths in order to add meanings to their works
such as Shakespeare in his play, Romeo and Juliet, uses Greek mythology
when Juliet cries saying that, Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, /
Towards Phoebus lodging. In Greek mythology, Phoebus was god of the sun,
and here Juliet urges that god to bring him home hurriedly, so that night could
come, and she may meet his lover Rome

Functions of Myth
Myths exist in every society, as they are basic elements of human culture. The
main function of myths is to teach moral lessons and explain historical
records. Authors of great literary works have taken their stories and themes
from myths. Myths and their mythical symbols lead to creativity in literary
works. We can understand a culture more deeply and in a much better way by
knowing and appreciating its stories, dreams and myths. Myths came before
religions and all religious stories are, in fact, retellings of global mythical
themes. Besides literature, myths also play a great role in science, psychology
and philosophy

EXAMLES OF LEGEND

LEGEND OF MANGOES
LEGEND OF MAKAHIYA
LEGEND OF MT KANLAON
LEGEND OF MT MAYON
LEGEND OF GUAVA