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*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 1846]
==Definitions==
*1: [[traditional]] [[customs]], [[tales]], sayings, [[dances]], or art forms preserved among a people
*2: a branch of [[knowledge]] that deals with folklore
*3: an often unsupported notion, [[story]], or saying that is widely circulated
==Description==
'''Folklore''' (or ''lore'') consists of [[legends]], [[music]], [[oral history]], [[proverbs]], [[jokes]], popular [[beliefs]], fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and [[customs]] included in the [[traditions]] of a [[culture]], subculture, or group. It also includes the set of [[practices]] through which those expressive [[genres]] are [[shared]]. The study of folklore is sometimes called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folkloristics folkloristics], and people who study folklore are sometimes referred to as "folklorists". The English antiquarian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thoms William Thoms] introduced the word "folklore" in a letter published in the London journal ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenaeum_(magazine) The Athenaeum]'' in 1846. In usage, there is a [[continuum]] between folklore and [[mythology]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stith_Thompson Stith Thompson] (1885-1976) made a major attempt to index the motifs of both folklore and mythology, providing an outline for classifying new motifs, and within which [[scholars]] can keep track of all older motifs.

Folklorist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bascom William Bascom] states that folklore has many cultural aspects, such as allowing for [[escape]] from societal [[consequences]]. In addition, folklore can also serve to validate a culture ([[romantic]] [[nationalism]]), as well as transmit a culture's [[morals]] and [[values]]. Folklore can also be the root of many cultural types of [[music]]. Country, blues, and bluegrass all originate from American folklore. Examples of artists which have used folkloric themes in their music would be: Bill Monroe, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatt_and_Scruggs Flatt and Scruggs], Old Crow Medicine Show, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Croce Jim Croce], and many others. Folklore can also be used to assert social pressures, or relieve them, for example in the case of [[humor]] and [[carnival]].

In addition, folklorists study [[medical]], [[supernatural]], [[religious]], and [[political]] [[belief]] systems as an essential, often unspoken, part of expressive [[culture]].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folklore]
==See also==
*'''''[[Oral Tradition]]'''''


[[Category: Languages and Literature]]