Blog #2 (Living Folklore by Martha Sims)

         This reading opened my eyes to realize that folklore's are not all false but not true at the same time. The origins of a folklore can come from anywhere and anyone, meaning that anyone person can say something somewhere and in time it will spread and become a common or uncommon folklore we hear in our everyday lives. I am not one to believe in folklore's with out definite proof that it is true. For example, the lore about the chain letter, that is one that I most definitely don't believe in. I think folklore's are stories told by individuals from the past that are meant to be warning or stories that come with a moral. Stories that are meant to tell more about a culture, so that the outside world can understand and live through the eyes of the story teller. Folklore's are interesting to read because they can give a insight in the society during the time period in which it is or might be told. An example would be the witches of Salem, it is amazing how fast something spreads like wildfire and the consequences that it has. The fact that a story can cause this much panic among people and lead them to commit such horrible actions. Language is, of course, both a carrier of folklore as well as a cardinal element of nationhood in itself, without which it cannot exist. "Folklore is many things, and it’s almost impossible to define succinctly. It’s both what folklorists study and the name of the discipline they work within. Yes, folklore is folk songs and legends" (Sims 1). The word "folklore” names an enormous and deeply significant dimension of culture. Considering how large and complex this subject is, it is no wonder that folklorists define and describe folklore in so many different ways. Try asking dance historians for a definition of "dance,” for instance, or anthropologists for a definition of "culture.” No one definition will suffice–nor should it.