Types of Folklore

Why This Matters

Understanding the different types of folklore is essential for analyzing how communities create, transmit, and preserve cultural meaning across generations. You're being tested on more than just definitions—exams will ask you to identify transmission methods, material versus intangible expressions, and how folklore adapts to new contexts. Each category reveals something fundamental about how humans communicate identity, values, and shared knowledge through both everyday practices and extraordinary celebrations.

The key insight here is that folklore isn't static or confined to "the past." From ancient myths to viral memes, folklore continuously evolves while maintaining core functions: building community bonds, transmitting cultural knowledge, and expressing group identity. Don't just memorize the ten types—know what mode of transmission each uses (oral, material, digital, performative) and how each connects to visual culture specifically.

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Oral and Verbal Traditions

These forms rely on spoken language as the primary transmission vehicle, passing knowledge through generations without requiring literacy or material objects.

Oral Folklore (Folktales, Myths, Legends)

• Transmitted through storytelling—the oldest form of cultural preservation, predating written language
• Three distinct genres: folktales (entertaining fiction), myths (sacred origin narratives), and legends (stories believed to be historically true)
• Visual culture connection—oral narratives provide the source material for countless illustrations, films, and artistic interpretations

Verbal Folklore (Proverbs, Riddles, Slang)

• Short-form oral expressions—unlike extended narratives, these are brief, memorable, and easily repeated
• Proverbs encode moral wisdom; riddles test cognitive skills; slang marks in-group membership
• Highly adaptive—verbal folklore changes rapidly to reflect contemporary concerns while maintaining traditional structures

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Material and Visual Expressions

These categories produce tangible artifacts that can be studied, collected, and displayed—making them central to visual culture analysis.

Material Folklore (Crafts, Architecture, Costumes)

• Tangible objects encoding cultural identity—pottery, weaving, traditional dress, and vernacular architecture
• Reflects available resources and technical skills—materials and methods vary by region and reveal environmental adaptation
• Museum-ready folklore—most commonly collected and exhibited, raising questions about decontextualization and ownership

Visual Folklore (Folk Art, Graffiti, Tattoos)

• Image-based cultural expression—communicates through visual rather than verbal or material means
• Ranges from traditional to transgressive: folk paintings preserve heritage; graffiti challenges authority; tattoos mark personal and group identity
• Direct connection to visual culture studies—these forms blur boundaries between "folk" and "fine" art

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Embodied and Performative Practices

These forms exist primarily in action—they must be performed, practiced, or enacted to be fully realized.

Customary Folklore (Rituals, Festivals, Games)

• Regularly repeated communal practices—ceremonies, seasonal celebrations, and traditional games
• Reinforces social bonds—participation creates shared experience and marks group membership
• Calendar-based structure—many customs follow cyclical time (harvest festivals, religious holidays, rites of passage)

Performative Folklore (Folk Dance, Music, Theater)

• Live performance as transmission—requires bodies in motion, voices in song, or actors on stage
• Combines multiple sensory elements—visual spectacle, sound, movement, and often costume
• Documentation challenges—historically difficult to preserve; now recorded but liveness remains essential to meaning

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Knowledge Systems and Beliefs

These forms transmit practical and spiritual knowledge developed through community experience rather than formal institutions.

Belief Folklore (Superstitions, Folk Medicine)

• Traditional knowledge about causation—explains luck, illness, and supernatural forces outside scientific frameworks
• Superstitions govern behavior (avoiding black cats); folk medicine offers healing practices (herbal remedies, rituals)
• Persists alongside modern science—even in contemporary societies, belief folklore influences daily decisions

Foodways (Traditional Recipes, Cooking Methods)

• Cultural practices surrounding food—encompasses preparation, consumption, and the social contexts of eating
• Encodes identity and memory—family recipes transmit heritage; regional cuisines mark geographic belonging
• Multisensory folklore—engages taste, smell, and touch alongside visual presentation

Occupational Folklore (Traditions Within Professions)

• Workplace-specific knowledge and practice—jargon, initiation rituals, cautionary tales, and shared humor
• Builds professional identity—distinguishes insiders from outsiders, novices from experts
• Examples span all trades—fishing superstitions, medical slang, academic traditions, tech industry memes

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Digital and Contemporary Forms

This category demonstrates folklore's adaptive capacity—traditional functions expressed through new technologies.

Digital Folklore (Memes, Urban Legends Online)

• Internet-native folk expression—memes, viral videos, creepypastas, and online urban legends
• Rapid transmission and variation—spreads globally in hours; generates countless variants through participatory creation
• Maintains traditional functions—builds community, transmits values, marks group identity—just through screens instead of campfires

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two types of folklore both produce physical artifacts but differ in whether the object's primary purpose is functional or symbolic? Explain the distinction.

2. If an FRQ asks you to analyze how folklore adapts to new technologies while maintaining traditional functions, which two categories would you compare, and what specific examples would you use?

3. Identify three types of folklore that primarily serve to mark group membership and insider status. What transmission method does each use?

4. Compare and contrast customary folklore and performative folklore. A community harvest festival includes both—how would you distinguish which elements belong to each category?

5. How does belief folklore differ from scientific knowledge in its approach to causation, and why does it persist in contemporary societies despite access to modern medicine and technology?