folklife
Community's living traditions
Folklife refers to the traditional customs, arts, crafts, stories, music, and daily practices of a community or cultural group.
Unlike formal culture, folklife encompasses the informal, often unwritten traditions passed down through generations: The festival celebrates Appalachian folklife.
The term appears frequently in cultural preservation contexts, as in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Traditional oral narratives
- legendsTraditional stories or icons
- mythsTraditional untrue narratives
- balladsNarrative verse set to music
- proverbsTraditional wisdom capsules
fables · riddles · epics · sagas · oral history · storytelling · chants · superstitions
Traditional string melodies
- sea shantiesSailors' rhythmic work songs
- work songsMusic accompanying manual labor
- spiritualsEnslaved people's sacred songs
- square danceChoreographed folk gathering
clogging · jigs · reels · polkas · yodeling · call-and-response · shape-note singing · bluegrass
Family line of descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- genealogyStudy of family descent
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
archives · living history · documentation · fieldwork · oral tradition · folkways · vernacular · heirlooms
Small rural community
- hamletTiny rural settlement
- ruralOf the countryside
- kinshipState of being related
- neighborsThose dwelling nearby
elders · gatherings · communal · homestead · barn raising · quilting bees · potlucks · town squares
Ceremonial repeated practices
- ceremoniesFormal observances with ritual
- festivalsOrganized communal celebrations
- ritesFormal ceremonial acts
- celebrationsOrganized expressions of joy
feast days · harvest festivals · naming ceremonies · weddings · funerals · coming-of-age · blessings · processions
Manually created decorative objects
- artisanrySkilled manual trade practice
- weavingInterlacing strands into fabric
- potteryFired clay objects
- quiltingLayered fabric stitching
woodcarving · basketry · embroidery · blacksmithing · leatherwork · textiles · needlework · dyeing
folktales
Traditional oral narratives
- legendsTraditional stories or icons
- mythsTraditional untrue narratives
- balladsNarrative verse set to music
proverbs · fables · riddles · epics · sagas · oral history · storytelling · chants · superstitions · lore
fiddle tunes
Traditional string melodies
- sea shantiesSailors' rhythmic work songs
- work songsMusic accompanying manual labor
- spiritualsEnslaved people's sacred songs
square dance · clogging · jigs · reels · polkas · yodeling · call-and-response · shape-note singing · bluegrass · corridos
ancestry
Family line of descent
preservation · archives · living history · documentation · fieldwork · oral tradition · folkways · vernacular · heirlooms · family recipes
village
Small rural community
neighbors · elders · gatherings · communal · homestead · barn raising · quilting bees · potlucks · town squares · meetinghouses
rituals
Ceremonial repeated practices
- ceremoniesFormal observances with ritual
- festivalsOrganized communal celebrations
- ritesFormal ceremonial acts
celebrations · feast days · harvest festivals · naming ceremonies · weddings · funerals · coming-of-age · blessings · processions · pilgrimages
handicrafts
Manually created decorative objects
- artisanrySkilled manual trade practice
- weavingInterlacing strands into fabric
- potteryFired clay objects
quilting · woodcarving · basketry · embroidery · blacksmithing · leatherwork · textiles · needlework · dyeing · thatching
- folklorefairy tales, fairytales, folktales, fairy tale, folktale
folklifepop culture
Mass entertainment and trends
mass culture · popular culture · consumer culture · mass media · global culture
folklifemodernity
Being of present times
futurism · contemporary life · contemporary culture · postmodernity · urbanization
folklifecosmopolitanism
Belief in shared humanity
urbanization · placelessness · rootlessness · deterritorialization
life, folk, folklore, lifestyle, lifelike, folksy, lifeblood, folksong