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Folklore lets people escape from repressions imposed upon them by society. Folklore validates culture, justifying its rituals and institutions to those who perform and observe them. Folklore is a pedagogic device which reinforces morals and values and builds wit. Folklore is a means of applying social pressure and exercising social control.
In this 1897 painting of Lady Godiva by John Collier, the authentic historical person is fully submerged in the legend, presented in an anachronistic high medieval setting.. A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history.
It also contains folklore that dates back to the Pre-Columbian era. Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared.
Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) [1] is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, [ note 1 ] gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the academic study of traditional culture from the folklore artifacts themselves.
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true.
A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous humanoid creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on the story and country of origin, ranging from mischievous household spirits to malicious, bestial thieves.
Like other monster-inspired legends, werewolves have appeared in folklore for thousands of years and, according to Woods, there are some people who believe that the supernatural beasts really exist.
It shares many characteristics with Nordic folklore and English folklore due to their origins in a common Germanic mythology.It reflects a similar mix of influences: a pre-Christian pantheon and other beings equivalent to those of Norse mythology; magical characters (sometimes recognizably pre-Christian) associated with Christian festivals, and various regional 'character' stories.