Folk Literature: Mythology and Folklore

Folk literature→ refers to the cultural artifacts that can be committed to a written form, like stories or
songs.
→ The primary aim of folk literature is to preserve oral traditions.
→ Mythology and folklore are two things often mentioned in tandem and though in some cases they are
very similar.
 The difference between mythology and folklore. In order for us to differentiate between the two,
we first have to really understand what makes them so similar at their very core.
 Both mythology and folklore in basic terms are a form of storytelling, perhaps the most ancient
forms of narrative we have available to us today.
 You can consider folklore a subset, or a branch of mythology and even vice versa depending on
who you are asking, but more often it does feel like folklore is the small fish in the much bigger
pond and that is mythology.
→ Where the difference between them can really be seen is within the stories themselves and what they
attempt to explain to us.
Mythology→ often derives from what many consider to be sacred texts it aims to tell us about the time
before we existed, how we and everything around us were created.
 These stories were often held as the truth and so they became part of many people’s religion.
→ They discussed deities and supernatural figures that they believed to be involved in our creation.
 Although some folklore was documented in poems and various stories it remained a more oral
form of storytelling a legend that you might have heard of about a witch or some kind of monster
might be quite different or even remarkably similar to one on the other side of the globe.
 So to summarize, mythology and folklore are quite similar in terms of storytelling but the main
difference is an intention what they aim to explain.
Folk Literature As a Historical Artifact
Artifact→ Is an item shaped made or given. Shape by humans, such as a tool or a work of art, especially
an object of Archaeological interest.
→ Is an object made by a human. Being. Artifacts includes art, tools, and clothing made by people of any
time and place.
FOLK→ can refer to “group of people whatsoever who share at least one common factor. It does not
matter what the linking factor is it could be a occupation, language, or religion but what important is that
a group, have some traditions that it call its own"
LORE=A body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed
from person to person by word of mouth.
FEATURING OF FOLK LITERATURE AS HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS
 Folk literature includes all the myths, legends, fables, and folktales passed down by words of
mouth through the generations. The authors of traditional literature are usually unknown or
unidentifiable.
 Folklore is the expressive body of culture shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses
the traditions common to the culture, subculture or group.
These include oral traditions such as proverbs and jokes.
→ They include materials culture, ranging from traditional buildings styles to handmade toys common to
the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, the forms and rituals of celebrations like wedding,
Christmas, folk dances and initiates rites are considered a folklore artifacts.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Point 1
 Folklore is no longer considered to be limited to that which is old or obsolete. Transmission is a
vital part of the folklore process;
Point 2
 Without communicating these beliefs and customs over space and time, they would be relegated
to cultural archaeologists.
Point 3
 Folk artifacts continue to be passed along formally as a rule anonymously, and always in multiple
variants.

Genre of Folk Literature

1. MYTH→ This genre of folk literature are traditional stories from particular cultures that
deals with GODS, GODDESSES, AND other supernatural beings.
2. Urban Legends→ Is a form of modern folklore in which stories told are thought to be true
but are likely untrue or distortions and exaggerations of the truth.
3. Fairy tales→ is a Genre of magical story, usually originating in folklore.
4. Folk Song→ A folk song is a piece of music that was composed within the parameters of folk
music.”
5. Legend →A narrative of human actions that are believed by the storyteller and the
reader/listener to have taken place in HUMAN history.
6. A fable→ Is a story that often criticizes human nature and uses animals or inanimate objects
instead of humans.
7. Tall tales→ A tall tale is about a story that had an unbelievable or exaggerated elements in a
story.
8. Proverbs → Also known as “adage” Traditional short sayings Give people advice about how
to live Expresses a belief generally thought to be true.
Genre of Folk Literature
Examples:
Myth Clash of clans
 Urban legends Orc fish of Cagayan De Oro
 Folk song Bahay kubo
 Legends Robin Hood
 Fairy tales Cinderella
 Fables The Hair and Tortoise
 Proverbs Saying Ex; No Pain No Gain
 Tall Tale Story of Paul Bunyan
Significance in studying Folk Literature:
 → Folklore studies may facilitate us to discover the roots of distinctive communities, the past, the
commonality of varied cultures and of course our ethnic identities. A good advantage of folklore
is, they inspire simple and logical thinking.
 Since folk tales are about relations of man to nature; this education will make students
environment conscious, which is very important in present times. Folktales and folklores provide
a greater and deeper insight to life and living.
Here are some reason why to study folklore:
1. Because stories are addictive
2. Because its everywhere
3. Because it shape the past and the future
4. Because you help create it and share it
5. Because its so much fun
6. Because its always changing and staying the same
7. Because it can feed your creative soul
8. Because it inspire empathy
9. Because its connects you to other
THEORIES LITERATURE RELATED TO FOLK
FOLK LITERATURE:
 Refers to the cultural artifacts that can be committed to a written form, like stories or songs. The
primary aim of folk literature is to preserve oral traditions.
THEORY:
 A theory is a carefully thought-out explanation for observations of the natural world that has
been constructed using the scientific method, and which brings together many facts and
hypotheses.

ANCIENT THEORIES
1.RATIONALISM→ is a logical viewpoint that regards reason as the chief source and test of
knowledge.
 The rational theory states that myths were made to better understand natural events and forces
that occurred in the everyday lives of people.
 This theory also explains that the gods and goddesses controlled all of these happenings of
nature.
Examples of this type of myth are:
 Creation myths explain how man was created and explain what the gods and goddesses used
and what actions they took to create humans. These myths also tell what substances were used
(if any) in order for man to exist. The existence of man is a natural event but creation myths give
other explanations.
2.ETYMOLOGICAL THEORY
 States that all myths derive from and can be traced back to certain words in the language.
 “the unfolding of words, by which their true meaning may be made clear”. It aims
less at finding the meaning of a word than corroborating it. Literary tradition from Homer
onwards analyzes words, especially proper names, as a form of encrypted knowledge about the
world.
 For example, we could explain the name of the god Hades, originally meant “unseen” but came
eventually to be the name for the god of the dead.
3.ALLEGORICAL THEORY→ In the ALLEGORICAL explanation, all myths contain hidden meanings
which the narrative deliberately conceals or encodes.
Definition of Allegory:
 A work of art, such as a story or painting, in which the characters, images, and events acts as a
symbol.
 The symbolism In an allegory can be interpreted to have a deeper meaning.
 Theagenes of Reghium in 6th century B.C. was an early proponent of this method. He
interpreted myths in which gods fought each other as illustrating physical/cosmological facts
about nature, and opposing natural forces.
EXAMPLE:
1. In the Illiad, Apollo attacks Poseidon. Theagenes claims that this illustrates the fundamental
physical opposition between the basic principles of fire and water.
2. KING MIDAS AND THE GOLDEN TOUCH
4.EUHEMERISM→ is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts
are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages.
 Myths are exaggerated in the retelling, accumulating elaborations and alterations that reflect
cultural mores.
EUHEMERUS
 Was an ancient Greek who wrote that myths about gods were actually legends about real people
from a long forgotten past.
 He wrote a book called Sacred History, in which he claimed to have visited a land called
Panchaea, where he said he found evidence that Olympian gods were actually ancient kings
who had been defied. Unfortunately, the book has not survived.
 In ancient world, he was considered an atheist.

MODERN THEORIES
1. NATURALISM
 In the hypothesis of NATURALISM, all myths are thought to arise from an attempt to explain
natural phenomena. People who believe in this theory narrow the source of myths by tracing their
origins from the worship of the sun or the moon.
THE HISTORY OF NATURALISM→ Jules-Antoine Castagnary, a French art critic, first used
the term naturalism to describe a style of lifelike painting that became popular in the early 1860s.
Émile Zola then applied the term to literature. Zola’s seminal essay “The Experimental Novel,”
published in 1880, presents a detailed examination of the novel as a preeminent naturalistic
literary art form.
ELEMENTS OF NATURALISM
The major elements of naturalist works are:
 Determinism
 Objectivity
 Pessimism
 Setting
 Plot twists
The Function of Naturalist Works
 Is to present the world as it is-without idealization, embellishment, or romance-and illustrate the
dominance of environmental conditions in human life and on individual characters. This
perspective allows the author to comment on the darker sides of human nature.
2. RITUALISM
 According to this theory, all myths are invented to accompany and explain religious ritual; they
describe the significant events which have resulted in a particular ceremony
3. DIFFUSIONISM
 The diffusionists maintain that all myths arose from a few major cultural centers and spread
throughout the world.
4. EVOLUTIONISM
 Evolutionism states that: Myth making occurs at a certain stage in the evolution of the human
mind. Myths, are therefore, an essential part of all developing societies and the similarities from
one culture to the next can be explained by the relatively limited number of experience open to
such communities when myths arise.
5. FREUDIANISM
 When Sigmund Freud, the founder of modern psychology, interpreted the dreams of his patients,
he found great similarities between them and the ancient myths. Freud believes that certain
infantile are repressed, they are eliminated from the conscious mind but continues to exist with
the individual in some other form. Sometimes these feelings emerge into consciousness
under various disguises, one of which is the myth.
6. JUNGIAN ARCHETYPES→ Carl Jung was a prominent psychologist who, while he accepted
Freud’s theory about the origin of myths, did not believe that it went far in explaining the striking
similarities between the motifs found in ancient stories and those of his patients.
 He postulated that each of us. Possesses a collective unconscious which we inherit genetically. It
contains very general ideas, themes, or motifs which are passed along from one generation to
another and are retained as part of our human inheritance.
7. STRUCTURALISM
 This theory is a fairly recent development and is closely allied with the research of linguist.
According to this theory, all human behaviour, the way we eat, dress, speak, is patterned into
codes which have the characteristics of language. To understand the real meaning of myth,
therefore, we must analyze it linguistically.
9. HISTORICAL-CRITICAL THEORY→ maintains that there are a multitude of factors
which influence the origin and development of myths and that no single explanation will
suffice. We must examine each story individually to see how it began and evolved.
IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING THEORIES RELATED TO FOLK LITERATURE:
 Theories are vital. They guide and give meaning to what we see or heard. To understand those
moments from different point of views and to provide us logical thinking.
 Folk literature are shared to entertain, educate people, and discover the roots and
insights into various cultures. These explains that the theories related to folk literature seeks to
interpret with different evidences and claims in order for the readers to learn and reflect.