Folklore & Living Heritage

What is Folklore?

The word "folklore" has gathered many different meanings, meaning it is not the easiest word to define—we find that using examples is the best way for people to understand folklore!

“Folklore” includes language, oral and literary expressions (names, jokes, sayings), storytelling, songs, poems, dances, music, plays, social practices, festive events, skills and knowledge, local places and much more.

A working definition:

Folklore is often creative, expressive, or artistic. On the continuum between formal and informal, it tends toward the informal; towards the artistic and chaotic rather than ordered/structured. Creative expressions can have multiple or anonymous authors. It draws on history, the past, and shared references, both consciously and unconsciously. It is used to communicate and reinforce identity within groups.

 

Saskatchewan Examples

Jokes

Have you ever heard this Saskatchewan Depression-era joke?

A farmer was knocked unconscious by a drop of rain that hit him in the head. His friends threw three pails of dust on him to bring him around.

Unofficial Community Names

Have you ever heard Davidson (halfway between Saskatoon and Regina) called the Midway Town?

What about referring to Swift Current as Speedy Creek?

Festive Events

These include rodeo, parades, fish derbies, fall (fowl) suppers, Saturday night specials, Christmas light festivals, food, and more!

Traditions and Practices

Have you ever been to a Saskatchewan mock wedding?

Mock weddings are a form of folk drama! Folklorist Michael Taft describes a mock wedding as:

“A parody in which members of a community dress as a wedding entourage and stage a marriage ceremony. Players have specific roles and there is a written script in which several of the players have lines. The mock wedding is a ritual within a ritual, for it most often occurs as part of the larger celebration of a couple's marriage or their wedding anniversary. In Saskatchewan, the drama usually takes place during the celebration of a couple's milestone anniversary, especially the twenty-fifth anniversary.”

“Whoever makes up the entourage, the most striking feature of the actors is that all female parts are played by men and all male parts are played by women. Often the bride is an especially big, burly man, while the groom is petite.” –Michael Taft

 

What does folklore mean to the shfs?

The theme of “folklore” has existed within the Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society throughout its history. When the founders of the SHFS organized to form a folklore society in 1957, they did so in part because they felt that folklore was “an antidote to elite histories.” They were concerned the cultural heritage of everyday people was being lost.

“Folklore, as a word, is on its way up and really benefits from association with history. The two, therefore, make a good team.” –Everett Baker, first SHFS president

The SHFS also started Folklore Magazine in 1979. At the time, they wanted the name to reflect all stories relating to the “human situation.”

The word "folklore" has gathered many different meanings. In Saskatchewan, many people have shared that they see it as dismissive, as in "old wives tales" or "things that aren't really true." For now, you'll find that (like many others) we prefer words like "Intangible Cultural Heritage" or "Living Heritage."

 

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Through the work of UNESCO, the term Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) has emerged:

“It […] includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.”

 

Living Heritage

Heritage Saskatchewan describes "Living Heritage" this way:

"Living Heritage are those values, beliefs, and ways of living we inherited from past generations that we still use to understand the present and make choices for the future. This Living Heritage shapes our sense of identity as individuals and our relationships with others; shaping our communities and our quality of life. Safeguarding our Living Heritage means nurturing our diversity in all its forms; our languages; customs and traditions; natural spaces and significant places; buildings and artifacts. Safeguarding our Living Heritage is more important now than ever before, as we explore and discover our place within a global community. Safeguarding our Living Heritage is accomplished through documentation, celebration, transmission of knowledge and skills, and adopting sustainable practices and processes."

 

Key things to remember about Intangible Cultural Heritage

  1. Everyone has it! Everything humans do, from the clothes you are wearing to what you had for breakfast this morning, is influenced by your culture. ICH traditionally focuses on those aspects of human culture that have the greatest potential to express values, beliefs, and identity. Chief among these is language and related expressions like stories, songs, or poems; there are also performative expressions such as music, dances and plays; social practices, rituals, and festive events; and knowledge and skills.

  2. It's living! and represents those elements of the past which continue in the present.

    ...between tradition and modernity there is a bridge. When they are mutually isolated, tradition stagnates and modernity vaporizes; when joined, modernity breathes new life into tradition, and tradition responds by providing depth and gravity.” Writer and poet Octavio Paz, 1990

  3. It's community-based, where local people are the authority on what is meaningful heritage. When an aspect of human life stops being practiced by living people, it becomes "frozen in time" - it exists only in the records we have of it. The nice thing is, though, that even traditions we think are disappearing can be revived if people find new meanings for them—though they might not look quite like they used to.

  4. It reinforces identity, both in individuals and between members of communities. The traditions we share, as well as our own personal rituals, reinforce how we see ourselves in the world. Our cultural heritage is transmitted from person to person, helping us to share and reinforce knowledge, values, beliefs, and ideas about how to live.

  5. Everyone has a story to tell, and the history of everyday life is important. Heritage is not necessarily valued because it’s unique or exceptional, but rather because of what it tells us about ourselves and the places we live.